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#202942 09/02/11 01:09 PM
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 356
Niko Offline OP
Member
Article 320.23 (A) & (B) (2008) is about AC cables installed in accessible attics. does this article apply to a garage with open walls?

I have always heard that NM cable and AC cable can not be installed in a garage that has open walls (No sheetrock). But article 320.23 talks about this for attic not garages.

Thanks


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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,445
Likes: 2
Cat Servant
Member
A posting from California, and he hasn't seen NM in a garage? How does the power get to the door opener or light?

I will admit that the practice seems to be to staple it to the stud, running it vertically to the rafters, then through the top plate and follow the perimiter around ....

Otherwise, I can't recall the last time I saw AC. Plenty of MC, but AC seems to have vanished.

Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 9,923
Likes: 32
G
Member
I read it to say you still need the guard strips in a garage.
In Florida we have a lot of extra framing in the wind code so there is usually enough cross bracing to provide horizontal paths without adding additional wood.

As for whether the various cables are allowed in unfinished spaces, that is the "physical damage" issue and it is in the eye of the AHJ. In Md it was normal to see RX stapled to running boards in garages, utility rooms and basements. In Florida they usually want something armored (maybe Smurf) and some places (like Miami) wanted conduit.
I would ask the AHJ and see what the current feeling is.

I would not be shocked to find different inspectors in the same jurisdictions had different ideas of what was subject to physical damage and whether that damage was severe or not.

It is one of those areas that I wish was better defined in the NEC.


Greg Fretwell
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 356
Niko Offline OP
Member
Originally Posted by renosteinke
A posting from California, and he hasn't seen NM in a garage? How does the power get to the door opener or light?

I will admit that the practice seems to be to staple it to the stud, running it vertically to the rafters, then through the top plate and follow the perimiter around ....


i see NM cable and AC or MC cable all the time in open wall garages, i have been told over the years that the cable has to be protected with guard strips even though it is installed in the bay between the wall studs. and i can't find that anywhere in the code.


Be kind to your neighbor, he knows where you live

Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,392
S
Member
Outbuildings are always difficult because one really never knows what the usage could be

especally with revolving owners

me, i'm just not a big fan of exposed RX

~S~

Last edited by sparky; 09/02/11 10:30 PM. Reason: blind as a bat.....

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