NMC cable allowed in a wood frame office building?

[Aceelectric21]

I am involved in a dispute with a local municipality. Here is the situation. A wood framed dental office building, that was built 25 years ago, had a minor flood from a broken pipe. The repairs required the local municipality to issue a building permit. At the first walk thru, the code enforcement officer noticed that the exam rooms were not wired properly with Hospital Grade MC, so he mandated that that be done. After the work was done and the rough in inspection completed, he is now insisting that the building was wired improperly 25 years ago with type NM cable, and that the entire building needs to be gutted and rewired at a massive cost and several month delay. I am certain that this building is either Type III, IV, or V construction, and that it is even now allowed to be wired in non exam room areas with type NMC cable. Please give me some thoughts and code sections to back up my arguments. Thanks in advance.

 

[LarryFine]

What should matter is whether the wiring was done to the code in force when the permit and work were done.

 

[Johnhall30]

Agreed that the work should remain if it was up to code when it was installed. But redundant grounding is only required for branch circuits that supply patient care areas

 

[Aceelectric21]

What should matter is whether the wiring was done to the code in force when the permit and work were done.

I agree that's always been the standard, but the municipality is claiming it wasn't. And I have researched the matter. The building is a Type VB construction, NMC is clearly allowed by the NEC, as it is not specifically excluded in 334.12.

 

[GoldDigger]

Just to complicate things, please keep in mind that the prohibition on NM is not for buildings that are Type I or Type II. It is for buildings that are required to be I or II.
If the inspector feels that the remodeling required I or II construction that work should never have been approved.

There are separate provisions for wiring to patient care areas, so that is probably the classification that needs to be determined by current standards when and only when new wiring is done.

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