Switch and outlet make up

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e57

e57

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Location
San Francisco, CA
Been meaning to throw this question out there for some time now.
Is there an industry standard for rough make-up?

Been doing it this way for about 16 years...

  • Conductors for each device taped together, and rolled in the position they will go in ganged situations.
  • Travelers twisted together (4-ways in and out twisted seperate, and taped to thier ground)
  • Commons of 3-ways and switch legs of single poles with a with a tight loop on the conductor. (3-ways travelers twisted seperate, and taped to thier common and ground)
  • Line side of GFI's taped to ground, load taped seperatly to them.
  • Recepticals just get the hot, neutral and ground taped together.

Like I said, been doing it this way for about 16 years now, just about everyone I have worked under, with, or those coming on below me have been simular with few exceptions. Some, instead of tape, the ground is used to bind the conductors together. Some mark circuit number in box, some do not....

Anyway, I recently have had someone (The PM for the Company...) suggest that it should be standard to make little markers out of romex sheath, and mark each conductor, "Hot", "Neutral", "Travelers", "Line", "Load", and what the switch leg is for, i.e. "Cans" etc. Which is done by a few people in the company I currently work for, and I often fine these labels coated in paint, unreadable, or missing. I also see it as time consuming and redundant...

What do you think, and do you know of any other methods?
 
No tape.
All splices/pigtailing made up.
Line side of switches and GFI's get stripped - sometimes these get spliced through to allow for temp. light/power.
I may indicate what a wire does inside the box with a "Shapie"..ie, F = feed, J = "Jumper" (to next location), etc.
We "try" and always have the feed to a box be next to the stud, jumper next to it...for a switch/GFCI, load always on bottom.
Switches are ALWAYS arranged so the wires are in their "location" ready for a switch.

The more we can do on rough - marking, splicing, etc - the faster the trim is...and less finger prints on freshly painted walls.
 
celtic said:
No tape.
All splices/pigtailing made up.
Line side of switches and GFI's get stripped - sometimes these get spliced through to allow for temp. light/power.
I may indicate what a wire does inside the box with a "Shapie"..ie, F = feed, J = "Jumper" (to next location), etc.
We "try" and always have the feed to a box be next to the stud, jumper next to it...for a switch/GFCI, load always on bottom.
Switches are ALWAYS arranged so the wires are in their "location" ready for a switch.

The more we can do on rough - marking, splicing, etc - the faster the trim is...and less finger prints on freshly painted walls.
Click to expand...

Sounds simular to me. on three ways I run the common around the travelers and tuck into the box when you pull it out it is obvious which wire is the common
 
I guess we are similar to the other replies, although we pigtail on finish and strip the loads, not the line on switches, GFI's or t-stats.
 
Pretty much the same. The ground wraps around all the conductors for a device (loosely, for one thumb untwisting at trim).

I twist the line black & white of the GFI's, to mark the line. No marking for single poles. Common of threeway wrapped around travellers. Fourways, travellers twisted.
 
little clarification

little clarification

So, it all looks fairly simular....
All the conductors spliced, and in location. And all are familiar enouigh that it would not be too hard to figure out.
For me, I use the tape out of habit, from years of working with stranded wire in predominately piped work, where the tape worked out better keeping it all together. But often just use the ground wire.... The tape would be at the back as it exits the box, so there is free end to work with, so doesn't get in the way of finish install.
I too know some people who strip load side of gfi for identification.
Another thing that I do often with cable installations is use the ground in the cable feeding the box to ground it, that way I know later, if I ever go back. (Used to work in a situation where we re-modeled over our own work constantly in the same complex of buildings for about six years.)

Anyway, it seems as of yet nobody is making little labels for each conductor?????? :rolleyes:
 
The only time I ID conductors is in commercial/industrial settings. A 2" RMC with 20 #10's in it can get a bit confusing :)

Residential gets the directory and that's all.
 
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