In "Attic wiring - ceiling light uses 14/2 cable without ground", I discussed that my attic electrical supplies only the ceiling lights, and was done with 14/2 cable without ground. After many helpful responses, I decided I could live with ungrounded ceiling lights and light switches. (Note that the rest of the house was redone before we purchased it, and looks good, with new romex, grounded, and GFCI's near water. That re-wiring job ignored the attic.)
Sigh. Today, almost done with my project, I found several feet of scorch marks on the underside of a fiberglass batt covering one of these wires. The old wiring is fiber/paper wrapped romex, and that stuff's only rated for 50C. While rewiring the ceiling light yesterday, found that some idiot decided to install 90C ceiling light units throughout the house. Previously bagged and threw out all the other batts under bad lighting conditions, could have easily missed many more scorch marks.
After finding what only didn't become an attic fire due to a small temperature difference, or lack of oxygen underneath the batts, I've decided I'm running all new wire in the attic.
So, I'm looking for some pointers on effectively running two new circuits into the attic. (Some of this is reassurance that I'm thinking along the right lines.)
Question 1 - Nothing is in the way, because there's no insulation at all now. Should I run the electrical and have junction boxes along the attic "floor", or should I run the electrical and have junction boxes along the attic "ceiling"? I've seen some people say to run everything along the floor, so the electrical is insulated against the summer heat. (I live in Michigan - not too hot, but we do sometimes hit 100F.) I've seen others say to run everthing along the ceiling, so everything is more visible and accessible, and only going into the insulation when coming up from the basement or down to a light or light switch. I think the floor will be faster, and would need half as many junction boxes if question #2 goes my way.
Question 2 - Assuming that I'm running everything along the attic floor, should I use a deep junction box at each light that the light hangs from, containing all the wires associated with that spot? Or, should I not only have a junction box that the light hangs from, but a nearby junction box to handle all the splicing, and only having the cable that is going to actually connect to the light in the junction box that the light hangs from? The first way uses less junction boxes, but the second way could be less confusing for a future person to look at from underneath the attic. Basically, which of these images am I doing?
----------------------------------------------------------- (or) -----------------------------------------------------------
Question 3 - Are these two images that I made correct? For example, if using just one junction box at each light, am I having 4 wire nuts in each junction box? A hot wire nut, combining the incoming black, the switch black, and the outgoing black (if there's a box behind this one.) A neutral wire nut, combining the incoming white, the light's white, and the outgoing white (if there's a box behind this one.) A ground wire nut, combining the junction box's grounding wire, incoming bare copper, the light's bare copper, the switch bare copper, and the outgoing bare copper (if there's a box behind this one.) And, a second hot wire nut, combining the switch white remarked black and the light's black?
Question 4 - Do they make a junction box that is permanently open on one side (the side the light's on) and accessible on the other by removing a screwed on plate? It would be physically much easier for me to be able to access a light's junction box from the attic as well as from underneath.
Question 5 - I'm pretty sure about this, but want to make sure. I'm doing two lighting circuits. (So, if one breaker trips, there's still some light.) It's OK to run only one cable for each circuit up to the first junction box in the attic for that circuit, and chain them from there going forward, right? Just want to make sure because right now, each light has it's own cable coming up from down below. But those run past the light switch first, so I'm guessing it was easier to do it that way as new work. Fishing all those spots would be a nightmare, so I'm getting to the attic in one spot, and just coming down for the light switches.
Thank you all SO MUCH!
Sigh. Today, almost done with my project, I found several feet of scorch marks on the underside of a fiberglass batt covering one of these wires. The old wiring is fiber/paper wrapped romex, and that stuff's only rated for 50C. While rewiring the ceiling light yesterday, found that some idiot decided to install 90C ceiling light units throughout the house. Previously bagged and threw out all the other batts under bad lighting conditions, could have easily missed many more scorch marks.
After finding what only didn't become an attic fire due to a small temperature difference, or lack of oxygen underneath the batts, I've decided I'm running all new wire in the attic.
So, I'm looking for some pointers on effectively running two new circuits into the attic. (Some of this is reassurance that I'm thinking along the right lines.)
Question 1 - Nothing is in the way, because there's no insulation at all now. Should I run the electrical and have junction boxes along the attic "floor", or should I run the electrical and have junction boxes along the attic "ceiling"? I've seen some people say to run everything along the floor, so the electrical is insulated against the summer heat. (I live in Michigan - not too hot, but we do sometimes hit 100F.) I've seen others say to run everthing along the ceiling, so everything is more visible and accessible, and only going into the insulation when coming up from the basement or down to a light or light switch. I think the floor will be faster, and would need half as many junction boxes if question #2 goes my way.
Question 2 - Assuming that I'm running everything along the attic floor, should I use a deep junction box at each light that the light hangs from, containing all the wires associated with that spot? Or, should I not only have a junction box that the light hangs from, but a nearby junction box to handle all the splicing, and only having the cable that is going to actually connect to the light in the junction box that the light hangs from? The first way uses less junction boxes, but the second way could be less confusing for a future person to look at from underneath the attic. Basically, which of these images am I doing?
----------------------------------------------------------- (or) -----------------------------------------------------------
Question 3 - Are these two images that I made correct? For example, if using just one junction box at each light, am I having 4 wire nuts in each junction box? A hot wire nut, combining the incoming black, the switch black, and the outgoing black (if there's a box behind this one.) A neutral wire nut, combining the incoming white, the light's white, and the outgoing white (if there's a box behind this one.) A ground wire nut, combining the junction box's grounding wire, incoming bare copper, the light's bare copper, the switch bare copper, and the outgoing bare copper (if there's a box behind this one.) And, a second hot wire nut, combining the switch white remarked black and the light's black?
Question 4 - Do they make a junction box that is permanently open on one side (the side the light's on) and accessible on the other by removing a screwed on plate? It would be physically much easier for me to be able to access a light's junction box from the attic as well as from underneath.
Question 5 - I'm pretty sure about this, but want to make sure. I'm doing two lighting circuits. (So, if one breaker trips, there's still some light.) It's OK to run only one cable for each circuit up to the first junction box in the attic for that circuit, and chain them from there going forward, right? Just want to make sure because right now, each light has it's own cable coming up from down below. But those run past the light switch first, so I'm guessing it was easier to do it that way as new work. Fishing all those spots would be a nightmare, so I'm getting to the attic in one spot, and just coming down for the light switches.
Thank you all SO MUCH!