Tips on Home Wiring

Structured wiring is a Good Thing. But here's a tip:

If you ever build a house and have PVC conduit installed in the walls to make it easier to add additional cables from the attic to the crawlspace be sure to inspect the conduit to make sure there is sufficient clearance between the pipe and the surrounding structure to actually allow cables to enter and exit.

If you don't you might find yourself in the dark, cramped crawlspace, crawling over to find the PVC conduit. Then you might move the insulation away with fish tape in hand, ready to run some CAT 5 to network your Xbox. You might be unluck enough to realize that this job is about to get a whole lot longer than you'd hoped it would be. The 2 inch pipe might, just might, be a quarter inch off the sill plate. You could probably snake a couple of wires through there at the risk of kinking them.

At this point, you'd sit there debating what to do. Then you'd have to crawl back out to find some tools - or makeshift ones. Finally, you'd end up back in the crawlspace with part of a hacksaw blade you chopped in two and clamped in a pair of vise grips. Now you have about a foot of space to take short little 2-inch strokes over your head against the insulation to try to cut the pipe shorter while sort of lying down and trying to hold the pipe securely with the other hand.

This will require several periods of sawing and taking breaks and sawing and taking breaks. And wondering if you could have gotten and extension cord and somehow fit a power tool in there. There will be much sweating as well, but what did you expect - it's a hot day. Finally, you'll cut through and then lie down for a short rest. Then you'll push the fish tape up the pipe and into the attic.

Once in the attic with all the necessary tools and cables, you will realize that it is WAY too hot in here and you are too exhausted and your legs too shaky to walk 30 feet across the ceiling joists buried in 16 inches of insulation to get to the fish tape and complete this portion of the job. Thinking about one slip of the foot taking you down through the ceiling would be enough for you to call it a day. And did I mention the sweating? Attics get really hot around here.

So you might want to make your job a little simpler and just make sure you're happy with the clearance while it's still someone else's problem. Or even pay them extra to wire anything and everything to everwhere.

Not that I would know or anything.

Labels: family

Posted by Chris on 5/24/2004 01:16:00 PM :: Permalink   
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