Conduit
Protective tubing (metal or PVC) that individual wires are pulled through, used where cable would be exposed to damage, weather or burial: garages, outdoors, underground runs.
Where NM cable cannot go, conduit goes: EMT (thin steel tubing) on unfinished walls and commercial spaces, PVC underground, rigid metal where things get rough. Individual THHN/THWN wires are pulled through after the conduit is in place, which also makes future changes easier: pull new wires through the existing pipe.
For homeowners, conduit mostly appears in three quotes: powering a detached structure (trenched PVC), exposed runs in garages and basements, and exterior work like generator and EV charger feeds. Conduit work is more labor per foot than stapling cable, which shows in the price.
Talking to a contractor about this?
Run the project past a licensed electrical pro first. Calls are answered around the clock and routed to a pro serving your area.
- Junction Box : An enclosed box where wires are spliced together.
- Knob and Tube Wiring : The original residential wiring method (roughly 1880 – 1940s): individual conductors on ceramic knobs and tubes, with no ground wire and air-cooled design that modern insulation defeats.
- Aluminum Branch Wiring : Branch-circuit wiring installed in millions of homes from about 1965 – 1973 that develops loose, overheating connections at outlets and switches.
- Cloth Wiring : Pre-1960s cable insulated with cloth-covered rubber that becomes brittle and flakes off with age, exposing conductors inside walls and boxes.