"Doug Miller" wrote in message
m...
In article oKKUc.66948$Lj.39636@fed1read03, "SQLit"
wrote:

"Tara Lynn" wrote in message
...
I'm in the process of buying a house and the lower level is an
unfinished basement. There is NM cable drooping unsupported
under the joists to single bulb light fixtures. Naturally I want
to get this fixed as soon as possible. I've been told to just
staple the wire to the bottom of the joists, but I believe this
violates NEC 334.15(C). Even if it didn't, it would look awful
and possibly cause problems someday when I finish the basement.

So the solution is to drill holes in the joists and rewire.
However, there is a hot air duct (uninsulated) that runs parallel
to and between the joists that the wiring has to cross.

How should this be handled? Does NM cable have to protected from
the potentially hot duct? Should it be run in a conduit? How
should I route the cable around the duct?

Thanks
-T

Stapling the wire up with the proper staples is done every day and is the
accepted method of straping NM.

Not when it *crosses* the joists, it's not. The NEC
_specifically_prohibits_
that practice. Stapling NM that runs parallel to a joist, to the face of
that
joist, is fine.

As to the bottom of the joists, I would not.
Every time I put something on the bottom of a joist I had to move it.
Drill
a 3/4 inch hole in the center of the joist and run the cable there. NM
should never touch something hot. A couple of inches clearance is fine.


And how does he get around the duct?

I had a house like that. The "duct" was the space between the joists with
sheet metal nailed to the bottom of the joists. I hired an electrician to
wire from one side to the other. He went all the way around the cellar, said
there was no other way to cross the duct.

Bob