Hi,
Part 3 of my lower level building inspections is electrical which the inspector is coming in tomorrow. To bring you up to speed I finished off my lower level without permits, now selling property and new buyer wants everything up to date. I now have permits and bringing in inspectors so again tomorrow is electrical. I have all the walls opened up in various spots.. to show wiring coming across and going into all the boxes etc.. My question is this, cause its been several years since the work has been done. On 2 of my walls that were built up against the foundation walls we ended up just running the wiring to the outlets behind the studs (there is a little gap) and nailing them at the box. Is this a code violation? We drilled all of the interior walls and put those metal strips in front of the stud so you can't nail at that area etc... everything in the walls and at all boxes is secured to the studs within a couple inches to the boxes.. What is the recommendation for wiring traveling up a wall/how much space between clamps etc.. All the boxes are wired neatley with wire nuts etc.. All and all I want to know what they are going to look for and just try to prepare everything tonight. The only other thing I found was when I ran the wiring for the heater/fan/light combo I ran one too many wires and just cut the line at both ends and pushed into wall (probably not a smart thing to do at this point the only way to get it out would be to tear open the ceiling and try to cut it out in pieces... any thoughts would be helpful. Thanks, Rob

You definitely can't run wires through a gap behind a stud you must drop it down between studs in the wall and head for the box. You can drill through a stud or through a joist or plate. When the wire is enclosed in a wall it needs to be stapled secure within inches of the box but otherwise maybe every 2 ft or so. Closely follow contours of what you're passing over keep insulation away from it. There is a remote possibility of the wire you cut off causing problems.. it's not actually hooked to anything or "hot" right? Keep in mind a future owner even several buyers later could find u liable if the wiring is found to cause a fire or something... better to fully disclose it to potential buyers as a known item and get an electrician to at least inspect it

I had my inspection last week and have been fixing all the "errors" and getting it up to date. Not too bad over all just some extra time and materials. More than anything they wanted more outlets on a couple walls and drop get the outlet boxes flushed to the ceiling.. mainly small stuff.