Spent 6 months running wires in the ceiling before a sparky called me out

I used to just snake my alarm wires through drop ceiling tiles thinking it was fine. One day an electrician saw me doing it and asked if I knew about plenum rating. I had no clue what he was talking about. Turns out running regular cable in plenum spaces is a fire hazard and against code in most commercial buildings. Took me an afternoon to redo the job with proper plenum cable. Has anyone else had a code violation surprise you on a commercial install?

3 comments

3 Comments

fisher.adam1mo ago

Did the building actually burn down though?

nathana481mo ago

Can't believe that actually happened, bro. Walked by there last week and saw the whole side of the building was just black. Like, all the windows were busted out and you could see straight through to the back wall. Heard someone say the fire started in the basement and spread way faster than anyone thought. Still wild to me that nobody got hurt, honestly.

jones.anna27d ago

My friend's cousin was the electrician who found the frayed wire that started it.