Wiring in metal framing ?

[knut]

I am assembling my collection of sensors, Elk components, and a structured wiring kit, to install soon. My house is under construction. It's metal framing, mostly 22gage interior walls and 18 (?) gage exterior. The studs all have wiring pass-through holes.

What's the best way to affix the low voltage wiring to the metal studs ?
I suppose that I could try staples on the 22ga studs, but not on the stronger ones. Is there special hardware for wiring in metal framing ?

Thank you,
Knut

 

[Steve]

I've never done a prewire on metal, but my house is metal and I've done alot on it. For horizonal runs thru the studs you can use the existing holes or you can drill or punch new ones. Just dont use same ones as the high voltage and make sure any openings are deburred and use a grommet. They may plastic grommets that the sparky uses, those are fine. For vertical runs usually run the wire in the stud 'cavity'. The stud is like a square U shape so just run the wire in the U part, then you can just put a simple ty wrap in a few spots to keep the wiring in there. Thats pretty much what Sparky does too. Just don't firmly attach the wire in there as thats where the drywall gets screwed too. You should be fine though unless you have a ton of wire or it is firm to the point a screw can penetrate it. Or use whatever other chases you may have.