No Access, Now What?

Finished basements and attic spaces (or service panels located in finished garages) call for a more deft approach to your wiring. You have to decide if you should …

• Run part of the circuit in conduit across the basement or garage ceiling.
• Run conduit on the outside of your house and then into the walls.
• Tear into the walls and ceiling at regular intervals, exposing the studs and joist to run the cable.

Most studs and joist are spaced at 16 inches on center (which means the center of the nailing side of one will be 16 inches from the center of another). The spacing offers predictable nailing surfaces for drywall and interior trim, especially baseboards. If you have no other way of getting into the wall or ceiling, you’ll have to open up the wall on each side of the studs and joist until you’ve reached the locations for your new boxes.