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Cabling Do It Yourself Hazards


I recently read an article in Popular Mechanics discussing the disgusting things the author had run into while crawling through a crawlspace in an old house. An easy to relate to article for my former techs who had to pull cat5e cable through some particularly hazardous crawl spaces. One week they might be pulling cable through the crawlspace in a 200 year old farmhouse with spiders the size of computer mice and the next they were on 30 foot ladders hanging onto steel beams for dear life.

If you are going to do diy cabling plan ahead. If you have walkie talkies break them out. The headset variety are very handy since they keep your hands free. We experimented with the g.i. joe version years back. Do your best to keep your cat5e cable away from a.c. cables and most definitely try not to run them over fluorescent light fixtures. Get a good, bright lantern or flashlight in order to see the skin puncturing obstacles in your way. Wiring one business we found we had to go above three old ceilings before we got to any open space. Needless to say a dust mask is another must have tool. Try to keep your curves gentle while laying the cable. Kinks are not a good thing. If you run into impossible runs, check out my blog on the network adapters that use the AC lines for conductors. That can save a lot of work and of course there is always wireless. I can almost guarantee that you will have a definitively kinder attitude to techs who have to pull cable after your DIY experience.

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