Veteran installer in Omaha told me to always strap cable to the joist, I called him wrong for years

Met this old timer Ed during a commercial job downtown Omaha back in 2021. He insisted we run zip ties every 4 feet on every drop, said anything loose causes headaches later. Three years in, I just spent a Saturday fixing a bundle I ran loose that got snagged by an HVAC crew. Now I feel stupid for ignoring him all those months, has anyone else missed advice from an older guy that turned out to be gospel?

4 comments

4 Comments

morganl711d ago

Always strap cable to the joist" - yeah I learned that one the hard way too. Got called back to a house six months after I ran some low voltage lines loose in a crawl space. Rodents chewed through two of them. Now I zip tie everything neat and tight, every four feet just like the old guys said. Saves a ton of headaches later.

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drews551d ago

Switching to those heavy duty zip ties with the stainless steel locking tab made a huge difference for me. They hold tight even in damp crawl spaces where the regular plastic ones get brittle and snap after a year or two. Worth the extra few bucks to avoid having to crawl back under there six months later.

hannahj491d ago

wait, metal clad zip ties are actually a thing? i thought that was just something electricians joked about lol. that's wild that rodents will chew through the regular ones but not the metal ones, guess they're picky about their snacks or something

the_riley1d ago

And if you really want to be safe (especially in old houses), use the metal clad zip ties. They cost a bit more but rodents won't touch em. I had a job where the regular plastic ones were chewed through in a matter of weeks, but the metal ones held up for years. Just make sure you get the ones with the proper loop strength rating or they won't hold tight enough.