Electrical Fittings in Steel Studs

Steel studs come prepunched ready to accept electrical and plumbing. That's the good news. The bad is that you can't run wire and plumbing pipes through the studs the way you can with lumber studs. The inside edges of the prepunched holes are sharp, so the electrical and plumbing codes require that you protect wires and pipes from the sharp edges. Don't let this fact get past you. You don't want to discover after you have the entire home wired that you're in code violation. Even worse – what if the cable is pulled and it gets cut at one or more locations? Typically you wouldn't discover this until the electrical inspector visited the site, and then you'll get to start tearing out the walls to find it! The best way to avoid these problems is to use plastic stud bushings.

Bushings are very simple. Just pass one end of the joined connector through the hole in the stud and snap the bushing and washer ends together. This little precaution will save you time and money. Figure 4-11 shows the SB13 stud bushing by Arlington. It fits all hole configurations in prepunched steel studs. And just think how easily the cable will slide through the bushing when the wire is being pulled!

Photo Courtesy of: Arlington Industries, Inc.

Figure 4-11: Plastic stud bushing

There is one other matter to bring to your attention, and that's how to tie a cable down to the face of a steel stud. The code says that whenever you enter or leave an electrical box, you need to secure the wire within 12 inches of a plastic box or 8 inches for a metal box. You also have to fasten the wire every 4¹/₂ feet thereafter. How do you do this with steel studs? Simple! Install a cable support. In Figure 4-12 you can see an adjustable cable support that will hold three cables securely in the center of the stud, meeting code requirements. It keeps cables back and 1¹/₄ inch away from the front edge of the stud.

Photo Courtesy of: Arlington Industries, Inc.

Figure 4-12: Cable support on steel stud

Of course, the prepunched holes won't always be just where the electrician needs them to use the cable support. You may want to loan the electrician your stud punch tool. If you don't already have one, it would be a good idea to add it to your collection of metal tools. Arlington, the maker of the stud bushings and cable supports, has a stud punch tool available. Check out their model #MSP2. Stud and cable supports are normally installed by the electrician or his helper. It generally takes less than a minute per each if the holes are prepunched.

Previous | Next

Table of Contents | Chapter Four | Find a Bookstore