Electrical - covering junction box with attic insulation?
Ole Hansen
boxes under loose-fill fiberglass insulation in an unfinished attic? The
code says something like "boxes must remain accessible without having to
remove any part of the building". The attic itself should qualify as
accessible since there is an access hole in the master closet, and the attic
is easy to walk in (7-8' high). The loose-fill insulation is very easy to
move aside, so that's not really "removing part of the building" as in
"tearing down walls". The concern is whether junction boxes must be
"visible" or can be hidden/covered/buried as long as one can still easily
get to them. The problem with a hidden box is, of course, that it's not
immediately obvious that it's there and where it is. To find it, one would
have to trace the cable and dig in the insulation - basically an
inconvenience.
Your opinions/experience?
Thanks a bunch,
Ole
Frank in-toronto
<sur...@noredvwspam.com> wrote:
>Question to the electrical experts out there: Is it ok to bury junction
>boxes under loose-fill fiberglass insulation in an unfinished attic?
i can't speak for the exact legality of doing this, but as
one who has had to work with other diy's messes, it is a bad idea.
even you will eventually forget where the junction box is.
also, you need to worry about fires now. oh, i know, you can
say it'll never happen, but it does. that's one of the reasons
for the code. i always try to follow the spirit of the code,
not just the words.
think about having a fire in the house, perhaps unrelated
to the box, but the investigator finds it. suspicious!
then think about your insurance.
...thehick
TakeThisOut
Don't worry about it. A junction box under loose-fill insulation is accessable.
It's just not obvious.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
TAKETHISOUT budysbackagain(@)THAT TOO a-oh-ell dot com
B
fiberglass batt insulation. Junction boxes in the wall, yes they get wrapped
with pink insulation all the time. Recessed lights in the ceiling, which do
get hot, cannot be covered unless they have extra insulation-contact
housing, often called "IC".
-B (My liability is limited to what you paid for this advice.)
"Ole Hansen" <sur...@noredvwspam.com> wrote in message
news:XHxGa.16132$Id7....@news2.east.cox.net...
AJAY Chief Ahole
>My liability is limited to what you paid for this advice.
How bout they pay with their life?
mark Ransley
MF
voltage and structured wiring in the DFW area (shameless plug) and have been
in many attics with mounds of insulation covering just about anything. Hope
that helps.
Maury
Wylie, TX
"mark Ransley" <ran...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:2194-3EE...@storefull-2177.public.lawson.webtv.net...
> yea bury em
>
AJAY Chief Ahole
>My liability is limited to what you paid for this advice.
How bout they pay with their life?
========= WAS CANCELLED BY =======:
Path: newsfeeds.sol.net!newsfeed.news2me.com!newsfeed.icl.net!newsfeed.fjserv.net!logbridge.uoregon.edu!newshub.sdsu.edu!elnk-pas-nf2!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: AJAY Chief Ahole <ajaychi...@aol.com>
X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.79 [en] (Win95; U)
X-No-Archive: yes
MIME-Version: 1.0
Newsgroups: alt.home.repair
Subject: cancel <20030615071309...@mb-m10.aol.com>
References: <20030615071309...@mb-m10.aol.com>
Control: cancel <20030615071309...@mb-m10.aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Message-ID: <3eec...@godzilla.tzo.com>
Organization: =?iso-8859-1?Q?=A0?=
Lines: 2
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 15:22:22 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: 165.247.226.230
X-Complaints-To: ab...@earthlink.net
X-Trace: newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net 1055690542 165.247.226.230 (Sun, 15 Jun 2003 08:22:22 PDT)
NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 08:22:22 PDT
This message was cancelled from within Mozilla.
Ole Hansen
"Frank in-toronto" <thehic...@canada.com> wrote in message
news:3s6mevk9ci3o44ivc...@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 14 Jun 2003 04:41:27 GMT, "Ole Hansen"
> <sur...@noredvwspam.com> wrote:
>
> >Question to the electrical experts out there: Is it ok to bury junction
> >boxes under loose-fill fiberglass insulation in an unfinished attic?
> i can't speak for the exact legality of doing this, but as
> one who has had to work with other diy's messes, it is a bad idea.
Thanks for the info. A mess is actually what I'm trying to avoid. A buried
box _inline_ with a cable seems much less messy than a visible box mounted
on a truss at a 60ish degree angle with cable running an 8ft detour ...
> even you will eventually forget where the junction box is.
Yeah, but tracing a cable wouldn't be such a big deal (to me).
> also, you need to worry about fires now. oh, i know, you can
Hmm. Granted, a buried box is more likely than a one to set the insulation
on fire, but then again, there's half a dozen ceiling fixture boxes up there
all in direct contact with the insulation. Plus scores of outlets and light
switches in outside walls surrounded by wall batting. Seems like insulation
contact must be ok in terms of fire safety.
> say it'll never happen, but it does. that's one of the reasons
> for the code. i always try to follow the spirit of the code,
> not just the words.
Absolutely. The spririt of the code seems to be to prevent a situation where
a box can only be reached by demolishing/deconstructing part of the
building. That would be more than just annoying, like perhaps a hidden but
accessible box is. Then again, I wasn't sure.
>
> think about having a fire in the house, perhaps unrelated
> to the box, but the investigator finds it. suspicious!
> then think about your insurance.
Ah. Of course I'll get this work permitted and inspected. I'm in the process
of making the plans. Would be wasteful to draw up wiring diagrams based on
buried junction boxes only to find out it is a no-no. Once the local
inspector signs off on it, I would think there's little the insurance can
complain about.
Ole
Ole Hansen
"MF" <c...@cmfSPAMOUT-enterprises.com> wrote in message
news:8U%Ga.13376$fh7....@nwrddc01.gnilink.net...
Thanks for the replies. I appreciate it.
Ole
Frank in-toronto
<sur...@noredvwspam.com> wrote:
<snipped old postings>
>Ah. Of course I'll get this work permitted and inspected.
withdraw any objection.
...thehick