Overhead wiring to detached garage

16 years ago

We have a detached garage and I'd like to get electricity out there to run the opener and some lights. This isn't going to be a workshop so 20A service on 12/2 should be fine. The garage is very close to the house (see attached picture) so I'm thinking that going across in the air would be easier than breaking up the concrete and going underground.

I'm fairly proficient (rewired my house and installed a subpanel) but haven't found any instructions on doing something similar. My plan is to come out of the house with an LB, go up the house using 3/4" or 1" metal conduit then come across. The question is how to come across. The top of the garage roof pitch is about 12' up so I'd expect this would be ok height-wise. I'd also expect that I'd need some sort of strain-relief and weatherproofing but I'm not sure what the code is on something like this.

Any help or pointers to the right info would be much appreciated. Or course, if you think that I should just bust a trench in the concrete and go underground please don't hesitate to say that also. Thanks!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

Comments (5)

jason1083
16 years ago
UF cable in a trench.
Overhead electrical is really outside the scope of DIY
kudzu9
16 years ago
I don't know if there are any code issues with this suggestion, but one other option would be to run conduit down the wall and across the top of the concrete into the garage. Then pour, say, two more inches of concrete on that narrow slab so that the conduit is hidden and there's no tripping hazard. Could be less work and expense...
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jason1083
16 years ago
I would argue that the code issue might be depth of burial.

You MIGHT get away with using schedule 80 conduit and doing what kudzu9 said.

Don't quote me on this, as I am not a professional electrician.
borisf
Original Author
16 years ago
Not sure why I didn't think of this initially. Although it's not the shortest route, there is a way for me to go out the side of my house via a buried cable and into the side of my garage without dealing with any concrete at all. This will be much simpler than going overhead and much less work than breaking and patching concrete. The few extra feet of cable to buy will be well worth it. Thanks everyone!
mike13
16 years ago
Based on your picture, you could add a water spigot to the garage, then attach a hose from the house spigot to the garage spigot, and then run your cable through the hose.

Just kidding but I would bet some Darwinian Award winner has done that before.

Glad you resolve your problem.