Picked romex over conduit for a whole house rewire in 2019

The old-timer I was working with swore by EMT conduit, said romex was for hacks. I went with romex because it saved the homeowner $1,200 on labor. Do you guys think romex has gotten worse over the years or am I just getting picky?

3 comments

3 Comments

noaht156d ago

Flip it around and check the cheap outlets and switches they sell now. I work IT in a building from the 80s where they used romex and back then you could tighten a screw and it would hold. I swapped out a dozen receptacles for a friend last month and the backstab connectors were wobbly out of the box. Romex itself might be fine but the junk terminals they pair with are making overall jobs look worse over time.

ninas676d ago

Oh the backstab thing drives me nuts. Actually, backstab connectors have been junk since the 70s, they didn't just get worse. What changed is they put them on cheaper outlets that wiggle and crack. But the real issue with romex over time is the insulation. The old stuff from the 80s had a thicker, stiffer jacket that didn't crack when you bumped it. The modern romex has that thin PVC that gets brittle after 10 years in a hot attic. I pulled some out of a house built in 2019 and the jacket was already flaking off near the staples. So yeah, romex itself has gotten cheaper, not just the terminals. Still works fine if you don't disturb it though.

lunag306d ago

That's a good point about the outlets though, @ninas67. Maybe the real problem is just the combo of cheap romex and wobbly terminals, not one or the other. What's your take on the newer spec-grade outlets, do they seem any better for backstab use?