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b Another Homeowner. One day we will rule the world.
Well, I scribbled this down a while back with some intent of sending it into finehomebuilding to see if they sent out rejection notices. but having reread it I see it doesn’t have the jazz to rate a grade so I figured I might as well post it here thinking someone might get a kick out of it anyhow…
The year was 1985 or there abouts. I was working with an electrician in tulsa, oklahoma on an old concrete block building being rehabbed for a grouping of dentist offices. A sometimes maddening group of various trades people were frequently seen parading their particular skills. It was the plumbers, more commonly known as wrench heads, who really got my attention as I saw one sitting hunched on the concrete floor with his feet dangling into a hole, a peculiar look of resignation on his face. Upon requiring as to his hardship,I learned that the masons at some time years back had placed a secondary concrete floor over the first, with varying degrees of height between the two, ranging from one to two feet. It seems his labor for the day was to crawl down and travel beneath the top slab to different office areas spread across the floor to run pipe up thru the many varied hole locations. He knew our electrical work orders included like minded assignments, so in a much more cheerful continence seeing he was now sharing his horrific job experience with others, he relayed his pertinent data to us. It seems there were various areas in the concrete sandwich where he had to crawl with his shoulder blades and chest scraping in the narrower of the passageways, and upon the completion of his duty he smiled at us and left, knowing we were now about to share his hell.
How forunate I felt to have an experienced co-laborer with me, for he not to be undone, left for his workvan and returned with a roll of the stiff flattened wire known as fishtape, commonly used for fishing electrical wire in old house renovations between wall studs and behind plaster. He quickly unwound that fishtape and placed it between those slabs of concrete wiggling it furiously to where I was standing and aptly finding it revealed in all those little holes in the floor where we had to run the wires, catching them with a hook and pulling them up through. It was really a short time to the finish and as we were packing up to leave, I felt a generous wave of thankfulness towards my lead man, as I was second in command and I knew that he was not going to be the one to volunteer to crawl on his belly like an alligator as the plumber had done. So I guess I owe the old boy one.
It’s been a few years now since that memorial experience, but I still remember it well, well enough for me to want to do something right by him. Somehow a thank you just don’t make it, so whadda think I should do? Buy him a new fishtape?
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In situations like these the assistance of a small terrier dog is invaluable.
With a string tied to its collar and a large quantity of beef jerky on hand the wiring of restricted spaces can proceed apace.
Should the space be too restricted for even the terrier, a ferret may be used but stout gloves are recommended.
*Just get a house trained ferret. I had one as a pet for many years......no major scars! Great idea.......Jeff
*Ian, that's funny. When we were measuring the distance from our yet to be built septic system to where we hoped to build our house on our yet to cleared lot, my wife tied the end of a 300-ft. tape to our dog's collar and I hollered for the dog from the other side of the lot. Worked like a charm.Rez, the main strike against your story would have been that it was on a commercial job.
*Hi, I am a DIY but for my day jobI install telephone systems and data cabling for large business and at times friends homes. I am also an RC truck hobbiest. When I work on some homes that have a crawl space I sometimes am able to shine a light under the home and drive my RC truck to where I need to go with a pull string attached to its back bumper. It takes some time, but is a fun obstacle course and makes working fun. Should give it a go sometime.
*Down here (Durham NC)almost all the old houses have crawlspaces and some of them are very tight. My plumber had a very skinny kid working for him; he even had a skinny head. He could go anywhere under a house. The plumber called him his lizard and claimed he could could and had gone through an 8" by 16" vent opening. The boy has since found other work. I can understand why.
*bobntpa, I've heard of guys using an RC car for the pull line when running CAT-5 over suspended ceilings. It seems like they would do better than the dart gun/fishing reel combos.
*John,Sounds good but let me tell you there are very few ceilings I have been in in the 23 years of doing this that were clean enough to handle a truck, so much cable,conduit, ductwork, speakers you know what I mean. Some newer highrises with air plenum ceilings that have been well maintaned would be the ideal situation for that. I have 2 poles I use, one telescopic and the other is like a tent fiberglass tent pole, the type with the very small bungie cord to hold the sections together. I can toss it pretty far thru a ceiling to get where I need to go.Bob
*Neat idea - I like it when someone applies a unique idea to an old problem. I wonder if you could use a smaller version of your idea and sell it commercailly? Make it with tracks to get over obstacles and keep it to a very low peofile. Add lights and make it so it uses Dewalt or Milwaukee rechargeable batteries, and you've got yourself a winner.
*This type of shoddy craftmanship doesn't belong in Fine Homebuilding. Yes, it works but it's it's not kosher. It reminds me of Bill William's who did some electrical. He would twist the wires together and wrap them with electrical tape. Flip the switch and the light works. Yeah, right. Suspended ceilings are not an end unto themselves. They are a part of a system - namely, they are a series of access panels. And access means exactly that. Forgive me for ranting, but I've been involved in a lot of ceiling work recently. I try to lift up a panel and it is very heavy. You know why? It is because there are 3 or 4 layers of scrap ceiling tile piled on it. And once I get up there, the place is an undisciplined mess! There are wires and cables strewn helter-skelter all over the place. I'm not sure about the codes and specifications for low voltage wiring, but, at least, the NEC requires work to be done in a neat and workmanlike manner. Sure, your little stereo speakers work, but, in the long run, you are doing a piss-poor job and inconveniencing everyone else who comes after. I am sorely tempted to resort to my speecialized tools - known as wire cutters - to eliminate this garbage. Ceiling grid panels are not supposed to be wiring supports. -Peter
*i ... a house trained ferret. I had one as a pet ...We have one - just remember they're only slightly smarter than a concrete block.Jeff
*I have 5 ferrets, the concrete blocks are smarter
*I've heard of the RC truck trick being used to run surround speakers in movie theaters with suspended ceilings -- Runs of 80 - 120 feet on a ceiling that may be 20 - 40 feet above permanently mounted theater seats. It sure beats moving big ladders thru the house and doing all that climbing.-- J.S.
*I was getting worked up and ready to rant, but pm saved me by speaking most of my thoughts. On the low-voltage side, CAT-5 should be part of a "structured" cable plant system, which includes proper dedicated supports - ceiling tiles, sprinkler pipes, etc don't count. Not to stereotype, but the bigger communications companies I've dealt with seem to all turn around and sub out the cabling to the lowest low-bidder they can find who cuts lots of corner, like just laying the cables in the ceilings loose. Just cause the test meter says it passes doesn't mean the wire is put in right.And some (non FHB) houses do have drop ceilings added... with down right scary things hidden inside. Resist the urge. Someday you may be the one who has to replace the ceiling and gets a lot more than you bargained for. End of rant.
*I totally agree with you guys ranting and raving about low voltage wiring in drop ceilings and I also know that my industry has many guys that have never been trained at all and all they care about is to get a cable from point "A" to point "B" without caring how. I am an owner of a small company and we get our business from WOM and referals because of the quality of work that we do. I have been called in many times to clean up messes made by others. I am pretty much known as Tywrap man because I am very anal about keeping our work neat and always tywrapping up our cables. Nothing I hate more then to be bunched in with the goons that do not have a clue. I am a profesional and take alot of pride in what I do just as "most" of you do.Bob
*I was working in a the basement of a hospital several years ago, converting old storage space into offices. Had to get up into the suspended ceiling. Tried lifting a few tiles only to find them covered with extra tiles, ducting, and various other debris. Finally got one that looked like it would give me good access. Kind of hard pushing it up. Got the far end up and heard a strange sound, as a big pipe wrench someone must have forgoten slid the four foot length of the tile, slipped out the end near me and kocked me in the throat with enough force to knock me off the ladder I was on. Ok, maybe the force didn't know me down, might have been the reflex jerk of my neck. Either way I got a nice bruise on my adams apple and a new pipe wrench to throw in my box.