If you were going to attach it, and if code doesn't care, I'd suggest you attach it to the joists above. I say this because i think it's more likely that you or someone else would want to raise or replace the ceiling (or even a section of it--especially in the basement, where ceilings can be sort of low), and the romex might be in the way. But it would be less likely that anyone will mess with the floor. I also suggest that if laying the romex on top of the framing is acceptable to code, that you should provide plenty of slack--again, so that someone could come along later and raise the ceiling by 6 inches without having to redo the wiring. I have a place where my licensed electrician suggests that we run wire over the kitchen cabinets, inside the soffit. He suggests this because then we don't have to deal with trying to work inside that space to attach it--cabinets are a pain to take down, space is small and too high to be easy to work in, etc. Because there is a very strong likelihood that someone might take *out* the soffit I put in, and because this is wiring that involves the circuit-breaker panel, they REALLY arent going to want to re-address the whole thing. I'm going to ask him to be sure there's enough slack that someone later could shift that flexible conduit all the way to the back, or up against the ceiling, etc., at a later date without having to rewire. It's like a haircut: you can always cut it shorter pretty easily (if you can get to a junction box on either end easily, you can shorten it there). "Cutting it longer" is impossible, and w/ electrical, you can't just splice it any old where you'd like to, since you have to have a junction box at the splice.

LOL. Getting back to fuel, I do wonder about diesel. Wonderful engines etc and probably the go-to for commercial power backup but I wonder about the fuel life in terms of standing....it does go off after time, and I suspect the standby maintenance is bigger - and maintenance is something many probably don't factor into costs. I wonder if you can get the special diesel that doesn't include the road tax and is cheaper? The gas equivalent here in Canada is called "purple gas" but don't know if there's a diesel equivalent. If it was legal to do so and you were committed to having the tank topped off regularly, or had two tanks, I suppose you could, theoretically, have a diesel vehicle and use the fuel from tank A) when it was getting old, keeping tank B) full, then swap and use up tank B) - I believe you can have such fuel tested too. Reading the Costco fliers I thought the Natural gas gensets sounded appealing - no dangerous fuel storage, no old fuel to get rid of, but then you are reliant on the outside gas supply. I suppose propane beats this, but how long does IT keep?

An 18 inch auger drill bit allows you to drill in the middle of a stud despite an angled entry from the rest of the drywall. A 3 inch strip of drywall is enough to run receptacles around a room. For vertical work you can cut about 6 inches below the wall ceiling joint, drill through the top plat, and then fish from the opening ion the ceiling. Worst can you open the ceiling 5 inches from the wall and work from there. Inside corners take more time to repair than flat work, so avoid damaging them.

Find a wall on the first floor that has another wall above on the second floor. Cut out the plaster in the stud bay and run your lines and miltuple conduits in the bay from basement to attic. Repair the wall section as well as you wish. Anything from drywall up to plaster on expanded metal lath (3 coat plaster) or gypsum lath (2 coat plaster). If you need any other lines (phone, plumbing, cable TV, thermostat, etc.) this is your chance to run them. You need to decide if you can tolerate a sub panel on the second floor somewhere. You can then run four larger lines for the sub-panel directly or to the attic and then drop them back to the sub-panel (panels are not allowed in clothes closets). Behind a door to a room is often a good hiding place. When the door is open the panel is not visible.