When did copper romex/loomex start being used?
Nonmetallic Cable, as a wiring method, predates your 1943 house by over two decades.
So does the City of Muskegon Inspection Department.
If the walls are opened, all wiring has to be brought up to current code and any wiring that is unsafe, damaged or in bad repair must be removed and replaced. That means any cable or wiring type with no EGC must go.
Unless this is actually written in the local ordinance, what would prevent one from adding the EGC?
Does that apply to all wiring in the wall? What about cables that just pass through like some home runs or switch legs and only part of the circuit is exposed by opening the wall in question?
I'm not sure. I have only done entire re-mods. That is a good question, though.
Every once in awhile I'll get involved with someone who is trying to use everything that is already there, and only add what is missing to bring the job into compliance with the current Code. Almost always, the desire to reuse the old wiring comes from a misguided attempt to control cost.
It's the little things, about the Code, that tend to make the reuse of the old wiring impractical. I'd say the most common sticking point is box volume calculation. Most of the 1940s wiring I've seen uses a lot of steel wall cases that are 3" x 2" x 2?" and they are defined in Table 314.16(A) as having only 12.5 cubic inches.
To pay me to rebuild a wall case, to reuse the old cable, is more expensive than to have a demo guy remove everything and let me install all new.
But sometimes the old method used 4" x 4" x 1?" with plasterrings, sometimes the method is flexible metal conduit or another raceway type. These tend to be more practical to reuse, but not always.
