Doing some renevations in our basement, which has included a significant rewiring of circuits and replacement of the circuit breaker box with a larger one capable of handling the increased number of circuits for a proper layout of exercise equipment - all done by a professional electrician. The old wiring in the basement was a mess - branch circuits running every which way, splices in strange places, etc. Now we've got it all cleaned up, but unfortunately ended up with 5 junction boxes that are mounted up in the joists. These boxes were installed by our electrician up in the joists so that after sheet rocking the ceiling they're effectively "buried." He says that the inspector will require some sort of access to these junctions - and I do understand that that's what the code says. My question is: why? Who cares if the junctions are buried or not? There's no routine maintenance that one ever does on junction boxes, and if we ever wanted to make changes or additions to circuits we'd have to open up the ceiling regardless. So what's the rationale for requiring access? We're going to have to cut access panels of into the sheetrock, which will be a mess and look ugly. Meanwhile our contractor who's done all the framing and sheetrocking suggests that if we just leave them buried as they are no one would be the wiser - the inspector who originally passed us on the rough wiring will probably not remember that those junctions are up there. Thoughts?

The electrician is supposed to call the inspector for the final inspection of all the electrical before it's closed in.

WHY the heck didn't your electrician mount the boxes do that the covers will be flush with the sheetrock??

WHY the heck didn't your electrician mount the boxes do that the covers will be flush with the sheetrock???

Good question, and I really don't know. I think he may have thought we were going with a suspended ceiling rather than sheetrock (that's what we had before the renovaton), and I was out of town when the work was done.

The electrician is supposed to call the inspector for the final inspection of all the electrical before it's closed in.

An inspection was done, as usual, before the sheetrock was put up to check the rough wiring (proper routing through the studs, secured as needed, no mixing of branch circuits, etc) . The sheetrock is now up and being spackled, then we'll prime and then the electrican will come back to install the outlets, switches, and light fixtures. I believe that after that's done the inspector comes back again for the final inspection - isn't that right?

WHY the heck didn't your electrician mount the boxes do that the covers will be flush with the sheetrock???

Ditto what Stan says. It is illegal , not allowed by any Electrical code to leave junction boxes as "inaccessible", that's the "why"

They could have been installed flush to the finished ceiling surface, with a blank cover on them.
Better, would have been to rewire the basement so NO junction boxes would need blank covers in the ceiling, sometimes not possible though. Five seems like waaay too many though.
Your "electrician" should know this.

Why not? The Electrical code does not allow buried junction boxes. Period. The Electrical Code, in spite of all the lofty language describing it, is the minimum standards to which a building may be wired for safety. You are asking why not even build my home to the minimum safety standards?

The main reason is for troubleshooting later on IMO. We (electricians) have all been subject to extremely frustrating troubleshoots where we just cannot find why something is wrong. Only to find a buried box that would have explained it all.
It is infuriating!

The main reason is for troubleshooting later on IMO. We (electricians) have all been subject to extremely frustrating troubleshoots where we just cannot find why something is wrong. Only to find a buried box that would have explained it all.
It is infuriating!

OK - that makes sense. Thanks.

Electricians are not what would be called "surgical", when looking for possble buried junction boxes.

Hammer hits on finish surfaces, sawzall cuts and openings, I brought in a chain saw once, just for dramatic effects, just to make a point.

In other words, when we are done it is not pretty.

Junction boxes will usually contain splices. Splices tend to be problematic.

Any suggestions for what to use for access panels in the sheet rock for these locations?

Just for example, found at Home Depot:

Access Panels - Plumbing Accessories - Plumbing at The Home Depot (http://www.homedepot.com/Plumbing-Plumbing-Accessories-Access-Panels/h_d1/N-bqkzZ5yc1v/h_d2/Navigation?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=2&searchNav=true)

You can find white plastic, if that suits the décor.

Electricians are not what would be called "surgical", when looking for possble buried junction boxes.

Hammer hits on finish surfaces, sawzall cuts and openings, I brought in a chain saw once, just for dramatic effects, just to make a point.

In other words, when we are done it is not pretty.

Junction boxes will usually contain splices. Splices tend to be problematic.

Heh,. multiple holes with a hammer usually gets the point across to sheetrock crews about burying my boxes.