Running electrical with metal studs

[Ole Anderson]

Still helping my son with his new house. He is moved in and we are working on the basement, about 1300 sf of improvement, 3 "bedrooms", a bar, and two larger rec rooms. Building it all with metal channels/studs, our first time using them. Framing is about done, now starts the electrical (yes he pulled permits). The issue is that the top of the lower punchouts for the outlets are about 14" above the floor and the bottom of the boxes are at 15" to match the rest of the house. So there is no room to fasten the wire to the stud as required. I really don't want to drill new holes in every stud with a box or move the boxes up 6". I have my grommets ready and have both plastic standoffs and zip ties with the hole for the screw to fasten the wire to the stud within 8" as required by code (plastic boxes). Anyone sparkies out there with experience?

[Frank Pratt]

A stud punch will make short work of those holes. Super fast & easy to do. And the hole is sized to fit the bushings.

[Julie Moriarty]

If you're running a lot of conduit through metal stud walls, a stud punch is priceless. But spending that kind of money to run romex is hard to justify. The guys I know in "Ropeland" (where conduit isn't required) just run the romex through the existing punch outs. They first insert grommets in the existing punch outs then run the romex. Much faster than punching out the studs first because grommets have to be used in both cases anyway.

[Ole Anderson]

Just seems like the guys at the stud factory that placed the holes so close to the floor have never actually had to use them. 24"-30" up would work out fine.

[Julie Moriarty]

Just seems like the guys at the stud factory that placed the holes so close to the floor have never actually had to use them. 24"-30" up would work out fine.

Believe me, Ole, I've heard that statement made thousands of times. Maybe the stud factory guys own stock in the stud punch company. :rolleyes:

[Marshall Harrison]

I feel for you. My whole house is metal framed. Even the exterior walls are metal. No one believes me but when they pull off the siding to replace it or do any roofing etc they find I'm right. Being in Florida where hurricanes are a possibility the metal framing is a good idea. But it sure is a pain running cables or attaching things to the walls.

[Jim Becker]

Put the grommets in the factory openings and run your cable. Where the tails are long enough to require fastening, a plastic cable clamp with a self tapping screw does the job very quickly, just like nailing a staple with wood studs. Keep it simple. :)

[Ole Anderson]

You nailed it Jim. I did need to use a 1.5" hole saw in about a dozen locations, but the mounting style zip ties did the trick. Passed inspection. 1000 feet of wire and 6 circuits. And about 100 zip ties.