Wire Routing Question

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SeattleCraftsman

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So I'm rewiring my house and I am weighing my options for routing the electrical wire. I sketched up the two options in paint (the photo shows my old windows before reframing for and installing new double hungs).

My first option is to run the wire up through the floor from the basement, then horizontally under each of the windows (red route in the attached image). This route uses much less wire, but requires much more drilling. The red route would also run only about 12" off the floor, and I'm not sure if that's acceptable.

The second option is to come up through the floor again, but this time go up to the attic and back down for each outlet (blue route). The blue route requires a ton of wire, but less drilling and would be more out of the way.

I will also have to go up an over at least one door on this run, if that makes a difference...

What's the best way to do this?

Thanks!

electrical.jpg
 
Drilling holes is free and would make it a whole lot faster and easier to pull the wires.
Put the outlets under the window not on the sides like that, and there's no need for them to be that high up.
 
red route. I would not even consider the blue option.
If you don't want to drill the studs then go up and down from the basement. It's much shorter than going up to the attic.
 
nealtw said:
Red, but not sure why you would want or need themk that close to the windows.
Click to expand...

This area will be a dining room and has one wall, the one with the window. The other sides of the room are an archway to the entryway, an archway to the kitchen, and a staircase with a knee wall and built in cabinets. There is nowhere else to put outlets.

This is a 700 sq ft house, so many of the exterior walls are dominated by windows and will have a similar setup.
 
A guess the question would be, What are you going to plug into them and do you want a cord in full view if the lamp is in the corner anyway. Not that it was wrong, just a thought.
 
I always like to have an outlet in each room in plain sight for plugging the vacuum into. So place an outlet near the door that won't be covered by a piece of furniture.

In our house the outlet for the bed is smack in the middle of the bed making it a PITA to access. If I were wiring my house I'd have multiple outlets, switched and unswitched on the bedroom wall. We have two lamps on the switch half requiring an extension cord and two clocks (one for me and one for my wife) and a power supply for the phone. We're probably not that unusual.
 
nealtw said:
A guess the question would be, What are you going to plug into them and do you want a cord in full view if the lamp is in the corner anyway. Not that it was wrong, just a thought.
Click to expand...

You have a good point, but I should clarify that this is a "before" picture. In the "after" we have a 120 inch long wall with a 91" window in it. The ends of the window are ~14.5" from the corner of the room, so I don't have anywhere else to put the outlets.
 
Put them where you can and where you think you need them if there is any doubt just put one there. Do the red outline. Drilling holes thru the studs is the easiest part of the whole job.
 
SeattleCraftsman said:
You have a good point, but I should clarify that this is a "before" picture. In the "after" we have a 120 inch long wall with a 91" window in it. The ends of the window are ~14.5" from the corner of the room, so I don't have anywhere else to put the outlets.
Click to expand...

The vacume plug or a plug for a xmas tree is a good thought, I just hate seeing cords all over the place, but like Bud said, you have do what will work for you.
 
Dining room has special requirements. The receptacles need to be on 20 amp circuits and the circuit can't share with any other room except the kitchen.
 
JoeD said:
Dining room has special requirements. The receptacles need to be on 20 amp circuits and the circuit can't share with any other room except the kitchen.
Click to expand...
At the risk of being pedantic let me point out that the kitchen circuit that dining room receptacles can also be on is a small appliance branch circuit and no other. The premise is that it is likely that dining room receptacles will sometimes be used for the same sort of loads as the Kitchen Small Appliance Branch Circuits such as hot plate, toaster, crock pot, electric kettle, coffee maker, and so on.

If there are any counter height working surfaces in the dining room it is good practice to provide receptacles above those counters.
 
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