Hello from Ulster County.

1) Either. Your choice.

2) Again, your choice. #12 on a 20A is required in some parts of the home, wanted in others. Basement general use receptacles it's your choice.

3) There is NO distance rule as far as height. There is a maximum height for receptacles that are to meet the minimum required receptacles but that is not an issue here.
They must be 6' from an opening (door, etc.) maximum, then 12' apart maximum. There is NO "corner" requirement. Any wall space 24" or greater must have at least one receptacle. Fixed panels such as glass are considered wall space.

Also,

1) Not touching.

2) Yes and Yes, 1920 watts of electric heat on a 120v/20A circuit. 3480 watts of electric heat on a 240v/20A circuit.
8' baseboard heat is typically 2500 watts and 240v. You can have ONE per 20A circuit.

Petey...can you use DP 20A breakers on 14 ga wire for baseboards like we can in Canada? Our code was changed in 1990 to allow full ampacity for electric baseboard heat only, as its load is constant and regular. 14X240= 3600 W. To allow a full 3600 W requires the DP 20A breaker. What does the NEC say to that?

No. Electric heat must still be figured at 125% of the load, or 80% of the circuit.
The actual wording is from 424.3(B):

424.3
(B) Branch-Circuit Sizing Fixed electric space heating equipment shall be considered continuous load.

Hnadbook commentary:

Section 424.3(B) has been simplified by stating that the branch circuits sized for fixed electric space heating equipment must be considered a continuous load.
The sizing of branch-circuit conductors and overcurrent devices supplying fixed electric space-heating equipment at 125 percent of the total load of the heaters (and motors) is predicated on the need to protect overcurrent devices, particularly in panelboards, and conductors from overheating during periods of prolonged operation.
The requirement in 424.3(B) is phrased to eliminate any question about whether the heating equipment is a continuous load, as defined in Article 100. Note that this revision to consider fixed electric space heating as a continuous load also impacts feeders and services that supply fixed electric space-heating equipment branch circuits.

Ok! other forums are saying 14 for 20amp 12 for 15amp. I used 12 in my addition and my inspector told me it was over kill. but i don't own this project house so maybe over kill is not a bad idea.

"not touching" meaning you are not going to touch on this subject OR you just mean literally it can "not touch" the pipe!

Never did electric strip heat. can you elaborate. i thought it was 110 or 220 and how is that differentiated on the panel/breaker.

thanks

For regular appliance and lighting circuits: 14 ga wire needs a 15A breaker, 12 ga wire needs a 20A breaker. The reason electric baseboard heat is different is that it is a continuous constant load, no dips or peaks. In Canada, because we can use the full value of the circuit for this type of heating (not the 80% of circuit capacity rule), we multiply 240 volts X 15 amps and we get 3600 watts. If we run the full 3600 watts as allowed, it may trip the 15A breaker. That's why we are allowed to use a 20A breaker in this case.

"Not touching" means not physically contacting the water pipe.

Are you calling electric baseboard heat "strip heat"? Regardless, nominal household voltage is considered 120V, not 110. Each hot bus bar in the panel supplies 120V. There are 2 of these hot bus bars. By installing a double pole breaker, which is a breaker that has 2 joined handles on it, into the panel so that each stab of this breaker inserts into a different bus, you will get two separate 120V feeds for a total of 240V. To insure 240V from separate buses, the breaker must be inserted so that there is a plastic divider in the panel that literally splits the double breaker in half. One stab of the breaker goes above this divider, the other stab goes below.

Most baseboard heat is 240V, so you would use a double pole breaker. The cable to the breaker would be 14/2 or 12/2, or even 10/2, depending on the watts of the heater/s. Each wire of the cable, white and black would connect to one of the two lugs of the double breaker. It doesn't matter which wire goes to which lug. The white wire should be marked with black felt or tape to indicate that it is indeed a hot wire. Any pro or DIY'er would see a white wire connected to a breaker and know that it's part of a 240V circuit. Note that no neutral wire is used or required for a straight 240V circuit. The ground wire is still required.

Yup. What he said. :)

If you use 12/3 wire, make sure you are careful with the max volume of the boxes. I used 12/3 in my basement to do exactly what you want - half hots all the way around.

The 12/3 wires I believe count as 2.5 cubic inches per conductor - so if you have 3 cables in a single gang box (say 1 12/3 input + 1 12/3 output + 1 12/2 tail circuit) you would be at 20 cubic inches not counting the ground or the plug - so probably an overload condition if you choose the wrong box type.

The way I wound up wirong my basement was to use extra deep double gang boxes and I had one duplex outlet hot and the other switched, and an occasional tail circuit from some of these.

I noticed that my electricians opted to use two seperate 14/2 cables to wire up half hot outlets that I have scattered throughout my house. I asked them about it and they said they preferred working with the thinner guage wire (especially in the winter when cables get really stiff) becuase it is easier to pull and splice - and they can easily avoid box overloads with the thinner guage wire.

If I were doing my basement all over again - I would have done it the way my electricians did it with two seperate 14/2 cables.

I'm a firm believer that in cases like this, bigger is always better. You can protect a #12 circuit with a 15A breaker...but you can't put a 20A on a #14 circuit. By running the larger wire, you are allowing for future load increases that you may not be able to handle with # 14 wire. I know there are many here who hate working with #12 and don't think it warrants the extra expense. But you don't do this for a living. You can put up with the extra work for this one job.