I’m considering adding a couple of new 20 amp circuits to a “distant” bathroom. It would be easiest for me to run the NM cable though my crawl space. The most direct path would be perpendicular to the floor joists. Can I staple the NM cable (12-2) directly to the bottom of the floor joists? Thanks for any input.
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I can't find anything that would not allow it.
But in unfinished basements and in some parts of an attic it it required for the the wire to be protected by a running strip that is at least as tall as the cable.
I would suspect that most inspectors would look for such a running strip in a crawlspace.
Some claim the running strip is to prevent folks from hanging stuff from the cable, something that wouldn't be a problem in a crawlspace. But it's probably not a bad idea, and not hard to do in most cases.
It is important to keep the cable elevated, to prevent rodents from gnawing on it. When we were working on a house in Puerto Rico the wiring was all kept at least a foot above the floor, to protect it from rats.
My though was that people might use the cable has a hand hold to help move them through the crawlspace.
Check with your inspector, but mine wanted a running strip. Not too hard to put up a 1X or 2X accross the joists while you're on your back with a cordless drill and torx head deck screws. Have a helper around to slide stuff to you when you need it.
A smart inspector will not allow that. They'll ask you to remove it and either bore the joists or run parallel to the framing. Run parallel to the joists over to a wall. Run along with wall down to the bathroom area. Come back along a joist to the bathroom. It uses more wire, but if the wire is 100% 'strong-backed' you'll have no problem. A lot of times the inspector will not go into the crawl space, unless it's clean and well-lit and spider-free. So, what you can get away with and what you should do are two different things.