Can I Wire my new construction house in Massachusetts?

Answer 1

Yes, you as the homeowner can take out all the needed permits and do all the work. However, you will still need to adhere all the codes in the latest National Electric Code book. From my past experiences though, you will mostlikely be given a harder time when it comes to inspections than if you were a licensed electrician.

A few points that I was given a hard time on:

- going down the stairs in the basement there needs to be a switch AND also at the bottom of those stairs there needs to be a switch. These should be 3-way switches. I know this seems dumb, especially when there is no other way out of the basement, but that's how the code it.

- bathroom outlet must be on their own 20A circuit. There are numerouse way to accomplish this. 1. for each bathroom, run one 20A branch circuit and then you can feed everything for the bathroom off that. Run one 20A line throughout all the bathrooms just for the outlets, and then run a 15A line for the lighting. The inspector told me I could run my lighting devices (which usually must be on a 15A circiot) off the 20A circuit from the outlets. Its dumb, but it passes.

- Also be sure to have two circuits in the kitchen. And the Refridgerator must also be on it own additional circuit. All counter top outlets must be GFCI protected and no further than 4 foot away from each other. Also, any islands must also have an outlet.

- You may also choose to use 14 gauge wire for all the recepticles, but then just reduce the amount of outlets on any one branch circuit. If you choose this option, you will then use a 15A breaker in the panel box.

- There must also be an individual laundry circuit of 20A.

- Finally, don't forget that two circuits may be used when using 12-3 or 14-3 wire. You simply continue the the neutral wire (common) and then the black is one circuit and the red is the other circuit.

Good Luck!