How To Run Romex In Attic

We won t cover many other house wiring details.

How to run romex in attic.

In this article we ll show you some house wiring basics how to position outlet and switch boxes and run the electrical cable between them. As i m doing some rewiring and have a large amount of leftover nm romex cable i was wondering if i can run that just sitting on top of and secured to the joists in the attic like the current armored cable is. Familiarize yourself with the footing situation. You must protect cables located within 6 of the attic access hole.

What is the preferred and legal way of running the romex across the attic to where i m going to install a utility light whole house fan circuit the fan will sit about center of the attic. All other attics need protection within 6 feet of the attic opening and this is the typical situation. With a flashlight examine the attic and locate the path that you will use to run the wire between the two locations. Plastic boxes and flexible nonmetallic cable commonly called romex put electrical wiring projects within the skill range of every dedicated diyer.

Climb through the attic access using a ladder if necessary and look into the attic space. A pull down attic ladder does not count. You must protect all cables running perpendicular and atop the joists. The national electrical code which is the basis for all local building codes has specific regulations for installing electrical wires so that they are protected from damage.

The simple way to protect the cables is to run 1x2 or larger wood guard strips on both sides of the cable as shown in the diagram below. A favorite target of electrical inspectors is the improper use of non metallic cable nm in exposed locations such as basement foundation walls or along the face of studs and joists in unfinished framed spaces.