Old timer in Spokane told me to stop using fish tape for attic pulls, said I was making it harder on myself

So I'm working this new construction build up north and the lead installer, guy's been doing this since the 80s, watches me fight with a fish tape through blown insulation for like 20 minutes. He walks over, says "put that thing down and get a glow rod set." I told him I've always used fish tape, it's what I learned on. He just shrugs and walks off. After another 15 minutes of sweating and cursing, I grabbed his glow rods. That first pull took me maybe 5 minutes tops. No snags, no fighting the tape kinking up. Has anyone else made the switch and actually stuck with it?

2 comments

2 Comments

phoenix_adams601d ago

@gonzalez.grant nailed it with that butter knife comparison because this isn't just a tool thing. Its the same reason people still use flip phones, refuse to switch from cash to card, or insist on handwriting lists when their phone has a notes app. Familiarity tricks you into thinking your way is the best way even when the evidence is right there showing you a faster path. Nobody wants to admit they've been fighting with a butter knife for ten years when a screwdriver was two feet away the whole time. Glow rods changed my attic game so fast I felt dumb for not switching sooner.

gonzalez.grant1d ago

Snagged a glow rod set years ago after watching a buddy zip through a ceiling grid like it was nothing. Makes me think a lot of the stuff we learn as "the right way" is just the way the first person who taught us did it, you know? I see it everywhere, not just in trades. People stick with a clunky tool or a slow method just because it's familiar (and maybe a little stubborn pride). It's like watching someone use a butter knife to screw in a screw because they don't want to admit a screwdriver works better. Once you get over that initial "this is new and weird" feeling, you never go back. I've got a fish tape in the van for emergencies, but the glow rods live in the spot where I can grab them first.