[Strawbale] Cable chase under bales

[Sherwood Botsford]

Dion Hollenbeck wrote:
> At 03:30 PM 1/3/2007, Mark Frazier wrote:
>   
>> Dion,
>>
>> IIRC, the code calls for a box every *12* feet. They must be placed
>> such that an appliance with
>> a 6 foot cord can be plugged in at any point along the wall. You also
>> need an outlet on any wall
>> section wider than 6 feet (I think - can somebody confirm?).
>>
>> So, I think I just cut your workload in half... :-)
>>     
>
>
> Very cool.  I have not done my due diligence on the electrical code 
> and was only using my faulty memory.  This is quite a help and will 
> save many outlets in walls.
>   

I don't like outlets that close to the floor.  Not sure what code is, 
but  it seems that the opportunity for splash from spilled water, or 
dirt, is asking for trouble.  In addition, the aggravation to 
plug/unplug that low would bug me.

The usual height for outlet boxes is 1 hammer height from floor.  Even 
that I find irritating.

If I ever build a house again, I will probably put an outlet at the 
switch level beside every switch, and one above desk height/half height 
book case on every wall that could take a desk or bookcase.  I may put 
one beside every window too.  (The number of times I've unloaded a 
bookcase to plug in an extension cord or power bar into the outlet that 
was hidden...)

Having lived in underwired houses most of my life, you cannot have too 
many outlets.

One thing I did when I rewired a kitchen was to put the outlets in in 
4's instead of duplexes. This allows me to use GFI outlets throughout.  
(Here the nominal code is that every duplex outlet has to be split, with 
top and bottom plug on different circuits, and that you can only have 3 
simplex plugs per circuit. I reasoned that if I had the required number 
and spacing of circuits I could get away with it.)

Anyway, if you don't want to embed the outlets into the wall, think up 
some form of chase you can build that would mount on the surface of the 
wall.

E.g.  If you build a chase from wood that was effectively a 4x3, then 
you put these every N feet along the outside wall, running from floor to 
ceiling.  Distribute your wiring to the vertical chases through the slab 
or through the ceiling.    The chase is placed during the plastering 
stage, then wired later.  Since there is plaster between the chase and 
the bales, there is no air leaks.  If your design is right, the chases 
will look like exposed pillars of timberframe construction, although on 
a larger spacing.