In a bathroom I'm remodeling there is a wall -to-wall vanity, with a recessed medicine cabinet and electrical on the partition at one end. The electrical (switches and a receptical) are below the medicine cabinet. I want to put a medicine cabinet and an outlet on the opposite wall, thus I need to pick up power at the existing light switches and receptical, run them up to the attic, and drop down to the new outlet below the new medicine cabinet at the right end.
I had assumed that the existing wiring would drop down between the same studs that the medicine cabinet is mounted between. Instead, I find that there is a crossbrace above and below the medicine cabinet, and the wiring comes down from the attic between the left adjacent stud space, and through a hole drilled in the stud to reach the electricals.
Why was it done that way? Is there something wrong with just running the wires in the same stud space as the medicine cabinet? If I could do it that way it would make my task a lot easier. There's about 1 1/4" between the steel back of the medicine cabinet and the gyp-board lath of the opposite wall, so i don't see the problem. OTOH, if I can't do that I will have to break out a lot of plaster in order to drill through studs etc.
TIS
Ed