Reflections on Receptacle Spacing

[renosteinke]

An on-going job has me pondering the conventional wisdom of receptacle spacing in homes. What if there was no '6-ft. rule?'

This is my personal home, a 1957 ranch I bought a year ago. For a number of reasons, I'm living in the house as I do a complete-gut remodel. Since there's no ground wire, I'm doing a complete rewire. For a variety of reasons, I'm not even using the original electric. I've got away from extension cords, and have run Romex on the surface to 4-square boxes wherever I feel the need for a receptacle or switch.

I thought I'd compare the results of my 'as needed' receptacle placement to what code would require.

I've noticed that there seems to be a trend: most rooms have the receptacles clustered on two walls, and no receptacles on the other walls at all. Many receptacles are placed 30" or higher off the floor; placement is generally above furniture. In multiple locations, it has proven worthwhile to run plugmold.

Might make me re-think my design principles a bit.

 

[Dennis Alwon]

:? most receptacles are 30" or higher ????? i don't get what you are saying. I do agree that placement above and beyond the 6' rule is a great idea and I often place outlets based on furniture etc.

 

[JDB3]

I have done houses where they thought receptacles were ugly, so they wanted them 6" off the floor (less visible). When my parents tore down the house my father was born in (1907), and used the lumber to build a new one (1963) she had the receptacles placed at 24" above floor. She said, why bend down to plug items in. Practical point. :happyyes:

 

[renosteinke]

Maybe a bit more detail is needed ...

The house has seven rooms, including the bathroom. Major remodelling is taking place in what were / will be the kitchen, the bathroom, and the laundry room. Walls will be relocated in these rooms. The remaining rooms are being used for living and working.

Two of the rooms are noticeably longer (appx 12-ft.) than thay are wide; I've seen a need to put receptcles only on the long walls; the 'short' (one is over 11-ft.) walls don't have any. While the placement of two receptacles on each long wall would 'legally' cover those walls, I've seen a real need to add plugmold to three of them.

The two remaining rooms are pretty much square. One has all the receptacles, except a dedicated one for the air conditioner, on one wall. This is the room used as a bedroom, for now.

The last room is used as an office, and has all it's receptacles on two adjoining walls- the North wall and the East wall - and nothing on the other two. There's a section of wall between the door and the closet that code would require a receptacle (it's about 3-ft. wide, and covered by the open door), but I have seen no need for such a receptacle. Both of the 'powered' walls have the receptacles supplimented by plugmold.

I have found it quite necessary to have receptacles outside- one in the carport, and one in the back yard.

Lighting? Two of the 'construction site' rooms are getting by with drop lights; the remaining one is best served by a ceiling light and a pair of 3-way switches.

The 'occupied' rooms: three are served by switched ceiling lights, while the office has a pair of pull-chain lights hung over the desks. Most notable of the 'ceiling' light arrangements is the bedroom, which I have found to be better served by three small (40-watt equivalent) lights spaced around the room, rather than a single large light in the center. Plenty of light, without the harsh shadows.

Illuminated switches have proven their worth, as has a pilot-pight switch for the outside light.

Some receptacles incorporate night-lights, and these have proven to be quite handy.

Remember - this is only the 'temporary' wiring, to be used until the respective areas are gutted and remodeled. I'm not saying the code is 'wrong,' but the experience has me thinking.

 

[renosteinke]

Why are the receptacles mounted so high? Well, it wasn't planned that way ....

I've just been placing the receptacles where 'needed.' It just so happens that almost every place that 'needs' power is on the top surface of a table or something.

Other trends ....

Most of the receptacles are placed near corners, with plugmold serving the expanse of wall. It's amazing how many of the plugmold receptacles are in use.

I've also been surprised at the number of receptacles at ceiling height. Air conditioner, wireless router/ modem, and the alarm panel all are placed near the ceiling.

I will concede that my uses are a bit different from the average. Not many folks have a chop saw in their living room

Where I think this is going ....

I think, as I design this house 'to life,' rather than 'to code,' that I will not place a single receptacle in the center of each wall, as tends to happen so often. Instead, I am inclined to place two receptacles on each wall, each set perhaps 24" from the corner, or end of the wall.

The wiremold experiment is also underscoring the need for lots of receptacles in certain areas. I can see placing a receptacle in every stud bay in the kitchen .... or any other 'work' area. Guess it's time to get a laser level!

My lighting experiment has me re-thinking the way we light rooms. "Dead center" seems to be a very bad idea.

 

[kwired]

I have often found near the corners the most used/desired locations, exception being a long wall, or the occasion where something specific is in mind. Receptacles behind furniture is usually desired by the decorator types, until they discover they can't push furniture all the way to wall when something is plugged in, you have to remind them that will happen.

 

[dhalleron]

I'm working on a house with no grounds in the bedroom romex and decided to replace all the wire. I wanted to wire it from the attic since the drywall had been removed from the ceiling due to a roof leak.

There was one outlet right under a window where I would place the bed if it were my house. I removed that outlet and placed an outlet on each side of the window where it would be easy to use if there was a bed there.

 

[Open Neutral]

A friend built a log cabin near here. Nothing fancy...just 3800 ft^2, great room etc.......they did all the plumbing, wiring, HVAC themselves.

There's a vestibule aka mud room between the kitchen and garage. Say <4' wide by 7' long. End doors are the kitchen & garage, side ones to driveway & patio door to rear, with dog door adjacent. He put an outlet between each door (so 5....) plus one more on the dedicated emergency circuit.

When the inspector passed the house, he mentioned there's an exemption for hallways, and it qualified....

 

[andyselec@aol.com]

Typically I place bedroom outlets by the night stands one, in each corner , one in center of walls, and I switch control them all. Plug mold isnt a good Idea because if your plugging in that much stuff You probably would use a surge protector. People don't like to see outlets so I would keep them low and run your cords to them.
For kitchen counters space them Like you think people will use them. Also use at least 3 circuits since every heat generating appliance in a Kitchen use's more than 1/2 a 20a circuit . Example breakfast coffee pot, waffle maker, toaster all going at the same time.

 

[kwired]

Typically I place bedroom outlets by the night stands one, in each corner , one in center of walls, and I switch control them all. Plug mold isnt a good Idea because if your plugging in that much stuff You probably would use a surge protector. People don't like to see outlets so I would keep them low and run your cords to them.
For kitchen counters space them Like you think people will use them. Also use at least 3 circuits since every heat generating appliance in a Kitchen use's more than 1/2 a 20a circuit . Example breakfast coffee pot, waffle maker, toaster all going at the same time.

The tricky part is not having three or more circuits, it is getting those circuits distributed in a way that they don't end up using the coffee pot, waffle maker, and toaster all at same time on one circuit. One house that may mean don't put any outlet next to another that is on the same circuit. The next house you may have them spread around and they just have the right combination of the coffee in one corner of kitchen, the waffle maker in the other corner, and the toaster in the breakfast room - but unfortunately they are all on same circuit even though you ran 4 SABC's.

 

[petersonra]

There really is no such thing as enough outlets and they are never in the right place. And it is not easy to add them many times.

If I ever build a new house or do a major renovation on this one, I am putting in subpanels in various places so I can have as many circuits as I want where I want them. especially if it is a 2 story house.

 

[kwired]

There really is no such thing as enough outlets and they are never in the right place. And it is not easy to add them many times.

If I ever build a new house or do a major renovation on this one, I am putting in subpanels in various places so I can have as many circuits as I want where I want them. especially if it is a 2 story house.

OK it has been a while since I seen this posted, but you had to remind me of it:

 

[DTLight]

I have often found near the corners the most used/desired locations, exception being a long wall, or the occasion where something specific is in mind. Receptacles behind furniture is usually desired by the decorator types, until they discover they can't push furniture all the way to wall when something is plugged in, you have to remind them that will happen.

Depends on how deep the pockets are, but the receptacles can be recessed to allow the furniture or TV to be placed right up to the wall.

http://www.aifittings.com/catalog/pdf/sections/one-and-two-gang-recessed-indoor-inbox.pdf

 

[kwired]

Depends on how deep the pockets are, but the receptacles can be recessed to allow the furniture or TV to be placed right up to the wall.

http://www.aifittings.com/catalog/pdf/sections/one-and-two-gang-recessed-indoor-inbox.pdf

If something is plugged in you still have at least thickness of the cord away from wall with furnishings:happyyes:

 

[Open Neutral]

There really is no such thing as enough outlets and they are never in the right place. And it is not easy to add them many times.

If I ever build a new house or do a major renovation on this one, I am putting in subpanels in various places so I can have as many circuits as I want where I want them. especially if it is a 2 story house.

I have preached "There is no such thing as a duplex outlet; all outlets are quads" and one customer finally believed me.... they are glad they did.

 

[kwired]

I have preached "There is no such thing as a duplex outlet; all outlets are quads" and one customer finally believed me.... they are glad they did.

Until you have the occasional outlet that is dedicated to a specific load that uses most of the capacity of the circuit:happyyes:

 

[north star]

= =

renosteinke,

As you already know, the codes are the minimum......You
can always go above the minimums and add more to suit
your needs / desires.

= =

 

[renosteinke]

North Star, I fully understand that point. I'm comparing 'reality' to 'text book.' Sometimes I think we get so wrapped up in code minutia that we forget that the purpose of our work is to deliver power where it will be used.

Haven't you ever wondered, though, how things would be if the 'rule' did not exist?

I did not deliberately set out to 'break the rules.' Rather, I thought: "This is a construction site. I'll just run power where I need it as I remodel the place. The remodel will have the proper circuits, receptacle placements, etc."

Now that I'm getting up to speed, with most of the 'prep' work done and the actual demolition / remodel getting started, I thought I'd step back and compare what was 'needed' to what is the usual practice. The results surprised me.

I suppose you could do the same in your own house, on a piece of paper. Mark where your loads actually are, and compare them to the receptacle locations. Identify which receptacles don't get used. Identify, in particular, places where you're using an extension cord ot multi-tap adapter.

 

[TimK]

Joe Homeowner

Joe Homeowner

North Star, I fully understand that point. I'm comparing 'reality' to 'text book.' Sometimes I think we get so wrapped up in code minutia that we forget that the purpose of our work is to deliver power where it will be used.

Haven't you ever wondered, though, how things would be if the 'rule' did not exist?

I did not deliberately set out to 'break the rules.' Rather, I thought: "This is a construction site. I'll just run power where I need it as I remodel the place. The remodel will have the proper circuits, receptacle placements, etc."

Now that I'm getting up to speed, with most of the 'prep' work done and the actual demolition / remodel getting started, I thought I'd step back and compare what was 'needed' to what is the usual practice. The results surprised me.

I suppose you could do the same in your own house, on a piece of paper. Mark where your loads actually are, and compare them to the receptacle locations. Identify which receptacles don't get used. Identify, in particular, places where you're using an extension cord ot multi-tap adapter.

And just because it has not been mentioned, you know that your like will not be the same as the next homeowner. Myself i like to put electrical in corners, i can hide cords easily, my wife on the other hand is strictly center of the wall, under windows and middle of the floor, needless to say more quads center of well than corners!

 

[kwired]

And just because it has not been mentioned, you know that your like will not be the same as the next homeowner. Myself i like to put electrical in corners, i can hide cords easily, my wife on the other hand is strictly center of the wall, under windows and middle of the floor, needless to say more quads center of well than corners!

My wife wants them behind the furniture also - then complains when the furniture can't be pushed all the way up to the wall - and I am not telling her about those recessed style - or I will go broke putting them in for her