I have a customer that has loose cable running through their attic. I was under the impression that all cable has to be stapled down, not just what is running through the walls and sealed floor cavities.
I told them it should be stapled down. They got an electrician to look at it and he told them it was fine. I’m thinking he doesn’t want to go up there – it’s a 2/12 roof with 17″ at the high point.
am I wrong about the wire needing to be stapled down?
In certain scenarios, flat roofs make more sense than pitched roofs (and vice versa).
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Replies
It's fine, so long as it's not in a place where it could be damaged.
Our electrican said the change in the inspector's thinking going from stapled to not has to do with wire damage caused when people moving around in the attic step on wires and it's pulled through the staple.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
Thanks guys..I'd always seen it stapled before and thought that it should be. View Image View Image
Codes does require it to be fastened, but there is an out.If this is a retro fit, fished wire, it does have to be if the access is limited.So if it is out of theway I would not bother..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
moving around in the attic step on wires
If it's only 17" clear, "stepping" on the wire seems unlikely <g>.
Was in an attic like that, and some one had put down ply with 1x2 "rails" so a mechanic's creeper would slide a person along under the ridge. Not bad at all--untill you needed to get out to where the back speakers neede to install through the ceiling <sigh>.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
With only 17" clear the only people up there are gonna be real skinny. They could hang on the wires and not do them damage.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
"If it's only 17" clear, "stepping" on the wire seems unlikely"
yup unlikely..me and my guys been up there crawling around all the loose wire. what a nightmare in the heat. 1st we went there to do an egineered fix on a busted rafter, next to install 3 skylights. I've done alot of tough jobs, but in the sufficating heat barely able to move this has to be the toughest job I've done. View Image View Image
so a mechanic's creeper would slide a person along under the ridge.
That's oddly interesting. I can appreciate how easy it must be to slide back and forth, but cringe at the hassle of installing the ply and rails to make it work.
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
but cringe at the hassle of installing the ply and rails to make it work.
No lie.
I'm glad I had nothing to do with it. Still wonder who got that tired of lowcraling board-to-board through there to actually do the work.
Was cool though, in a freaky, flashbacks of "Great Escape," sort of way, though.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Was cool though, in a freaky, flashbacks of "Great Escape," sort of way, though.
Did you see the episode of X-files where the leg and arm-less mom was convienently rolled under the bed for storage? *chuckle*
Beer was created so carpenters wouldn't rule the world.
Well, I put a catwalk in my attic (4 feet high), because I got tired of crawling joist to joist. Actually went in in three stages, the center when I did the whole house fan, the west end when I needed to run some wiring out that way, the east end when I was installing chutes for the soffit vents.Almost wish I'd thought of the creeper idea -- wouldn't be that much more work.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
Sounds more like a case of getting your belt buckle caught on it(:-).
getting your belt buckle caught on it
And bags, and reels of cable/wire, sticks of lumber, squares, every loose thing that ought be taut, eache reducing a point-of-contact for "spidering" across the framing.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
I was out in the low slope on the north side of our attic, sealing leaks above the kitchen soffit. Got physically stuck, laying on a piece of plywood, head hanging down into the soffit, with roofing nails digging into my back. I was all I could do to not panic, as I slowly inched my way out.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
Got physically stuck
Ah, the joys of low-pitched roofs.
Never got pinched in by the framing, though. Client's daughter came home and moved the ladder out from under the one and only attic hatch, though, parking her delicate, itty-bitty, convertible in that location. Said scionette retired to her room with the volume of what ever was hip that year about louder than I could stand, in the attic.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Sounds like an OSHA violation to me.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
Sounds like an OSHA violation to me
Yeah, well, the "contractor" had also failed to provide iced water in the "workplace"--it being warmer than 75ºF--too, the idjit.
Had to syncopate thumping on the joists for quite a while.
Music stopped suddenly.
"Helllooooo?"
Ah, the joys of communication. Still took three tries to convince that a ladder was required, that the delicate rag-top had to be moved, that ladders do not move themselves, and No I could not move the ladder for her . . .
Ever so glad it was only April.Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
As long as your not right by the access, you can do about whatever you want as far as running wire through an attic. Especially in an attic with such a low pitch roof, its very unlikely anything will be stored up there.