DIYbanter - View Single Post - Wires from breaker box to house

Pete C.

wrote:

On Aug 17, 10:52 am, "Pete C." wrote:
Red wrote:

On Aug 17, 12:38 pm, wrote:
On Aug 17, 9:11 am, Robert Allison wrote:

wrote:
I just moved into a home built in the early 80's. In the garage the
electrical wires that run from the breaker box-on the front corner of
the garage-to the house are just layed on top of the rafters of the
garage-no conduit, nothing. I assumed they would have had some code
for this in the 80's. Maybe not.

That is pretty normal. Why does it need to be in conduit?

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX

It doesn't need to be. I just figured they could either route the
wires along the rafters boards better instead of at an angle. They are
an eyesore. Plus now I can't load all my crap overhead....

Sure you can. Just nail 1/2's to the top of the rafters, leaving a
space where the wires are. You can then add decking as needed for
flooring.

Red

If it was built in the '80s then there is a high probability that the
"rafters" in question are actually roof trusses and if so then the OP
certainly shouldn't "load all my crap overhead" since the trusses should
never have any significant loading applied to the bottom chord. A few
light items are ok, like lawn chairs and similar.

I looked at some pictures online and they are definitely trusses. And
I really just want to put some light things up there. Beach chairs,
boogie boards, etc.

You'll probably be fine, just don't over do it. It's typically an issue
in northern areas where people pile all their summer stuff in the garage
rafters and then have a good snow / ice storm and the extra snow / ice
load causes the trusses to fail.