stapling romex

[a2rjh]

Why is it that you cannot staple romex to the underside or bottom of attic rafters? I can see if it is the ceiling joist.

Just trying to find out the logical reasoning.

[clare]

Because some idiot could use it for a handhold or a clothesline. The wire needs to be supported and protected.. Nail a board across the rafters and you can staple the wire to the board. You CAN staple it ALONG the rafter, just not across, from what I recollect.

[trader4]

Agree with the reason. But as I recall, there are exceptions that allow you to nail to rafters if it's not a generally accessible location that people can easily get to.

[trader4]

Just checked. And from the NEC, appears to me that if the attic has stairs, then the cable needs to be protected by guard strips if it's run across rafters and within 7 ft of the attic floor. If it's only accessible by scuttle hole, then said protection only applies within

6 ft of the scuttle hole. 320.23 is what applies. That section is for type AC cable, but in the NM section it says that section also applies to NM.

[DerbyDad03]

Just curious...

Do "stairs" include pull-down stairs or do they (the NEC) mean permanent stairs only?

[trader4]

I would interpret it to mean any stairs, but I don' believe it says specifically. The point is with any stairs, then the attic is readily accessible to most people for storage, etc.

[DerbyDad03]

Perhaps you are not picturing what I have correctly.

The Romex is stapled to the ridge board. It doesn't run across the rafters. The rafters are a good inch above the Romex. In other words, it closely follows a running board - the ridge board - as required/allowed by 320.15.

[trader4]

320.15 doesn't specifically address attics. 320.23 does and it says that any cable run across the face of joists, rafter or studs in an attic has to be "protected by a guard strip" at least as high as the cable, unless it's over 7 ft above the floor of the attic. It doesn't draw a distinction between parallel or perpendicular. If I understand it correctly, you have it stapled to the bottom of the ridgeboard. While the code doesn't specifically say ridge board, it sounds like it would fall into the same category. They want the cable either on the side of the joist, stud, rafter, or if it's on the face, then protected by something at least as high as it is. At least that is my understanding.

Again, I don't see anything wrong with what you did from a safety standpoint. I'm just citing what the code says. If they say you can't run a romex up the bottom of a rafter without a guard strip, unless it's 7 ft above the floor, then I would think the same applies to your ridgeboard location.

[hrhofmann]

Is the ridge board 7' above the floor below it?

[DerbyDad03]

...snip...

Allow me to try and clear this up.

Assume the white line in the photo below is the Romex. It comes up into the attic, runs along the rafter and then runs along what I call the "face" of the ridge board (the "8" in a 1x8).

[clare]

Perfectly legal and proper

[krw]

Looks perfectly acceptable to me.

[gfretwell]

Rock on dude, you are good to go. That is what I thought you were saying.

[trader4]

That's 100% kosher. Sides of the rafters are OK, sides of the ridge-board are OK.

[DerbyDad03]

Thanks...I figured I was OK.

The only thing I didn't mention was that I ran out of Romex so the wiring is a mixture of Romex, BX cable, K&T and some bell wire. The bell wire is only used for the Danish 107-2-DI receptacle that I had lying around. If you trim and bend the prongs of a standard US plug you can get it into those Danish receptacles...sort of.

I don't think it's anything an inspector would have an issue with. ;-)

[hrhofmann]

Did you put all the splice points in boxes???

[DerbyDad03]

Yes...shoe boxes.