Posted: 1/11/2010 2:34:17 PM EDT
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Can anyone on here answer some potential questions related to finishing a basement?
I.E. How many outlets must you have in a given room, how far apart must they be....etc. |
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Be specific in what answers you need and I can answer the for you.
E3801.2.1 SPACINGReceptacles shall be installed so that no point measured horizontally along the floor line in any wall space is more than 6ft. from a receptacle outlet. Above is basically what Outsy said from the 2006 IRC(International Residential Code) |
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They are required for every wall section over 2' in width. No point along the floor line can be over 6' from a receptacle.
Start 6' from a door opening and then place one every 12'. Make sure you end up no more that 6' from the last opening. If you have a wall between doorways or other openings that is 2'1" wide you have to put one there. If you have a kitchen your headache just quadrupled. You have to have one in a bathroom adjacent to the sink, and it must be GFCI Protected. Any receptacles in any unfinished portion of the basement must be GFCI protected as well. Bedroom and dining/living room areas have to have arc fault protection, this I am pretty sure was revised in 2008 and I dont have a copy of the 08 code in front of me. If you don't already have a receptacle outside in the back one is required as well. You need a wall switch controlled outet (either light fixture or receptacle) in every habitable room and outside of the exterior door. |
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I think its every 6 feet on outlets from any given point. So that could work to be every 12 feet. dont quote me on that though but every 12 sounds about right. Quoted correct 
. Must start within 6' of an opening in a wall (ie door) I don't tell this often but I am a licensed Electrician also. Shoot me an IM if you have more questions |
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Thank god no kitchen work. Just finishing out 2 rooms in my basement. Office + Home Theater room.
Office is about done, just finishing the dry wall. Previous owner prewired it correctly thank god, and was curious about amount/spacing for the Home Theater room. Right now I've got the lights for the office/hometheater tied into the power for the office. And the HT will have a dedicated circuit for the TV/Speakers/Control cabinet for it. Only other thing that needs to be done down there is the bathroom and I'm just gonna hire someone to do that once I finish the other 2 rooms. |
| lol thats the other problem that I busted my @ss to work around. The fucker who built this house put in the smallest breaker box possible, i.e. it has 1 half slot open period. I know roughly what my draw for everything is gonna be and it should hop around 1400watts for the home theater gear at any given point. |
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lol thats the other problem that I busted my @ss to work around. The fucker who built this house put in the smallest breaker box possible, i.e. it has 1 half slot open period. I know roughly what my draw for everything is gonna be and it should hop around 1400watts for the home theater gear at any given point. Put in a sub panel just for the basement then you have unlimited circuits available. I wouldnt try to pull out of the original box, drop a second smaller box and run everything for the basement from there. |
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lol thats the other problem that I busted my @ss to work around. The fucker who built this house put in the smallest breaker box possible, i.e. it has 1 half slot open period. I know roughly what my draw for everything is gonna be and it should hop around 1400watts for the home theater gear at any given point. Put in a sub panel just for the basement then you have unlimited circuits available. I wouldnt try to pull out of the original box, drop a second smaller box and run everything for the basement from there. Ya we considered the sub panel. Still might do it, but power wise 1 20amp circuit should be more than enough to do what I need.... |
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Just make sure everything theater related (sub, stereo, projector, etc) is on the same circuit so you don't have a potential ground loop problem
And depending on municipality, an AFCI may be required if they adopted the new code And tamper resistant outlets are required. Lots of good info in just over an hour. |
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Ya we considered the sub panel. Still might do it, but power wise 1 20amp circuit should be more than enough to do what I need.... Famous last words. Since you are worried about codes, the NEC says you have 520 watts to play with above your 1400. And if by half a space you are talking about tandem breakers they suck balls. I wouldn't put one in, but if I had to, I would not come close to maxing it out if the load was going to run for any extended period of time. |
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Ya we considered the sub panel. Still might do it, but power wise 1 20amp circuit should be more than enough to do what I need.... Famous last words. Since you are worried about codes, the NEC says you have 520 watts to play with above your 1400. And if by half a space you are talking about tandem breakers they suck balls. I wouldn't put one in, but if I had to, I would not come close to maxing it out if the load was going to run for any extended period of time. You make a valid point. Here's what I'm probably going to do: Move the diskwasher circuit to the new sub panel. Install a 50A breaker to power the sub panel from the main panel. Install basic 15A circuits in the home theater room and to power the lights. Install a 15A circuit to take care of the TV. Install a 20A circuit to take care of the home theater equipment. Non of them will be close to maxed out and I figure I'll run the disk washer at odd hours since its one of those timed silent fancy models :) If anyone is interested I can post the electrical diagram layout in a few days once I've had time to sit down and draw it out. |
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And depending on municipality, an AFCI may be required if they adopted the new code The State of GA adopted the 2008 NEC as the minimum state code, so arc fault is required in all municipalities in the state. I wasn't sure I talked to a inspector at the end of the year and he wasn't sure if they were going to enforce it in his county |
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Ya we considered the sub panel. Still might do it, but power wise 1 20amp circuit should be more than enough to do what I need.... Famous last words. Since you are worried about codes, the NEC says you have 520 watts to play with above your 1400. And if by half a space you are talking about tandem breakers they suck balls. I wouldn't put one in, but if I had to, I would not come close to maxing it out if the load was going to run for any extended period of time. You make a valid point. Here's what I'm probably going to do: Move the diskwasher circuit to the new sub panel. Install a 50A breaker to power the sub panel from the main panel. Install basic 15A circuits in the home theater room and to power the lights. Install a 15A circuit to take care of the TV. Install a 20A circuit to take care of the home theater equipment. Non of them will be close to maxed out and I figure I'll run the disk washer at odd hours since its one of those timed silent fancy models :) If anyone is interested I can post the electrical diagram layout in a few days once I've had time to sit down and draw it out. That may cause a potential ground loop problem I'll run it by my theater guy tomorrow ( he mainly does high end home theaters and is a licensed unrestricted low and high voltage contractor) Something about being on different circuits but being grounded to each other through the A/V cables and getting interference |
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Quoted:
Quoted:
Quoted:
Ya we considered the sub panel. Still might do it, but power wise 1 20amp circuit should be more than enough to do what I need.... Famous last words. Since you are worried about codes, the NEC says you have 520 watts to play with above your 1400. And if by half a space you are talking about tandem breakers they suck balls. I wouldn't put one in, but if I had to, I would not come close to maxing it out if the load was going to run for any extended period of time. You make a valid point. Here's what I'm probably going to do: Move the diskwasher circuit to the new sub panel. Install a 50A breaker to power the sub panel from the main panel. Install basic 15A circuits in the home theater room and to power the lights. Install a 15A circuit to take care of the TV. Install a 20A circuit to take care of the home theater equipment. Non of them will be close to maxed out and I figure I'll run the disk washer at odd hours since its one of those timed silent fancy models :) If anyone is interested I can post the electrical diagram layout in a few days once I've had time to sit down and draw it out. That may cause a potential ground loop problem I'll run it by my theater guy tomorrow ( he mainly does high end home theaters and is a licensed unrestricted low and high voltage contractor) Something about being on different circuits but being grounded to each other through the A/V cables and getting interference Ooh good point. The TV and Receiver will only be connected via a HDMI capable. I'm not sure if that will ground them together... |