How to run wire out of a stud bay and into an unfinished area in basement, to cross over a door?

Question

In wiring a partitioned area within a basement, I ran cables through stud bays using boreholes. For one door I had just enough space to borehole and run wire above the header and top plate. For another door, going to a utility hall with a sump pump, that's not an option as it's at a corner and there's a tighter gap between header and top plate. I'm wondering how to get the wire around this door frame, to reach outlets along the wall on the other side of the door.

Here's some photos and my idea. My thinking is basically to run the wire up along the king stud for the door frame, then somehow (this is my question) go from within the stud bay to being secured against the face of the stud, on the unfinished basement-facing side of the stud. I'd tack the cable along the top plate over the door, then run it back into the stud bay and use boreholes to keep working through the walls.

Overall question area:

Side of door on longer wall:

Side of door at corner:

Where/how exactly should I transition the cable from the stud bay onto the exterior facing side of the stud? I'd simply go with "top-right most corner" as I roughed out in photo 2, but I don't know how this would interfere if someday the exterior side of this partition wall does get finished with some drywall or plywood. This is a 3ft-wide utility hall, so if plywood finishing only goes up so far to leave a 6" gap exposing tops of stud bays, that could work in terms of wiring. However, I am also not sure of fireblocking implications of different ways to do this. I don't want to cause problems or a need for a bunch of junction-box corrections in the future.

Answer 1

What you really should have done, and perhaps still should do, is remove the ceiling, attach the walls to the joists, run the wires through the joist bays including drilling holes through them if necessary, finish the walls and then put the ceiling back.

As it is

• you have your stated problem
• you have walls nailed to shiplap. Did you make sure to engage the nails with joists, at least around the door frames?
• you will have drywall butt up against a finished wood ceiling. There's no great way to finish that.

Answer 2

If the only problem is drilling the one hole, just remove the header with a sawzall, drill, replace the header. Literally a five minute job. And no borrowing tools (assuming you have the saw).

The cutting part is easy. You are going to use a blade designed for metal in the sawzall (or one designed for wood with nails). You want to cut the nails where they transition from the stud to the header, without removing much (if any) wood. So, position the saw with the blade flat against the stud and cut upward between the stud and the header. This will remove minimal wood from the header and allow you to remove the header without damaging it. You will cut the nails on both ends of the header in this manner.

Drill through the stud from the doorway side (where you now have plenty of room).

Reposition the header back where it was and toe nail it on the cramped side. You can either toe nail it on the not-cramped side, or nail it in place using nails through the stud from the wall-side of the stud.

Feed the cable through your newly bored holes and you are done. Time for a well-deserved beer.

Your local code will define nail size and pattern that would be appropriate for securing the header (but since it is not load bearing, I bet it doesn't matter). If the walls were professionally framed, I would just use the existing framing (including the prior nails holding the header) as examples of appropriate nails and pattern to use.

Answer 3

Is popping up into the ceiling then back down on the other side of the doorway not an option? That's what I'd probably consider. Since this appears to be a permanent installation, then putting a couple small holes in the ceiling seems like the best option for future finishing of both sides of that wall.

Answer 4

A hole between the top plate and the top-of-door rough opening doesn't have to be bored perfectly along the axis of the wall -- so drill it on a slight diagonal. Insert the drill bit from the doorway side of the king stud, in the horizontal gap, and drill toward the nearby wall. You'll need a longer-than-average drill bit, but that's easy to arrange.

The spade bit is difficult for this because it is a flat paddle which will tend to bind in the space between the two pieces of wood. Try a "cable installer" or "bell hanger" twist drill instead. These are available in a variety of diameters with stem lengths from 6 inches to 6 feet. (example photo below: acehardware.com)

As an alternative to that, there are ordinary twist drills build with a hex shank on them for use in a 1/4" hex impact driver rather than a true drill. Get a 1/4" hex extension to go with it.