Running Wire In Attic With Insulation

An attic that is accessible which is defined by the nec as having a permanently installed stair or ladder in place must have protection for any cables that run across the top of the attic floor joists or within 7 feet where they run across the face of rafters or studs.

Running wire in attic with insulation.

Yes this should be corrected and it would be good to have the wiring and all the circuit connections inspected as well. If you can run it across by stapling it to the rafters you can avoid the insulation thing. How id do it if you put your cables to the edge where the apex of the roof meet the ceiling so you basically end up with your wireing loom at the edge of your attic then clip your cables along the ceiling joists 50mm from the plaster board then its clear of insulation and if you need to lay a floor you can but do try to avoide drilling hole through the joists as you will not meet the requirements as youll be less than 50mm from each each edge if the ceiling joists are 75mm. The following links will assist you with your electrical question.

If the attic is inaccessible you have less a worry about protecting the wires than you would if it were a storage area. When you must deal with an attic space because you can t run the cable by simply pushing up the ceiling tiles there a few things to consider. When cutting through drywall from the interior of a room use a utility knife and cut carefully you don t want to drill through a hidden wire or the paper backing of the attic insulation. If the sites that you want to run wire to are on the outside of the house you should not need to drill a new hole.

Do not drill them through the joists or rafters. You must protect all cables running perpendicular and atop the joists. Keep the fish tape against the inner edge of the drywall and out of the insulation as you feed it toward the upper hole. If this meets code then i will be running attic wiring in this manner from now on.

Feed it up to the 3 by 5 inch hole at the top of the wall. The attic wiring should be protected and secured to ceiling joists or other wood structural supports. Whenever i do attic wiring i remove the insulation and staple it to the ceiling joist. Attics with permanent access stairs ladder.

I was also under the impression that if wiring is in an attic space that it may need to be derated because it can get very hot up there. A pull down attic ladder does not count. You must protect cables located within 6 of the attic access hole. In most cases wiring is not a job you can take on yourself.

Trying to do this kind of work around insulation would provide needless obstacles for the electricians to work around. Holes need to be drilled into the frame and wires run throughout the walls.