protivakid
Member
Hello,
I want to add three flood lights to the front, back, & one side of my house. I want to do this the right way so I am seeking advice before doing it. I have a typical wooden framed split-level with vinyl soffit on the front / back and vinyl siding. I have done some research and so far my plan is to run a new circuit from the breaker using regular 14/2 ROMEX® from the basement to a switch in my middle level hall, and then up to the attic to the three outdoor lights.
Reading one how-to this seemed as simple as stapling the ROMEX® along the 2x4's in the basement / attic, drilling a hole wide enough for romex to the outside of my house for each light, attaching a metal box to the outside, and finally running the ROMEX® into it from the back. This seems like it will work for the 1 flood light mounted on the side of my house but for the 2 on the front / back I understand I will need a metal bracket behind the soffit for securing the box as the vinyl soffit is not nearly strong enough to support it.
Is there anything I am missing? Do I need to run the romex in a metal or plastic tube at any point such as to the outside metal box or in the attic? Or will the bare ROMEX® to the metal outside boxes be good enough? Do I need to install a GFCI switch at any point in the wire run? I looked into the NEC but there are so many pages it can be hard to tell what is right / wrong. Below are the two tutorials I found:
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/overview/0,,437727,00.html
I reside in MA and though town-by-town laws vary at the state level it is legal for homeowners to run their own electrical on THEIR home. I know the answer will probably be "yes" or "call the town" but wanted to ask anyhow, would running flood lights be something you need a permit for? And to follow-up, do they generally just issue the permit for small jobs like this or need to come out and inspect every foot of the new wire?
Thanks!
I want to add three flood lights to the front, back, & one side of my house. I want to do this the right way so I am seeking advice before doing it. I have a typical wooden framed split-level with vinyl soffit on the front / back and vinyl siding. I have done some research and so far my plan is to run a new circuit from the breaker using regular 14/2 ROMEX® from the basement to a switch in my middle level hall, and then up to the attic to the three outdoor lights.
Reading one how-to this seemed as simple as stapling the ROMEX® along the 2x4's in the basement / attic, drilling a hole wide enough for romex to the outside of my house for each light, attaching a metal box to the outside, and finally running the ROMEX® into it from the back. This seems like it will work for the 1 flood light mounted on the side of my house but for the 2 on the front / back I understand I will need a metal bracket behind the soffit for securing the box as the vinyl soffit is not nearly strong enough to support it.
Is there anything I am missing? Do I need to run the romex in a metal or plastic tube at any point such as to the outside metal box or in the attic? Or will the bare ROMEX® to the metal outside boxes be good enough? Do I need to install a GFCI switch at any point in the wire run? I looked into the NEC but there are so many pages it can be hard to tell what is right / wrong. Below are the two tutorials I found:
http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/how-to/overview/0,,437727,00.html
I reside in MA and though town-by-town laws vary at the state level it is legal for homeowners to run their own electrical on THEIR home. I know the answer will probably be "yes" or "call the town" but wanted to ask anyhow, would running flood lights be something you need a permit for? And to follow-up, do they generally just issue the permit for small jobs like this or need to come out and inspect every foot of the new wire?
Thanks!
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