Residential Wiring Practices

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just my 2 cents on the subject, the ONLY reason I dill my holes in a straight line, is for ease of installation, I feel I can pull wire twice as fast pulling it straight, then trying to pull at all sorts of angles, and i'm sure my efficiency at pulling wire makes up any cost difference for extra material I may have used....
 
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mdshunk said:
If you wouldn't mind, can you list the benefits to your customer in having their concealed work as neat as you describe?
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I do spend more time making my exposed work neater. Straight lines, minimal to no sags, etc,. On rough-ins, I am all about getting in and getting out. House money is made by how fast you get in and get out and on to the next one. Do it right and do it safe, but do it quick. As mentioned earlier, the shortest distance is a straight line. The only place I draw the line is diagonal lines through a stud wall.

The only advantage to neat work on a rough-in is it shows, GC, HO, and Inspector that you are careful in your work. If they notice care in what they do see, they will assume you are careful in what they can't see. If they see wires that look like they were thrown in for the sake of speed, they are more suspect in everything else. No presumptions on anybody's work here, :smile: just what I have picked up on over the years.
 
I remember when I first started out as a helper. The first few years it was super enforced to make my wiring neat as possible. As I wired, I'd make everything horizontal and vertical and laugh to myself as the masters would run wires diagonal. I would think to myself " wow that looks worse than mine, it looks like a hack did it". I was not paying attention that alot of times they were moving boxes that I placed wrong or the contractor needed to move and the wiring was too short for 90 degree pretty bends and it was necessary to run diagonal or rerun all the wires. As the years went by, My helper views on this matter changed as my responsibilities did. Time frames, amount of wire used, home owner/contractor changes and structural details became more important. I realized that although diagonal may not be as pretty or my prefered method, sometimes it is necessary and more economical.
 
So you guys would consider these overly neat and wasteful?

2boxesrear.jpg


3boxesrear.jpg


To me, it wouldn't have taken any longer to do it sloppily.
 
LarryFine said:
So you guys would consider these overly neat and wasteful?
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I would not but I don't think those pictures show what we are talking about.

In your pictures certain code rules need to be meet and you had little choice.

IMO we had been taking about going diagonally some distance from one box to the next.
 
What's with having 3 4-gang boxes stacked on top of each other like that? Is that a restaurant of something?

In a residential setting, that would not go over well around here.

Edit: nevermind, that does not look like a restaurant.
 
benmin said:
I was not paying attention that alot of times they were moving boxes that I placed wrong or the contractor needed to move and the wiring was too short for 90 degree pretty bends and it was necessary to run diagonal or rerun all the wires.
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I will run diagonal in those instances.
 
splinetto said:
Is it me or does it look like, in the picture, that there are two wires under one staple? going to the single gang
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Yes, and there are many brands of staples in which that is specifically permitted. Another one of your imaginary requirements?
 
Come on Marc you dont always have to have an answer for the way you do things...wouldnt those staples cost more money?? It is just all about how cheap you can get it done right?
 
splinetto said:
Come on Marc you dont always have to have an answer for the way you do things...wouldnt those staples cost more money?? It is just all about how cheap you can get it done right?
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Nope. The regular one's I use are rated by the manufacturer to accomodate two 14-2's or two 12-2's. Just an ordinary NM staple. More that two, I use Stackers or CJ-6's.

I feel compelled to respond, in order to guide you through the formative years of your youth.
 
splinetto said:
It is just all about how cheap you can get it done right?
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Is it all about going as slowly as possible and using as much material as possible?

I think you apparently live in an area that has certain practices that the majority of the country does not.
 
480sparky said:
aka "Stack Staple"
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Yeah, I hate to hear people calling them by that name. Reason being, GB, Viking, Minerallac, and others manufactur regular NM staples that they call "stacking staples". They're rated to stack two cables on top of each other and hammer in a staple.
 
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