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I'm attempting to add a new receptacle to power a wall-mounted projector. The nearby existing receptacle from which I'm powering the new one is on an adjacent stud bay. I was planning to fish the cable through a hole in the stud at least 1'' from the wall surface. However, the stud appears to be very shallow and does not appear to have enough depth to achieve this.

What are my options? Should I route the cable through the brick wall? Put a blank face plate to cover the cable run over the stud instead of patching with drywall? Remove the metallic conduit and drill a small hole for the bare NM cable?

Cable run over stud

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    That's not a stud, it's just a furring strip that makes it easier to mount drywall to the concrete wall. Normally MC cable needs to be set back in a stud. I don't know what the rules are in a situation like this. The furring strip is irrelevant. You can cut and remove it where the cable crosses it, but if the cable is not allowed so close to the surface, the entire cable would be problematic. You might need to run conduit on the surface. I'm not answering because I don't know.
    – jay613
    Apr 14 at 21:30
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    You will need nail guards to protect any wire that could be hit by a 1-1/2" (35mm) nail driven into the wall, in certain locations. NEC 300.3. This is normally nail plates. That type of armored cable isn't armored enough to provide that protection. EMT conduit is.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Apr 14 at 22:28
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    Those furring strips are used more as a spacer than any structural use, so you can notch/cut them all the way to the cement block.
    – crip659
    Apr 14 at 23:29
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    That’s why it has to be 1-1/4 away from the furring strip same in ceilings with nothing to attach a nail plate again how would you protect it? And this is why it would pass code dosent specify the depth of a void only the space to the side or from the face of the stud / furring strip in this case.@crip695 the minute you notch its cut the furring strip a nail plate is required as that is the support zone for the drywall and designed to be nailed to so a nail plate is required.
    – Ed Beal
    Apr 16 at 22:28
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    @jay613 I do have about 3/4'' of depth between the cinderblock and the drywall, which does appear to allow for a 1/2'' EMT. The drywall wasn't notched to accommodate the FMC in the picture but was lightly damaged while pulling the FMC over the furring strip.
    – user84207
    Apr 18 at 4:01

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To me that furring strip looks too thin to be able to notch for the flex and add a nail plate (by code the flex can not be deformed). What I have done is run up to the ceiling through the joist and down the bay where you want the new outlet. Make sure to run 1-1/4” away from the furring strip and when boring the hole in the joist make sure the hole is 1-1/4” back from the face.

Yes, this is more work to run up and then back down but you will also find the box fill on the shallow box does not have sufficient capacity for a junction or splice. I normally place the J-box in the ceiling standard cover and a decorative cover over that is designed to be removed.

I have used this method on quite a few remodels both with flex and with NMB or Romex and have always passed inspections.

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  • So it's ok for vertical cable to be tightly sandwiched between drywall and concrete as long as it's 1-1/4 away from the furring horizontally?
    – jay613
    Apr 16 at 14:09
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    Yes this is code compliant the code book provides examples with photos but off the top of my head I can’t remember the references one Is in the section on NM and one in the section on MC.
    – Ed Beal
    Apr 16 at 14:35

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