Saw an article about copper skyrocketing and how it’s forecast to go even higher so I decided to pick up a 250 ft roll of 12/2 Romex for some projects and to have on hand.

It was $152.64 at Lowes which was the lowest I could find. The 10% veterans discount helped but I could only imagine this is way higher than it used to be.

What would this have cost say in February of 2018 or 2019?

About half of that. I can check at work on Monday.

quote:

Saw an article about copper skyrocketing

I just had an electrician wire in a power inlet for a generator. Required 6/3 wiring. He wanted to use aluminum but the box I bought stated copper only. He came back with a 20' roll which cost him $180 or $9/ft. He said it used to run about $3/ft a year or so ago. Some of this shit is getting out of hand.

So much was getting stolen from the box stores around here that they all cooperated to bring down an organized crime ring that was involved. Feds stepped in, busted a bunch of people. The charges are for nearly half a million dollars of stolen wire.

A couple years ago I bought a roll at Depot for around $65 and I thought that was high. A couple months ago I paid around $150 and almost chocked.

I think when I built my own house 25 yrs ago I paid $18 for a roll of 12/2 w ground

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Originally posted by mark60:
A couple years ago I bought a roll at Depot for around $65 and I thought that was high. A couple months ago I paid around $150 and almost chocked.

That's was definitely the Feb. 2020 price. It's one of the things that I always check at big Orange to gauge price movement. Also check 7/16" OSB.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Blackmore,

OSB came back down but when I saw 7/16" for $56 I just laughed.

I rewired one of my houses in spring 2020. I paid $58 for 12/2, and then a few months later I paid $72. I wired a house in 2016 and paid $46 for 12/2 and $38 for 14/2.

With the Chinese housing market imploding, and the failure of outfits like Evergrand, I don’t know why copper remains so high. I thought demand was falling. Copper prices are a mystery to me.

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Originally posted by sigcrazy7:
I don’t know why copper remains so high. I thought demand was falling. Copper prices are a mystery to me.

I try not to whinge too much about Romex prices when I look at the cash I've been handed for brass and copper the last two trips to the metal recyclers.

Over the last 10 years or so, $50-80 a roll for 12-2.

I put up a couple of shops on my place in about '02 - '04, and it seems I distinctly remember a roll of Romex going for about $32 - $34. And I thought that was HIGH! I have a few partial rolls left over and they are going NOWHERE! I think I'll hold onto them and trade them on the gold exchange some day....

The commercial spec stuff in metal conduit hasn’t jumped up as much. We just wired our new barn in that - would have done so, anyway.

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Saw an article about copper skyrocketing

you mean those barrels of pre-1981 pennies are finally worth more than a penny per penny???

My neighbor up at the lake gave me about 100' of underground cable rated at 100 amps. He had it left over from building his house. We built a pole barn at our place and plan on putting power in this spring so he gave us that cable. I'm being told now that if you can even find it it runs upwards of $50 a foot. I haven't bothered to price it out so don't know if that's true or not.

Our cost Jan 2019, 59.00/250’. Today it is 140.75/250’.

Just ordered 18,000 ft of 750 kcmil copper, almost $30/ft. Copper is stupid high.

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Originally posted by 08 Cayenne:
Just ordered 18,000 ft of 750 kcmil copper, almost $30/ft. Copper is stupid high.

What are you doing with it?

Current HD price around here for 12/2 100' is 109.00.

TMK, it was more about plastic costs skyrocketing.