Hi all,

I'm finally ready for my "rough inspection". The town didn't give me a whole lot of guidance as to what they'll be looking for. I've been following the good advice of people here, but I want to make sure I pass the first time around. I've followed the national and local codes with regard to outlet placement, stapling, lighting, etc. The town approved my plans. I've pulled wire to the main panel and subpanel as well as to all of the boxes and fixtures. I know this is vague, but what are some of the key things an inspector is going to look for during the rough inspection?

Thanks,
Jim

 

It is good that you have also obtained a copy of any amendments your town may have made to the NEC. Some local amendments have stricter requirements than the NEC. ( the NEC is minimum requirements) .One such requirement here locally is that only 2 outlets per 20 amp small appliance branch circuit. Another one is ,no wire smaller than # 12.
These rules all vary from one locale to another.

For a rough in here,all joints must be made up in boxes, grounds pigtailed out for device,etc. The inspector will be looking at wire sizes, box fill, routing of cables to prevent it
from being damaged during and after cover up, stapling, minimum amount of required outlets etc.etc.

Good Luck!

 

Jim, you sound well prepared to me. I think you'll do just fine.

A few things to double-check: (1) metal plates where the cable might come within 1.25" of the stud face. (2) At least six inches of wire inside the box. (3) All but an inch or less of sheathing stripped inside the box. (4) Go ahead and preconnect your grounding wires with a green wire nut. In fact, preconnect everything except the wires that will attach to the switches and receptacles. (5) Wiring in place for required smoke detectors, complete with the signaling wire to the other detectors. (6) No damaged sheathing or insulation or nicked wires.

Good luck. It'll feel so good to pass. Have a beer and relax.

 

Thanks for the replies.

I put nailing plates on every 2x4 that had a hole in it. At $0.20 each, I figured I'd err on the side of having them where they aren't required rather than the other way around. Everything else is out of harms way.

I haven't stripped the sheathing back yet, but I'll do that and attach the grounds over the next couple of days. Should I connect the breakers in the subpanel (obviously not the one in the main panel yet)?

Also, I noticed that the builder put a 2x4 between the studs just beneath the main panel and tacked all the wires to it. All my wires come from above on the subpanel - should I put a "nailer" like that above the panel to attach the wires to?

Thanks again,
Jim

 

Romex, I mean Non-Metalic Sheathed Cable [non-metalic = not made out of metal, i.e. plastic, rubber, concrete, air, wood...] must be fastened within 12" of the box [except when fished in]. So if your cables are fastened to the studs in less than 12", then you're alright. Otherwise, this is a good way to conform to the Code.
~Peter

 

I didn't see you mention running grounds for plumbing. Those should be in place although the rough doesn't require the clamps to be made up.

 

Within 12" of a box with clamps (334.30) and within 8" of a box without (314.17(C) exception).

 

I could be wrong, but I don't think Jim's basement finish project is going to involve any new bonding to plumbing. What was put in when the house was constructed should still be good.

 

That's right - no new bonding to plumbing.

So the subpanel is considered a "box". I'll put a "nailer" in place within 12" of it. Otherwise I think I'm good.....

Thanks,
Jim

 

Somehow I overlooked the web address info about it being a basement project and had not looked at the pictures. My bad.

I'll be starting a new personal residence soon and would like to document the progress (or lack thereof) the way turbo has. What software are you using to build/maintain your web pages?

 

A fan of doing things the hard way, I'm running my own server (an old Dell desktop machine). Just don't tell my cable company. I use Sambar server software - it's excellent and free. My pages are crude - very simple HTML that I edit using Notepad. To get around the dynamic DNS I use TZO (www.tzo.com). That's why it forwards to jimmyz.tzo.com. Also, the cable company shut down incoming port 80 access to prevent people like me from serving up web pages, so it forwards to port 231 (which, for the extremely observant, is the cubic inch displacement of the 3.8 liter engine that powers my GN). I have a cheap Linksys router that does the forwarding to port 231 for port 80 (HTTP) requests. The only down side is that some people that surf from work (gasp!) can't access port 231 because of the way their proxy servers are configured.

It sounds harder than it really is. It's been working nearly flawlessly for 3 years. I'd use one of those free web hosting companies but I hate PoP up ads and prefer the convenience of having everything stored locally.

Sorry you asked?

Jim

 

Thanks. I imagine the hard part really is having the discipline to document regularly. I've built a number of houses and have done some pretty elaborate remodels and had planned to take lots of pictures along the way. But somehow I've never managed to do that.

 

Most ISPs give you hosting space now (mine doesn't, that's why I go through so much hassle) so putting your stuff on the web is easy. The basic HTML required to host pictures and text is also very easy. MS Word now has a "Save as HTML" feature - you can make some nice web pages by simply creating a Word document. There's also lots of free HTML editors floating around.

If you have a digital camera, you've got it made. Most of my updates have been done in the wee hours of the morning before I go to work. I run down there, snap a few pics, modify the HTML files and I'm done. Takes about 10 minutes.

Good luck,
Jim