said by pende_tim:In my basement there is no drywall and romex leaves the top of the panel and heads to the joists. The romex is exposed throughout the whole basement.
Possibly this is allowed since the romex is on top of the panel and not able to be damaged easily? (Protected by location?)
I would say yes, it's likely your romex out of the top of your panel is protected by location. I didn't mean to imply that it's never acceptable to have exposed romex, at my house I have plenty of romex in the basement through the ceiling joists through holes drilled in the joists. My understanding is that it's acceptable to have exposed romex through the ceiling joists, but not acceptable to have it attached to the bottom of the joists (at least where I live anyway).
In any case, I'm not even close to an electrical expert (but I have stayed at a holiday inn express before), and I'm sure Nunya or someone else here who sees these items every day will come through and set it all straight.