How high to place outlets

Homewrecker

Hi. This is my first post, so forgive me if this question has already been answered before. I would like to know how high to place an outlet on a wall in my basement. The wall is 142.5" long.

I would especially like to know if there is an industry standard or specification so I can make sure I'm doing things "by the book." Thanks.

jbfan

Some people use a hammer handle to place their boxes. Others just use a tape measure to mark their boxes. Is this room going to be used as living space? If living space then 13-15 inches to the bottom of the box.

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Homewrecker

It will be in a laundry room/office where I will be setting up a workstation and multimedia area.

donkey

Can you provide a simple diagram to better visualize what you want?Is their a countertop involed in the laundry area?Plugs must be placed at a maximum 6' from every break(door) and every 12' afterwards.Evey wall space 24" and larger needs a plug.Most people put them between 12"-18".If you use 12 gauge wire and do not put lights on the same circut you can use a 20A breaker.For an office/work station i would use a quad set-up which is using a 2gang box,quad outlet cover,and 2 recepticles for every plug location.

Speedy Petey

Can you explain this to me? I don't get it.
.
.
Wrecker,

The receptacles for the laundry area may not be shared with anything else, such as the office area. Lighting or receptacles.
The receptacles for the office area must adhere to the minimum guidelines Donkey described. 6'/12', 24" rule.

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donkey

If you donot mix lighting fixtures and outlet circuts in residential you can wire the whole house's outlet circuts in 12 wire and use 20A breaker.Lights cannot be on a 20A residential circut but outlets can.Most contractors don't do because its going above and beyond minium code requirements,but alot of custom home builders will especailly for office/multimedia rooms or just for convience.The company i used to work for in Maryland always ran the lighting and plug circuts seperate and put the outlets on 20A.Alot of Government housing and assisted living condos do the the same.

Speedy Petey

HUH???

This must be a local thing because it is NOT in the NEC.

Please be careful quoting codes that may not be applicable in most of the US. You need to know the NEC quite well before quoting things to folks who will be doing this work with very little experience.
Then again, expereince is not eveything. I know quite a few "non-elelctricians" who have been doing the wrong thing for years with no remorse.

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Sometimes I feel like if I answer any more questions it is like someone trying to climb over a fence to jump off a bridge and me giving them a boost.

mdshunk

That is flatly untrue. The NEC has no such restriction. The CEC (in Canada) does.

Donkey, that's irresponsible of you.

rsteve12

Can I run 12-2 cable throughtout my new house and use 15 amp breakers and lighting/outlets when called for.

Thanks,
Russell

jproffer

You can always use larger wire to feed smaller devices, just not the other way around.

Teetorbilt

In todays world, I would consider 12 ga. a minimum to a recpt. Everybody is running at least a 6-way from them, myself included.

Speedy Petey

Yes, but why??? It is NO safer if that is your thinking.
The ONLY reason to breaker #12 on less than a 20 is for voltage drop, and in a residence this is typicaly a non-issue. If it is an issue a sub-panel is a much better idea.

That said, use a 20 amp breaker for #12, and a 15 amp breaker for #14.

Also, while I agree receptacles might be better served with #12 (not something I automatically do BTW), there is no reason to wire residential lighting on #12. I almost never do.

__________________
Sometimes I feel like if I answer any more questions it is like someone trying to climb over a fence to jump off a bridge and me giving them a boost.