Got a call for a simple coax run in a two-story house in Dayton last Tuesday that turned into a full crawl space adventure.

The homeowner said the old line was just 'loose', but when I got under there I found the original installer had zip-tied the cable directly to the main sewer pipe, which had sagged over time and pulled the connector right out of the wall plate.

3 comments

3 Comments

bettyperry26d ago

Gotta disagree with calling that a simple coax run turning bad... that's just finding the real job. If a homeowner says a line is loose, you should always plan on tracing the whole thing. Finding it tied to a sewer pipe is the whole point of showing up, not some surprise adventure.

cora17725d ago

Oh man, you are so right! I went out for a "simple" loose line last month and found the whole thing chewed through by squirrels in the attic. The homeowner had no clue. If I hadn't traced it all, I would have just fixed the end and gotten a callback. Now I always check the full run, even if it takes extra time. It saves so much trouble later.

thomas.cameron4d ago

But isn't that exactly what makes it a surprise? If you always plan for the worst case, you'd quote for a full rewire every time. Most of the time it really is just a loose connector, so finding a chewed line in the attic is a legit surprise, not the expected job.