"DerbyDad03" wrote in message
ups.com...
Can you access the wires that enter (and possibly leave) the box from
another location?

For example, all of the first floor outlets in my 1956 house have their
wires run from the basement, to the box, back to the basment, along the
joists, up to the next outlet and back down again. When I needed to
disable an outlet was going to get blocked, I simply pulled the wires
down into the basement and put in a junction box so the circuit could
continue on.

Junction boxes are supposed to be "accessible." If no power goes into the
J box, it isn't really a junction box anymore. In the above case, it
wasn't necessary to pull the wires but merely to disconnect them. The code
isn't concerned with abandoned wires.

If you cover up a live junction box it's a matter of judgment as to whether
it's still accessible. Clearly, "covering" it with movable furniture
retains the "accessibility". Likewise, some wall paper over a blank cover
would still be accessible. But if you cover it with a kitchen cabinet and
don't provide an access hole ...

It comes down to how much work is required to regain access to the box and
whether the box can be "found" if you move out and someone else moves in.

In our place the previous owner put a blank cover over a J-box and then
built a wall that partly covered the cover. But IMO it's still as
"accessible" as a ceiling box with a heavy light fixture attached. It
would be a minor PITA but if the need arose, I could get a knife and cut out
the 1" or so of wall board.

In some places there are two electrical inspections: before the dry wall is
installed and after the walls are up and the fixtures, outlets, and switches
are in place. I suspect that my partly covered box would not pass the
second electrical inspection!