That old foreman who swore by leaving slack on every drop

Back in 2008, my first foreman, Mike, kept telling me to leave at least 3 feet of service loop on every residential drop, even if it seemed like overkill. Last month I had to go back to a house I wired in 2010 and that extra slack saved me from having to run a whole new line when they moved the TV 2 rooms over. Anyone else have an old timer's advice that actually held up years later?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_eric20d ago

Man that's a perfect example. My old timer Frank used to tell me to run every cable a good 10 feet longer than I thought I needed and I'd roll my eyes about it back then. Fast forward to last year and I had a customer who completely gutted their living room and moved every single wall outlet. That extra slack I left in 2012 let me snake everything to the new locations without pulling a single new wire. It's wild how those little habits your first foreman drilled into you end up being the difference between a quick fix and a whole weekend project.

sageadams20d ago

Wait, is this really that big of a deal though? I mean, I get having some extra slack is nice and all, but 10 feet of extra cable every single time sounds like a ton of waste piling up in the walls. How often does someone actually gut their living room and move all the outlets like that, maybe once in a blue moon if you're lucky. All that extra wire just sitting there seems like it could be a fire hazard or something if it gets pinched or bunched up weird.

jade_johnson20d ago

Had a buddy who worked residential HVAC for years. His old timer told him to always oversize the return ducts by about 20 percent because nobody ever cleans their filters. Last summer he went back to a house he did in 2015 and that extra space was the only reason the unit wasn't choking on dust bunnies. Saved him a full day of cutting new ductwork.