Exposed Romex in Garage...

[felder...@yahoo.com]

Howdy all.
This Fall I'm planning on installing an exterior outlet on my in-laws
garage. The walls of the garage are finished with paneling. I would
prefer to run exposed romex just to make the job more simple. Besides,
an existing line in the garage is exposed romex that was installed by
an electrician many years ago. The exposed romex would be well above
head level and would be stapled. Can anyone forsee any problems in
doing this? I can't see any cases where the romex would be subject to
damage. As for the run down to the outlet box, the romex would be
stapled to exposed studs in that area. BTW, I'm in the U.S.

-Felder

[Lawrence]

first you said the garage had finished walls then you said there were
exposed studs. which is it??

[felder...@yahoo.com]

The walls are finished except for a foot wide section beside the garage
door opening. It is in this section that I would run the romex down to
the outlet.

[Lawrence]

I have seen many garages and workshops with exposed Romex so I think
it's safe. I has a very protective sheathing. If this is the only
wall cavity that is not finished then you might want to put up some
insulation and wall board on that cavity. then your worries will be
solved. Since it is just a garage they won't mind if you leave it
unfinished. Just throw up some drywall and call it good.

[Toller]

<felder...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1155677777.4...@74g2000cwt.googlegroups.com...

Its fine as long as you meet code. It is not up to you to decide what is
adequate.

[Chris Lewis]

According to <felder...@yahoo.com>:

Generally speaking, both the NEC and CEC permit surface wiring
above 5' in things like basements. However, an inspector may get
considerably more picky depending on the circumstances. Eg:
wielding pieces of lumber in a garage workshop.

In garages, inspectors will go for things like "no snaggable
wire".

In my garage used as a workshop, I ran the drops to the outlets in
surface-mounted PVC conduit. Neater than MC cable. The inspector
really liked it.

The ceiling wasn't drywalled (yet), and the inspector suggested
running the cable along the bottom of the joists between the lathe
strips, and with an extra hunk of lathe to support it 1 1/2" away
from the face when crossing the lathe.
--
Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est
It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them.

[Tom The Great]

imho,

Sounds like you love your in-laws. Doing the wiring, and later they
can use it to hang stuff off of, like tools and coat hangers. ;)

Just kidding, but I wanted to make a point, you could have a situation
where the code is says to NM-B ("romex") can be installed on the
finished surface ( 2005 NEC 334.15-A), but could inadvertantly be
exposed to physical damage, through its accessiblity.

Might want to spend a few bucks, and run another wiring method, or run
the wires internal to the walls.

Good luck, and follow all electrical/building codes.

later,

tom @ www.NoCostAds.com