Recent rains and roof leaks in TX forced me into attic crawl space. I discovered another problem caused by a squirrel. It had gnawed through the sheathing of a NM-B 12-2 cable: the black insulated hot wire was not exposed; the white insulted neutral wire had 1-1/2 inch copper conductor exposed, but not nicked or cut; the bare grounding conductor was exposed. I read other posts on this site without knowing if my repair is ok with NEC. The damage was done about 6" from a vertical wall where the NM cable came through. The NM cable extends about 3 more feet to a ceiling light fixture. Rather than cut the NM cable, put a box on the wall, and make the connections I did the following. I put vinyl black electrical tape (700-commercial grade) around the exposed copper on the white wire, disconnected the NM cable from the light fixture and ran the end 3 feet through an outdoor (water tight) box to the point of the damage. I then connected the box to the wall with proper clamp connectors for the NM cable. The damaged portion is entirely enclosed in the box. Then I reconnected light fixture. Summary: Is it NEC approved to use electrical tape inside the box to insulate white neutral wire rather than cut the wire and reconnect with wire cap/nut?