Wiring next to window framing

[tallgirl]

I'm just about finished my little guidebook and I'm trying to illustrate a point about the 6' requirement and how that might make one have to run wires in a less than direct manner. The example I've come up with is where the wall is laid out door-window-corner and the distance from the door to the corner is 5', making it so the outlet must be on that wall (since there is going to be no stud in a reasonable place to mount the box), but the only reasonable place to mount the box is on the stud which is part of the window frame.

I was taught to never, ever run Romex straight up a stud that's part of the framing lumber for a window because people like to drill holes for drapery mounting hardware and the odds that some idiot was going to hit the nicely stapled to the stud wire was too great. So, I'd staple the wire about a foot up from the box, traverse diagonally to the next stud, staple, then straight up the second stud, penetrate the ceiling plate, and get on with life.

If I put this in my little booklet I'm not going to have some electrician tell these peeps they are wasting their time, correct? The electrician is going to pat them on their head and thank them for watching out for future drill bits, correct? Or was I taught wrong? Caveat driller?

Here's a graphic from this website. Note that I'm not asking about the 1 1/4" requirement, I'm asking about common practice. Obviously, the wire would have to be more than 1 1/4" from the face of the stud.

(Added piccies ...)

 

[al hildenbrand]

Interesting.

I have never considered such a possibility a threat.

When you come down to it, there is very little that can be done about 2" and longer screws. Thankfully, most homeowners don't have the inclination to muscle in such a screw. They'd more likely, IMO, just use the included little screws.

Now, shelving for books, sculpture, closet systems, etc., is possibly more likely to lead an overbuilding homeowner to sink fasteners more than an 1?" into the framing. That will happen anywhere, not just along window edges.

As one other thought, after looking at your depiction of the front wall, I'd be inclined to poke a string of holes around the room, thus running the wire in the studs under the window rough opening. . .but, ultimately, it is the situation that determines the minimum install effort that dictates what I will actually do.

 

[tallgirl]

Interesting.

I have never considered such a possibility a threat.

Heh. You can credit my father for making me paranoid

Thanks for the feedback -- that example was provided to make people think about what they are doing, rather than just thinking that they could blindly run wire and/or conduit wherever they want.

FWIW, whenever I've built a house, even if I was working with Habitat or equivalent, I went and found a scrap of 2x6 or 2x8 and nailed it at the same level as the window's header between the stud for the window frame and the next stud over. Mom called it "drapery blocking" or "drapery blocks". Framing carpenters I've known over the years called it "Not my job!". It provides a much more secure fastener than Molley Bolts or those crappy little plastic thingies that come with drapery hangers.

 

[paul32]

When my house was built, the builder put those drapery blocks in, and they never got used. The curtain rods are anchored farther from the window--they are longer so when the curtains are open you can actually see the window.

 

[LarryFine]

. . . I'd staple the wire about a foot up from the box . . .

I suggest reducing this distance a mite, to, say, 8 inches. To wit:

314.17 Conductors Entering Boxes, Conduit Bodies, or Fittings.
Conductors entering boxes, conduit bodies, or fittings shall be protected from abrasion and shall comply with 314.17(A) through (D).

(C) Nonmetallic Boxes and Conduit Bodies.
Exception: Where nonmetallic-sheathed cable or multiconductor Type UF cable is used with single gang boxes not larger than a nominal size 57 mm ? 100 mm (21⁄4 in. ? 4 in.) mounted in walls or ceilings, and where the cable is fastened within 200 mm (8 in.) of the box measured along the sheath and where the sheath extends through a cable knockout not less than 6 mm (1⁄4 in.), securing the cable to the box shall not be required.

 

[tallgirl]

I suggest reducing this distance a mite, to, say, 8 inches. To wit:

That's after stapling it to the stud when it first leaves the box.

I don't like using the same staple that holds the wire in the box for anything else. I think it looks nicer that way and the wires in the box seem to wobble around less.

Staples are cheap -- use plenty

I've not gotten confirmation that I have a house to do a training demo on tomorrow (I'm waiting on the front to pass before I hop in the car and violate some speed limits ...), but I'll see if I can take some piccies of my work. It's very pretty

 

[stickboy1375]

That's after stapling it to the stud when it first leaves the box.

I don't like using the same staple that holds the wire in the box for anything else. I think it looks nicer that way and the wires in the box seem to wobble around less.

Staples are cheap -- use plenty

I've not gotten confirmation that I have a house to do a training demo on tomorrow (I'm waiting on the front to pass before I hop in the car and violate some speed limits ...), but I'll see if I can take some piccies of my work. It's very pretty

I'd love to see them, I actually snap chalk lines when i drill out a house thats how nice holes are.... never have an extra hole in a house either...