Whenever you're dealing with code and you don't know what it is, get into the mindset of keeping people from being electrocuted, burned up, breathing poisonous fumes, or having stuff drop out of the ceiling on them.
That last one is why stuff should not be laid across ceiling tiles. Also, Romex on a ceiling tile, in a fire, will first create poisonous fumes (is there plenum Romex?). Then, when the insulation melts, it will electrically energize the entire T-bar grid until a circuit breaker blows.
On November 1, 2006 at 20:59, Instalz said...
I have an example for you. A couple of months ago I had
an electrician tell me that low voltage wiring can no
longer be sitting on a drop ceiling. It must be tied up
off the ceiling.
I first saw this enforced in a TI build-out in 1988. The code, taken literally, said that each low-voltage wire must be separated from each other wire by some distance which I forget. The upshot was that the code made it legally impossible to run 3-pair phone wire out to ten new stations. The answer? Ask the inspector what to do. He said to tie them together, just as we normally do, and attach ties so they are supported from the T-bar support wires that hold up the T-bar frame. Wires are to be between six and 12 incches above the ceiling tiles; supports are to be 48" max apart from one another. I can't see how this might have loosened up in the intervening time, but it might have gotten more stringent.
By the way, most of the time, I secure my wiring above
the tiles. I do this because I spend allot of time cursing
people who don't, when I'm trying to put a ceiling tile
back into place, and fire alarm wire keeps popping out.
It is also amazing just how far you will go to meeting code if you just do the things like this that would keep you from being irritated if you had to service it.
