Partially Covered Junction Box 314.29

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xguard

Senior Member
Location
Baton Rouge, LA
This is a 4x4 box partially covered by a piece of tile. This box is intended for an emergency light. I tagged this as a violation of 314.29. The installer claims it is not in violation as he can reach the wiring. To me that's ridiculous but as my wife reminds me I've been wrong once or twice before. Please let me know what you think. Thank you.
 

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I concur with your ruling. :thumbsup:

xguard said:
This is a 4x4 box partially covered by a piece of tile. This box is intended for an emergency light. I tagged this as a violation of 314.29. The installer claims it is not in violation as he can reach the wiring. To me that's ridiculous but as my wife reminds me I've been wrong once or twice before. Please let me know what you think. Thank you.
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xguard said:
This is a 4x4 box partially covered by a piece of tile. This box is intended for an emergency light. I tagged this as a violation of 314.29. The installer claims it is not in violation as he can reach the wiring. To me that's ridiculous but as my wife reminds me I've been wrong once or twice before. Please let me know what you think. Thank you.
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My thoughts are, if you don't want to argue a code violation, don't cite a code violation to a tile layer. :p

JAP>
 
At least the screw holes are accessible (look to be). Worst is when the tile "hole" is wide enough but not tall enough to allow you to get your screws in.
 
I don't see it as a big deal myself.

Not much different than a 1g mudring placed on a 4s box.

I'd be more upset about having to shim the back of my emergency light so it wont sit cock eyed.

JAP>
 
jap said:
I don't see it as a big deal myself.

Not much different than a 1g mudring placed on a 4s box.

I'd be more upset about having to shim the back of my emergency light so it wont sit cock eyed.

JAP>
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Right. I'm capable of being upset about multiple things at once.
 
jap said:
...Not much different than a 1g mudring placed on a 4s box.

I'd be more upset about having to shim the back of my emergency light so it wont sit cock eyed.
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This. I think the complainants should be the owner and electrician, and while you have their best interests in mind, I don't see a Code violation with the small overlap, but am open to be convinced of one.

Perhaps the Code violation would be the gap created when a device is mounted crooked.
 
MAC702 said:
This. I think the complainants should be the owner and electrician, and while you have their best interests in mind, I don't see a Code violation with the small overlap, but am open to be convinced of one.

Perhaps the Code violation would be the gap created when a device is mounted crooked.
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I am the owner........ My argument is the wires aren't accessible. We've agreed upon a fix.
 
xguard said:
I am the owner........ My argument is the wires aren't accessible. We've agreed upon a fix.
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But they are accessible. Only code issue I can see is maybe with 314.20, and maybe one can say the tile (though non combustible) isn't an approved cover (or partial cover) for the application.
 
xguard said:
I am the owner........ My argument is the wires aren't accessible. We've agreed upon a fix.
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Two ways to fix it... depending upon the way the wire is run in the block... chop block out enough to raise the outlet, or carefully use a portable cutter to cut the tile for the opening... of course, you could also add another row of tile, maybe just a border row... that gets you the height then use an extender for your outlet..still need the tile that is there chipped but..l I prefer that, especially if I get a tile that has a border edge so it looks higher spec...lol
 
xguard said:
This is a 4x4 box partially covered by a piece of tile. This box is intended for an emergency light. I tagged this as a violation of 314.29. The installer claims it is not in violation as he can reach the wiring. To me that's ridiculous but as my wife reminds me I've been wrong once or twice before. Please let me know what you think. Thank you.
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Sorry. The whole thing looks ridiculous. Tan tile that dies with no trim into gray tile, the overlap and resulting mess it causes. Totally unprofessional.
 
Craigv said:
Sorry. The whole thing looks ridiculous. Tan tile that dies with no trim into gray tile, the overlap and resulting mess it causes. Totally unprofessional.
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That was my first thought - if that were my wall, the box would be the last thing I’d worry about!
 
retirede said:
That was my first thought - if that were my wall, the box would be the last thing I’d worry about!
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I don't think we're getting the whole story.

Who knows,,, that may be block behind the Tan tiles for all we know.

JAP>
 
When I saw it was thinking it was like my old school shower rooms... originally block with paint but they then tiled up to a certain height to make it easier to clean the soap off...
 
Craigv said:
If that's block, the tile job is even worse...unfinished.

There's gotta be more to the story. I hope.
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Whether it's tile, block or whatever it is, I think it looks fine, other than maybe the uneven grout joint, which I've seen much worse.

If this is where the tile was supposed to end, then it simply boils to the box being roughed in at the wrong height.

Still not a code violation of not being able to access the wiring, because you can.

Fix it an go on.

JAP>
 
Craigv said:
If that's block, the tile job is even worse...unfinished.

There's gotta be more to the story. I hope.
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I think one needs to know more about the place before saying that. If the box is for an emergency light could easily be 10 feet high and might not look that bad at all to change wall finish, and a trim tile at that height might not even be noticed.
 
kwired said:
I think one needs to know more about the place before saying that. If the box is for an emergency light could easily be 10 feet high and might not look that bad at all to change wall finish, and a trim tile at that height might not even be noticed.
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Absolutely, and if what is there was the intended look and finish, the tile should have simply been notched to be a couple of inches wider than the box. It would then be possible to not only completely access the box, but to easily install any fixture regardless of purpose.

This is is no better than bad DIY tile work. The tile setter saved 2 minutes by not notching the tile.
 
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