How Hack Is This

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DBoone

DBoone

Senior Member
Location
Mississippi
Occupation
General Contractor
To make a long story short, finished a small bathroom remodel today and had to reuse a piece of existing wiremold but I had to remove the 12-2 in it and replace with 12-3. The 12-3 was round and wouldn't quite let the cover snap over so I had to remove the NM sheathing under the wiremold and the wires fit great.
 
IMO, not hack at all... as long as you properly terminated the cable with an NM connector upon entering the wiremold. :huh:
 
DBoone said:
To make a long story short, finished a small bathroom remodel today and had to reuse a piece of existing wiremold but I had to remove the 12-2 in it and replace with 12-3. The 12-3 was round and wouldn't quite let the cover snap over so I had to remove the NM sheathing under the wiremold and the wires fit great.
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Did you use a hammer to close the cover?:jawdrop:
 
Two things that confuse me about this post...

Bathroom remodel - existing wiremold
Why wasn't wiremold removed during remodel?

Wiremold - snap on cover?
What brand of wiremold?

I wouldn't consider using nm as a waste as I would just pass on the cost...$.15 extra a foot vs. time saved :?
 
Smart $ said:
IMO, not hack at all... as long as you properly terminated the cable with an NM connector upon entering the wiremold. :huh:
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To be honest with you I'm not sure about the connectors as this was my first time using wiremold. The wiremold entered the boxes thru pre-made knockouts.
 
RLyons said:
Two things that confuse me about this post...Bathroom remodel - existing wiremold Why wasn't wiremold removed during remodel?Wiremold - snap on cover? What brand of wiremold?I wouldn't consider using nm as a waste as I would just pass on the cost...$.15 extra a foot vs. time saved :?
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It was a small bathroom in the basement of an old house. Concrete walls all around. We just put in a drop ceiling, furred out a 4' wall, GFCI and vanity light. No need to remove wiremold as it was not in the way and saved us time getting to reuse it. It's the official wiremold brand.EDIT: also installed an exhaust/light combo which is where the 12-3 came into play
 
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DBoone said:
To be honest with you I'm not sure about the connectors as this was my first time using wire mold. The wire mold entered the boxes thru pre-made knockouts.
Click to expand...

I think he was talking about how did you secure the NM where it entered the Wire Mold as required by code, some wire mold has built in NM clips and some you have to use a RC connector if it has a 1/2" KO.

What was the WM used for receptacles or lights, or both? too bad you couldn't have located all the wiring in the new 4" wall, as it would have looked much better to have all the electric recessed
 
Glad I came upon this post,
Now I'm curious, a job I recently looked at may need wiremold.
Residential nm from basement wiremold up to first floor, nm from attic crawl wiremold down to second floor.
Would stripping the nm be a no go because of the lack of writing on the conductors?
 
ritelec said:
Glad I came upon this post,
Now I'm curious, a job I recently looked at may need wiremold.
Residential nm from basement wiremold up to first floor, nm from attic crawl wiremold down to second floor.
Would stripping the nm be a no go because of the lack of writing on the conductors?
Click to expand...

Why would you use wire mold to the first floor?:blink:
 
stupid house..

from inside out.
Plaster on top of brick...then cement then siding.

very stupid

one receptacle on first floor living room exterior wall (someone years ago from what the lady said added it during some type of reno...from basement it looks like he chiseled to get it in).
one receptacle on first floor exterior kitchen wall. chord coming thru floor for frige and microwave.)
couple interior walls (more like a studio) maybe "a" receptacle..

2nd floor is similar with a funky mansard roof which are the walls..
 
Hacking wiremold means sliding the back section out so you can git more wires in it or cutting the sides with dykes for bending it into an inside or outside corner or making offsets with a carpenter's hammer or using two drywall screws (one on either side) to hold it down 'cause you ran out of straps or running however much you have and leaving the wires bare the rest of the way. I've seen a lot of hacked wiremold.
 
was thinking wiremold to make a "nicer looking" job but between conductor fill in the wiremold and boxes and fittings, I may just pipe it and thhn... not sure

curious about the stripping of the nm though.
 
PetrosA said:
Hacking wiremold means sliding the back section out so you can git more wires in it or cutting the sides with dykes for bending it into an inside or outside corner or making offsets with a carpenter's hammer or using two drywall screws (one on either side) to hold it down 'cause you ran out of straps or running however much you have and leaving the wires bare the rest of the way. I've seen a lot of hacked wiremold.
Click to expand...

thats funny !
 
ritelec said:
stupid house..

from inside out.
Plaster on top of brick...then cement then siding.

very stupid

one receptacle on first floor living room exterior wall (someone years ago from what the lady said added it during some type of reno...from basement it looks like he chiseled to get it in).
one receptacle on first floor exterior kitchen wall. chord coming thru floor for frige and microwave.)
couple interior walls (more like a studio) maybe "a" receptacle..

2nd floor is similar with a funky mansard roof which are the walls..
Click to expand...

I see, There are no hallow walls, What a nightmare...:happyno::lol:
 
RLyons said:
Two things that confuse me about this post...

Bathroom remodel - existing wiremold
Why wasn't wiremold removed during remodel?

Wiremold - snap on cover?
What brand of wiremold?

I wouldn't consider using nm as a waste as I would just pass on the cost...$.15 extra a foot vs. time saved :?
Click to expand...
There is only one brand of "Wiremold" there are multiple brands of "surface metal raceway" and "surface non-metallic raceway" of which "Wiremold" is most well known brand;)

hurk27 said:
I think he was talking about how did you secure the NM where it entered the Wire Mold as required by code, some wire mold has built in NM clips and some you have to use a RC connector if it has a 1/2" KO.

What was the WM used for receptacles or lights, or both? too bad you couldn't have located all the wiring in the new 4" wall, as it would have looked much better to have all the electric recessed
Click to expand...
I understood the switches supplied by this raceway were on a block wall.
I also don't see why this raceway can't be considered a sleeve and install the cable with no fitting but do need some kind of abrasion protection at the cut end which probably still leaves you at least putting a male adapter and possibly a conduit bushing on the end of the raceway at the very least, and the NM still would need secured within 6(?) inches, and probably can not have the sheath stripped to be correct for those who are nit picky to approve it.

A lot of 3 wire with gnd NM is flat instead of round these days - but then it could be too wide to fit into your raceway.
 
ritelec said:
curious about the stripping of the nm though.
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Not supposed to because of the writing or lack there of on the conductors, but I've done it. According to the letter of the law I guess I'm not supposed to strip off the jacket when I land romex in a panel either. That's why I don't worry about it.

If I can I like to use THHN, it's easier and I can use stranded that way.
 
I never use Wiremold, it's so expensive . I just use 1/2" EMT. And since I don't stock #14 THHN, I often use Romex in the EMT, both stripped and unstripped.
 
hurk27 said:
I think he was talking about how did you secure the NM where it entered the Wire Mold as required by code, some wire mold has built in NM clips and some you have to use a RC connector if it has a 1/2" KO.

What was the WM used for receptacles or lights, or both? too bad you couldn't have located all the wiring in the new 4" wall, as it would have looked much better to have all the electric recessed
Click to expand...

Definitely would have looked better but in this case we didn't have that option. Only one wall, 4' long, was furred out. It was the toilet, vanity wall so wiring for the GFCI ad vanity light switch were hidden.
 
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