Wiring in bulkhead

[kert]

I'm getting ready to wire my garage, and rather than drilling holes for all of my wires, including at least one 6-2 wire, I was considering building a 6"x6" or 8"x8" bulkhead at the ceiling level to run wires in. BTW, I have a cathedral ceiling in this part of the garage, so no attic space. I'd plan to make the bulkhead accessible so I could add wires if I ever needed to.

My question is, would this be considered a conduit/raceway and would I have to derate wires? Also I'd be running romex, so I wouldn't want to create a conduit/raceway that I couldn't run romex in.

 

[Charles (in GA)]

This is known as a "wireway" and is addressed in NEC 376 and 378.

I sent you a PM.

Charles

 

[Aceman]

I'd rather drill holes than look at a bulkhead myself....

 

[kert]

This is known as a "wireway" and is addressed in NEC 376 and 378.

I sent you a PM.

Charles

Did a Google search and found the articles. Basically what I read was that it needs to be UL listed. I don't think anything I was going to build would count as UL listed , so I guess I'll be drilling more holes.

 

[sickjuice]

how is your cathedral ceiling framed? if its scissor trusses you cant drill those

and you definitely can build a chase without it being listed. you will just have to derate your cables if their touching

 

['04 Cummins]

This is known as a "wireway" and is addressed in NEC 376 and 378.

I sent you a PM.

Charles

I haven't ever heard of a framed bulkhead being considered a 'wireway' covered in the NEC.

Art. 376 and 378 cover metallic and non-metallic wireways, respectively, which are manufactured and listed troughs, not field constructed bulkheads.

It's entirely possible I'm wrong, but can you provide a link to confirm what you state?

 

[kert]

how is your cathedral ceiling framed? if its scissor trusses you cant drill those

and you definitely can build a chase without it being listed. you will just have to derate your cables if their touching

Well if I had scissor trusses, I'd have a space where I could route wires. What I have is 2x10 rafters and a ridge beam. If I don't build a bulkhead, I'll probably run the wires in the walls instead of up high, so I'd be drilling the studs.

Edit: Sorry if that came off a little too sarcastic.

 

[kbs2244]

It is called a “soffit”
You see them above kitchen cabinets all the time.
And there are sometimes lots of wires in them.

My son has one that must be 50 feet long.
About 18 inches down from the ceiling and out from the wall.
It goes from the wall above the breaker box, across the garage, across an entryway, and into a second story machine room.
When we pulled the wire through it I pulled a poly rope through also.
Just in case we ever need to pull more wire, we wouldn’t have to bust up the drywall.

 

[MrMark]

It's called a chase. Most houses have them where I live. I just built one.