Hiding NM wiring under trim (sort of)

[David Dolch]

The old homeowner put recessed lights in one of the rooms of this house. Clearly he did not feel like opening the ceiling to drill through the joists and run the feeds. What he did is run three seperate feeds (that all come from a junction box in a closet) along the corner of wall and ceiling (all secured with wire staples). At each joist bay where the lights exist he cut a 1" x 1" hole in the sheetrock and then fed the lights in that bay with one of the feeds.

My initial though was to do it right, take down a portion of the ceiling, run a single feed from light to light, and then patch and paint the ceiling. Then I got to thinking, a 3" x 3" box beam would look decorative in that corner of the ceiling, would cover the NM, and would be a hell of a lot easier and less disruptive.

And thoughts on the legality of this? I figure 3" x 3" would be plenty of space to avoid any overheating issues.

Thanks

Dave

[James Duffin]

Could you hide the wire behind crown molding? I take it you do not have attic access?

[jim baird]

"The old homeowner" ain't you, I guess.

Romex is supposed to be "protected from physical damage".

What you describe sounds like a botch job that will be difficult to make look decent. I wonder if there is clearance for the can lights to insulation?

You know the kraft-back batts can ignite if in contact with recessed light cans.

There are a number of surface wiring/mounting products on the market, but as I said, you might just be getting chikin salad made from chikin droppings.

[David Dolch]

1) No access to the ceiling from above (first floor of a split)

2) No worries about insulation - there is none. That is one of the first things I checked. Either if there was no insulation or if they were IC housings.

3) No, I am not the original homeowner. I just bought the place.


The original homeowner did a lot of work himself it appears (or else hired garbage contractors). Things that are just not up to code. Strain relief missing from boxes, an open splice in the garage (exposed at least, so I could see it) - stuff like that.

I debated crown molding, but in my opinion for crown molding to look "right" the whole room would have to have it. Again, thats just my opinion, from a design sense. A boxed in 3" x 3" space in the corner could be painted to match the ceiling and would blend in. Somone even suggested putting a high shelf up there as well, and then anything put on the shelf would go further to hide the 3" x 3" box.

I just wonder if there is anything wrong with running secured NM inside what amounts to a 3" x 3" chase?

Thanks

-dave

[James Duffin]

You are right about crown molding...it needs to be installed in the entire room to look right. I have used to install rear surround sound speakers and it looks great if done properly. There is nothing wring with enclosing romex in a 3x3 chase.