Question about the way we run coax through attics in the summer heat

I had a job last Tuesday in Madison where the attic was pushing 130 degrees easy. I was up there running a new drop for a customer who wanted their living room moved around. My foreman says we always gotta use the structured wire path they got pre-installed. But that path took me through a spot where the trusses were so tight I could barely squeeze my arm in. I snapped two RG6 cables before I finally said forget it and drilled my own hole through a top plate. The customer saw me come down drenched in sweat and asked if I was okay. My foreman chewed me out for not following the path, but I saved an hour of fighting with it. Has anyone else ever just ignored the designed route when the heat made it impossible to work?

3 comments

3 Comments

nancycooper11d ago

Gosh, I used to be all about following the plan no matter what! But last summer I had a job where the pre-run path was basically a sauna tunnel and I snapped two cables myself before giving up and drilling fresh. I get why foremen want things a certain way, but when the heat is that brutal you gotta work smart, not just follow the rules.

bettyroberts11d ago

Man, I had a buddy who tried to run cable through an old warehouse last August. Said the existing conduit was so rusted inside it shredded three lines before he even got halfway. He finally gave up, drilled a new path through the ceiling, and finished in two hours. Foreman was mad until he saw the pile of ruined cable. Sometimes you just gotta know when the plan is trash.

parker18311d ago

Oh man @nancycooper you just reminded me of something that happened to a buddy of mine last year. He was pulling fiber in this old hospital basement and the blueprint said to use this tiny crawlspace. He got halfway in and the conduit was so clogged with decades of dust and dead bugs he couldn't even blow a fish tape through. Spent like two hours trying to clear it, then just said screw it and ran the cable along the ceiling tiles instead. Took him 20 minutes after that. The foreman was pissed but my buddy just pointed at the clogged pipe and said "you wanna try it?" Nobody said another word.