A neighbor recently remodeled his bathroom and while he had the floor opened, we ran a piece of 12/3 w/ground romex from the basement to a point above the center of his living room. We left the ends of the wire neatly coiled and laying on the ceiling and also coiled enough wire in the basement to permit it to be run to the breaker box. The intention was that the wire COULD be used in the event a fan or light was ever in the middle of the livingroom ceiling. When the electrical inspector came to sign off on the bathroom he had a hissy fit over this piece of wire. He said it "clearly showed" that we intended to do future electrical wiring without getting approvals and made us remove it before he would sign off on the bathroom. Several years earlier, I had run several cables in a similar way from the basement to attic when remodeling gave me access to the inside of a wall, and the inspector then said it was a "good idea". In comercial and industrial buildings it is common to run extra conduits, wires, etc. for possible future expansion. Is it really against the code to pre-run wire while walls are opened for possible future use?

I installed a GFI outlet in a new basement bathroom and am having problems. Power goes to the GFI, then to the double gang box, where B,W, and N each splits off to two switches, one controling 2 lights, the other switch controlling an exhaust fan. I installed the new breaker, and the lights and fan work, with a tester it seems power is correct. Pushing the GFI test button works, turning everything off. But when I hit one of the switches, the breaker in the circuit box trips. Any ideas of what could be wrong??