While doing some work inside my basement ceiling I discovered a small tear in the outer insulation on a Romex cable, and similarly a cracked open BX cable (outer armor slightly unwound for one turn).
I'm the homeowner, and both of these are existing circuits. In each case (Romex and BX) what is the best thing to do? What is the easiest thing to do that would be acceptable even if not best?
There is no damage to the inner wire insulation, paper, nylon strands, or other components of these cables. Only the outer jacket.
I could
- leave them alone
- tape the romex or use a patch kit, and add staples on both sides of the patch
- run them through junction boxes without cutting them, just put the damaged bit inside a box as is. I'd have to modify the box to get the wire inside with strain relief and without cutting it
- cut them and add junction boxes. I'd have to cut them twice and add two boxes with. splice between and all this would be buried in the ceiling
- rip it all out and run it again. I could do this for one of them because it runs entirely in the basement ceiling. This would be a full-day job. The other one runs into a wall upstairs so it's not even an option.
- I saw on another post there is an $8 Tyco splice kit for Romex (but not for BX). Given the damage is limited to the outer plastic jacket, is that really any better than wrapping it (the Romex) and stapling it?
- any other solutions?
Best Answer
As others have pointed out, you aren't allowed to modify a box as you propose in option 3, but there are open splice boxes for this purpose. These are designed for enclosing illegal bare splices and made with slots instead of holes, so you could slide the damaged NM cable in without cutting it. Here's an example of one: https://www.garvinindustries.com/54171-opr
I'm unaware of a version for BX.