In Trouble Again

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KULTULZ

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I am in the process of remodeling my daughter's condo and have to move some electric. It has a fire rated ceiling (two levels or tiers) and the wiring was run through the ceiling room to room.

Is it permissable (to keep from tearing into the ceiling) to re-route some wiring through the wall(s) framing? Can the replaced/dead circuits that will pass through the ceiling be cut off and left before dry walling?

This is in MD.

Your help is appreciated.

Gary
 

Billy_Bob

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Get a book on electrical wiring and you will see that a lot of wiring is run in walls. Especially one outlet, to the next outlet, to the next, etc.

This is to save cost on wire. Shortest distance is a straight line.

But when running wires through walls, there are a lot of studs to drill holes through. So If I am running a wire from one room through the next room and on to another room further away, I'll run it in the ceiling or attic. Then I don't need to drill a bunch of holes.

Also drilling too many holes or very large holes in studs will weaken them. Might want to get a construction code check book when covers all codes including plumbing. Then this will tell you how large of a hole you can have in each stud depending on if it is a bearing wall or not. (Look in plumbing section.)

As to leaving dead wires in walls/ceilings, as a general rule I don't do this if I can remove the old wire. Then there is not a bunch of old wires running all over the place making it difficult to trace circuits. (Hummm... Where does this wire go to?) I don't know if there are any code rules on this?
 

KULTULZ

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Thanx for the reply.

The main problem is the wiring running through the top plates have had a mastic applied to them to prevent smoke infiltration in case of a fire. The drywall is 5/8" fire rated and is very heavy so making exploratory holes would be a pain to patch. I was thinking of just cutting the wires at the top plate and rerun through the wall studs (non-load bearing).

The lower ceiling is so close to the first that recessed lighting cannot be used.
 

Mikey

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I was thinking of just cutting the wires at the top plate and rerun through the wall studs (non-load bearing).
That will work. Be sure to cut both ends of the cables at the top plate, and be sure they're not live -- although they won't be live for long :eek:. When going through a stud, the edge of the hole must be at least 1 1/4" from either edge of the stud. This means that for a 3 1/2" stud, you must drill the hole in the center of the stud, and the hole can be a maximum of 1" in diameter, as far as the NEC is concerned. Other construction codes may limit the size of the hole further. You can also just cut a groove in the stud and place the cable(s) in the groove, but they must be protected by a 1/16" steel plate.

See 300.4 in the Code for the gory details.
 

KULTULZ

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That will work. Be sure to cut both ends of the cables at the top plate, and be sure they're not live -- although they won't be live for long :eek:. When going through a stud, the edge of the hole must be at least 1 1/4" from either edge of the stud. This means that for a 3 1/2" stud, you must drill the hole in the center of the stud, and the hole can be a maximum of 1" in diameter, as far as the NEC is concerned. Other construction codes may limit the size of the hole further. You can also just cut a groove in the stud and place the cable(s) in the groove, but they must be protected by a 1/16" steel plate.

See 300.4 in the Code for the gory details.

Thank You!

I was hoping someone would say that... ;)
 
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