Customer says "I smell pine burning"

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Karl H

Senior Member
Location
San Diego,CA
220/221 said:
Is that staples? I'm not a big staple fan :cool:

I'm just glad I found it in the wall. It was a mess getting it all torn out. The HO helped. He was there the whole time, feeling bad because of what he had done.

I know that the house is full of his and the previous HO's handywork. Work is slow but I really didn't want to do anything else there.
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I didn't say or does the NEC say that you are limited to staples.

Just support and secure the cable at intervals not exceeding 4 1/2'

and within 12" of every outlet box,junction box,cabinet, or fitting.

A staple is at least better than nothing at all. I'm not trying to bust your

chops for not supporting those cables, I was just making light

of a more serious problem that you repaired.Great job, you probably

saved that mans home from a fire.This is a CODE forum what else did

you expect from us?:D
 
K

Karl H

Senior Member
Location
San Diego,CA
220/221 said:
Is that staples? I'm not a big staple fan :cool:

I'm just glad I found it in the wall. It was a mess getting it all torn out. The HO helped. He was there the whole time, feeling bad because of what he had done.

I know that the house is full of his and the previous HO's handywork. Work is slow but I really didn't want to do anything else there.
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iwire said:
I really want to know why they bothered putting in a doubled 2 x 8 header that does not support anything.
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I saw that too.Since this is an Electrical NEC Forum I decided not

to bring it up in fear that a Moderator would delete my post for being

Off-Topic. :D
 
LarryFine

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
iwire said:
I really want to know why they bothered putting in a doubled 2 x 8 header that does not support anything.
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I was going to mention that, but wanted to finish reading the thread first. Unless that's a single-story house with trusses, that's a load-bearing wall, judging by the layout of the room, and the double-wide back door.

If it is load-bearing, there should be cripples or blocking in that space, and unless that's a pair of laminated beams, it's not tall enough. Even then, there should be more than one jack stud at each end for that span.

It appears the only thing that beam is holding up is itself.
 
B

bjp_ne_elec

Senior Member
Location
Southern NH
iwire said:
I really want to know why they bothered putting in a doubled 2 x 8 header that does not support anything.
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Bob - good catch.

220/221 - you might want to bring a carpenter in and while it's open and get that fixed. The 2 x 8 isn't even laying on the double 2 x 4, but appears to be toenailed in.
 
LarryFine

LarryFine

Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
Location
Henrico County, VA
Occupation
Electrical Contractor
bjp_ne_elec said:
220/221 - you might want to bring a carpenter in and while it's open and get that fixed. The 2 x 8 isn't even laying on the double 2 x 4, but appears to be toenailed in.
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If you look at the left edge of the second pic, you can see an added stud interrupted by the sill. That's what I saw.
 
tonyou812

tonyou812

Senior Member
Location
North New Jersey
nice post man. That's pretty much 50 percent of what I run into. Its a clear example of how a little knowledge can go terribly wrong. I went into one house about a month ago and pretty much did an about face. And told the guy I cant overlook all his violations or help him for he wanted to pay.
 
2

220/221

Senior Member
Location
AZ
As for the wiring, I am sure 220 strapped it down after the pic was taken.
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Uhhh...yeah...that's it.

I really want to know why they bothered putting in a doubled 2 x 8 header that does not support anything.
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The guy was a computer dude who doesn't know any better.

A staple is at least better than nothing at all.
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Eh...not in my opinion. The cable's not going anywhere. I know it's a code forum and I expect to take some hits. I don't take it personally.

So what will happen with those boxes, access panels? Or are they flush with the new sheet rock?
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I left blank covers and the HO now understands the importance of leaving them accessible.

what do you use then
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I use steel staples but only where I feel it's necessary to hold the cable in place. IMO, the fewer staples the better.

I bet that paddle fan in the background is not hung from a fan rated box either. ( if there is any box at all )
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I would assume you are correct. Like I said, I knew as I walked up to the house that there were issue all over the place including AL wired to CU devices. But that's a whole nother thread. There was a fan/light in another room that was controlled by two circuits, one for the fan, one for the light. I didn't even want to know.

Unless that's a single-story house with trusses, that's a load-bearing wall,
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It is a typical single story trussed house so he didn't need to do anything.


Let me sleep tonight, tell me you're joking.
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Sorry to keep you up but, no. I always use a minimal amout of staples. I put enough in to keep the cables in place during drywall. I never staple close enough to the boxes either. 10 to 12" seems like a better/smoother installation. The cables up top were held in by friction and gravity. I put a couple in going up the stud to the switch box on the left side, out of the pic. I think it's because I have always done a ton of rework and staples are my enemy.
 
growler

growler

Senior Member
Location
Atlanta,GA
220/221 said:
I think it's because I have always done a ton of rework and staples are my enemy.
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That's true but I look at it differently. It's nice to find cable without staples if you need to replace it but when installing new romex it will probably be 50 or 60 years before that cable needs to be replaced.

By that time I will be long dead and forgotten about and robots will be doing electrical work so why should I make it easy for them. I staple the heck out of it and hope those little machines that think they can replace me blow a fuse trying to figure out how to snake in a new cable.

All kidding aside, I don't worry about how easy it will be for the next guy. If you put a staple or a stacker in there it's to code and that's all that counts. If you do things right you will never have to replace it anyway.
 
quogueelectric

quogueelectric

Senior Member
Location
new york
LarryFine said:
I was going to mention that, but wanted to finish reading the thread first. Unless that's a single-story house with trusses, that's a load-bearing wall, judging by the layout of the room, and the double-wide back door.

If it is load-bearing, there should be cripples or blocking in that space, and unless that's a pair of laminated beams, it's not tall enough. Even then, there should be more than one jack stud at each end for that span.

It appears the only thing that beam is holding up is itself.
Click to expand...
No jackstuds and the header placement was the first thing I noticed in that pic. Slap the carpenter too the only thing holding that useless header up is a few nails toe nailed in.
 
2

220/221

Senior Member
Location
AZ
Upon further review, there are jack studs. You can see the one on the left and I zoomed in a bit and can see the one on the right. The corner bead hides it.
 
K

Karl H

Senior Member
Location
San Diego,CA
I think it's because I have always done a ton of rework and staples are my enemy.
__________________

That's a good point. I'm going to stop twisting wire nuts on so

tight, to make a good connection.I'm going to leave them real

loose so if I need to remove one it won't hurt my fingers and wrist.

Instead of installing a compliant system that is essentially free

of hazard. I will install systems that the goal focus is not

safety and function,but removal in the future.:D
 
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