Homeowner Forum / Construction / November 2003

Only if it is in a conduit or part of a listed cable assembly.
In other words, not practical. Run new wires.

RE

I'm not sure.  I've never seen loose wires run that weren't in conduit
or cable.  I'd check with your local inspector before starting to avoid
a nasty surprise later.  Also, if the wiring is 50 years old, the
insulation has likely deterioriated to the point that running all new
cable is probably a good idea safety-wise anyway.  And getting to the
old boxes is usually the hassle and this will be a hassle whether it is
a single wire or a romex cable.

Matt

Do you mean, Charlie . . .

. . . you were prepared to run Romex with two insulated
conductor wires and a non-insulated ground wire to each
outlet (which would be typical for your application)?

Well, as mentioned in another response, "easier" but not
"much easier."  Routing either is a royal pain.  Routing
just a ground wire is hardly worth the savings.  (If you do
elect just the ground wire, do not run a bare copper wire
but rathr a green insulated wire and be sure to connect it
also to any metal boxes with an appropriate fastener.)

Acceptable to whom?  (a) This is not a project you are
likely to pull an electrical permit for, so there need not
be an electrical inspection.  (Didn't say avoiding the
permit process was acceptable, just likely.)   (b) For
insurance reporting, you will be asked if you have grounded
or ungrounded outlets.  You may respond, "grounded."  (c)
Same applies to representing your home on resale,
"grounded."  (d) The home "inspector" checking your house
for a prospective buyer is going to stick a circuit checker
in each outlet location.  If you do your job properly, it
will check out OK and grounded.  If that "inspector" pulls
the cover plate, he will see a new outlet properly wired and
grounded with a separate ground strap to the metal box.
Even if he knows what he is seeing (which would be unusual),
he is very unlikely to know whether it is a routine
installation or not.  If he wants to be a royal pain in the
a.s, which is VERY likely, he may call attention to it, but
only if he is reasonably knowledgable, which is very
UNLIKELY . . . but a reasonable probability.  Even if such a
solution to "this problem" is ultimately satisfactory, you
don't want any questions raised or any doubts when you have
a contract of sale pending.

You didn't mention your electrical service panel.  Whether
or not you run a gound wire only or new Romex, you will need
a service panel that will properly connect the ground wires.
Otherwise, all this "saved" effort and a few cents in
materials is for naught.

I want to caution you:  you will need a lot of patience and
not a little bit of knowledge to do what you are proposing;
not to mention a lot of work, a lot of crawling, a lot of
cussing, etc.  This is not a recommended DYI project.
You'll kill yourself (maybe literally) doing what a
professional rehab electrical contractor can do routinely
(if not easily).  I recommend it.  If you had to ask about
the ground wire, you haven't even begun to ask the questions
you will need answering before you even begin, much less
finish.  Worse than that will be the questions you never
know to ask.  They could be the "killer."

Incidentally, in most jurisdictions, a homeowner can pull
his own electrical permit and do his own wiring.  I know I
said originally that this was not likely.  I did NOT say it
wasn't recommended.  If you DYI, you should pull the permit.
That way you WILL get inspected (and you can ask advice
beforehand) and likely avoid the "killer" factor.
Electrical inspectors are very friendly folks when they know
they are wanted and cherished.

Jim

I would probably just rewire rooms or outlets that need to be done
kitchen or Air Conditioning outlets in living rooms or computers in bedrooms
you can run home runs single wires for each outlet for the special needs
look into installing GFI in the breaker box for bathrooms.

rewiring a whole house means lots of holes in the drywall to drill through
the top and bottom plates if you have a 2 story house or split level.

bob marencin
www.yourepair.com