c/cable-installers

I used to think a 6-foot ladder was fine for most attic drops, but a job in a 1950s house changed my mind

Just realized my worst attic crawl was 10 years ago this month in a Tucson summer

Found a whole nest of chewed coax and had to re-run 200 feet of line with a heat index of 115, which took the rest of the day. Anyone have a go-to rodent-proof cable they swear by now?

Got called out for using zip ties on a job in Boise. Customer said they looked 'unprofessional'. Now I'm rethinking my whole approach.

Spent 4 hours tracing a line for a single outlet because the previous installer left zero slack in the wall

Hit 500 feet of coax run in a single attic crawl and it made me rethink my whole setup

Appreciation post: Hit 100 attic crawls this year and my knees are screaming

It just hit me when I was filling out the job ticket... that's a lot of fiberglass in my lungs. Anyone else keep a weird count like that?

So I tried using a regular drill for a crawl space job versus my old right angle one

Honestly, I had this job under a house in Bakersfield last month where the space was maybe 18 inches high. My normal right angle drill was in my other truck, so I figured I'd just use my regular DeWalt and save a trip. Ngl, it was a nightmare. I spent like 20 minutes just trying to get the bit to bite on a joist while lying on my side, and I nearly stripped the screw head. Went back to my truck, got the right angle attachment, and finished the same run in under five minutes. The difference was crazy. The right angle tool let me put real pressure straight on without my wrist bending all weird. Has anyone else had a job where the wrong tool just totally wrecked your time?

Saw a really old cable setup in a historic building downtown

I was working in that old bank building on Main Street that got turned into offices. They had me run a new line to the third floor. Behind a wall panel, I found the original coaxial run from the 1970s, still in place and looking like it was installed yesterday. The shielding was this thick braided copper, way heavier than what we use now. The whole thing was secured with these metal clamps every two feet, no zip ties in sight. It made me wonder how much longer that old stuff would have lasted if they left it alone. Has anyone else come across vintage installs that were built to last forever?

Just found out my old toner probe was the reason I spent an extra hour in a crawl space yesterday

The battery was dying and giving me a weak signal, so I kept tracing the wrong line. I'm out about $80 for the service call time I couldn't bill. What's a good, reliable brand you all use for toners now?

Warning: my new fish tape trick actually worked too well

Had a tough pull through a finished ceiling in an old house last week. Decided to try taping a small glow stick to the end of my fish tape before pushing it up. The light made it super easy to see through the tiny access hole, but the tape got stuck on a nail head and I had to cut it free. Learned that a tiny magnet on the end might be a better idea for finding metal studs. Anyone ever try something like that for tricky finished spaces?

That time I had to run a drop through a crawlspace full of bees

I was on a job in an old neighborhood in Austin, under a house that hadn't been serviced in maybe 20 years. I pulled back the vapor barrier and a whole nest of ground bees came boiling out right at my face. I backed out fast, but the homeowner needed that line run that day. I ended up taping my pants and sleeves shut, putting a mesh bug net over my hard hat, and spraying a path with some wasp killer I had in the truck. Got the line in, but I was sweating buckets the whole time. What's the worst pest situation you've had to deal with on an install?

Spent a whole day chasing a ghost signal in a new build

Got called out to a big new house in the suburbs last week for a weak signal on one line. The homeowner said it kept cutting out. I checked the wall plate, the splitter in the garage, even the drop from the pole. Everything looked fine, but the meter showed a huge loss. I must have re-run the test five times. Turns out, the builder had run the coax right next to a main power line for about twenty feet inside the wall. The interference was killing it. I had to fish a whole new line through an interior wall to get away from the power, which took me from 9 AM to almost 5 PM. Has anyone else run into this with new construction where they bundle everything together?

Unpopular opinion: I thought my fish tape was fine until a guy in Tampa showed me his Klein one.

He let me try it and the extra stiffness got around a 90-degree bend I'd been fighting for 20 minutes. Anyone have a different brand they swear by for tight conduit?

Finally got my average crawl space time in these old Philly rowhouses down from 45 minutes to under 20.

Switched from a standard headlamp to a 1000-lumen right-angle light clipped to my belt, and now I can actually see both hands while I'm working.

Shoutout to the clean install I saw in a 1920s building downtown

Was doing a service call in that old brick place on 5th Street yesterday. The last guy who ran cable there must have had the patience of a saint. They'd fished everything through the original plaster walls and used these perfect little brass grommets at every drop. Not a single zip tie in sight, just clean lacing. It looked like it was part of the building. Makes you want to take an extra ten minutes on your own jobs. Anyone else come across an old install that just made you nod in respect?

Just finished my 200th attic crawl this year and my knees are screaming.

That's a lot of fiberglass insulation and low clearance, so what's your go-to knee pad brand that actually holds up?

Got a weird signal bounce issue in a new apartment building downtown

The drop was perfect, but the modem kept losing sync every 47 minutes exactly. Anyone else run into a timing loop like that and have a fix?

This old guy in a Denver apartment showed me a trick with a coat hanger

I was running a new line through a tight wall cavity last week and my fish tape got stuck. The customer, this retired phone guy, said 'hang on a sec' and bent a wire coat hanger into a little hook, fed it up from the outlet below, and snagged my tape in about 30 seconds. What's the best old-school trick you've ever picked up from a customer?

Appreciation post: that one crawl space in the old part of town

I used to think I could handle any attic or crawl space job in under an hour. Then I got a call for a rewire in a 1920s house on Maple Avenue. The crawl space was maybe 18 inches high and packed with old insulation and debris. It took me almost four hours just to snake the new line from the exterior box to the living room wall plate. Anyone else have a nightmare crawl space story?

Warning: I was crimping F-connectors wrong for way too long

I was on a job in a big apartment complex, and the lead tech saw me just pushing the connector on without checking the braid. He said, 'You're gonna get callbacks for noise all week if you keep doing that.' I finally learned you have to fold the braid back over the jacket before you crimp, which seems so simple now. How many of you actually check the braid every single time, or do you just hope for the best?

Always thought those cheap coax strippers were a waste, but my buddy in Phoenix swore by his Klein model.

Borrowed it for a job yesterday and it cut my prep time in half, no joke. Anyone have a different brand they'd recommend over Klein?

That one attic crawl in a 1920s house that ate my whole afternoon

Found a rat's nest of old knob and tube wrapped around the coax path, took me 4 hours to reroute safely. Ever have a simple drop turn into a full archaeology project?

Had a close call with a buried power line in a Denver backyard last fall.

I used to just eyeball the path from the pole to the house and start digging. Now, I call 811 every single time, no matter how simple the job looks. The change came after my shovel nicked a line that was only six inches down, marked wrong on the old plot map. It was a stupid risk I won't take again. What's the weirdest place you've found a utility line that wasn't where it should be?

Been stripping coax the hard way for years until a new guy showed me

I was on a job in Tempe last week, trying to get a clean strip on some old RG6. My blade kept catching and I was getting little nicks in the center conductor. The trainee with me, a kid maybe six months in, just watched for a minute and then said, 'You know you can just spin the stripper, right?' He took the tool, made one full turn, and the jacket came off perfect. I'd been using it like a pair of pliers for eight years. How many other simple tricks am I missing out on?

Finally got a clean pull through a packed apartment riser

Had a job in a 70s building downtown where the main riser was completely stuffed. I mean, you could barely see the old cables in there. The super said the last guy gave up and ran everything outside, which looked terrible. I spent about an hour trying to fish a line through with no luck. Then I remembered a trick an old timer mentioned once: using a shop vac on the other end. I taped a plastic bag over the vacuum hose to create a seal around the pipe opening downstairs. Upstairs, I tied a small bundle of plastic strips from a bread bag to my pull line and fed it in. The suction grabbed it and pulled it right through in about ten seconds. Felt like magic after fighting with it. Anyone have a different method for those impossible vertical runs?