Attic Wiring

Recent bought a 46 year old house and had a few questions about running wiring in the attic.

First I will be adding overhead lights in a couple of rooms. I assume plain old romex is okay for this. My questions have to do with running the wire to code.

What size holes are okay to drill through the rafters? I assume they should be as close to the center as possible.

When running wire parallel to a rafter where should it be located, center, near the top, near the bottom?


Also I will be running some coax and cat5 to the same rooms as above. I know I should keep these away from the electrical to avoid interference.

Should this cable also run through holes in the rafters or can it just go over the top? If through holes how far apart should any holes in the same rafter be?

Thanks

 

Is this an unfinished attic?

Romex is allowed in attics in most areas (but not the Chicago or New York area). Check locally if you have any doubts. Keep the rodents out of your attic.

Don't drill the rafters at all. Simply staple the cable to the side (centered) of the rafters when going parallel to them. When going perpendicular, staple the Romex to the top of the rafters and install a 2x4 guard board next to it to keep someone from stepping on the cable.

You can run the coax and cat5 any way you want, since there is no harmful voltage there. But I'd run it the same way as the Romex, at least a foot or two away, and not parallel for long if you can help it.

 

Thanks, for the reply. Yes, unfinished attic, and unfinishable really. Not even enough space to use for storage really. Very low pitched roof, two bathroom vents, waste stack, etc.

I do live in the Chicago area however, Glenview to be specific. What differences are there? Does everything need to be in conduit, or will armor cable do? Last time I did any electrical work was with my dad 15 years ago in Wisconsin.

Does the coax or cat5 need to be in conduit as well?