"EXT" wrote in message
anews.com...
Built my house in the early 1970s, for those who can remember that far
back,
(snip)
Back then the NM cable had each wire paper wrapped over the insulation,
additional paper cords to fill out 3 wire cables to make them rounder,
then
a paper over wrap under a braided sheath which was soaked in tar then
painted orange. Finally they coated the cable in a wax material to make it
easier to pull through holes in the wood framing. It took time to strip
the
ends of the cable and to work your way down to the actual wires. There is
still some of this cable in use in my house.

Bite the bullet, buy copper, save money on something else, you won't
regret
it.

Either you built that place earlier than you remember, or your supply house
gave you some real old stock. I was a gofer in my old man's construction
company in that era, and the romex we used was all plastic skin by 1966 when
my father built his dream house. My grandmother's 1961 house had the
multi-layer cloth stuff, as does the original part of the expanded 1960
cookie cutter I am sitting in now.

But to the question at hand- nothing but copper for household wiring and
potable water supply side. PVC is okay for drains. Haven't ever used PEX- I
understand it is popular in Europe- but it has a bad rep in this country
from the cheap crap they put in trailers, er, 'manufactured housing', for
several years.

aem sends...