Stopped by a client's office yesterday and found a nightmare of cable spaghetti

I went to set up a new switch at a small law firm downtown. Every single cable was tangled together with no labels and zip ties so tight they were crushing the Cat6. Took me 45 minutes just to trace one line from the patch panel. Who actually thinks this is acceptable? Has anyone else walked into a closet that bad and just walked back out?

4 comments

4 Comments

michaeld481mo ago

65 year old electricians did this and they'll do it again if you fire them.

lewis.finley1d agoMost Upvoted

I was helping a buddy rewire his basement last year and we found a bundle from the 80s where they had phone lines, coax, and 12 gauge romex all held together with those same cheap zip ties. The jacket on the data cable was split open in two spots, looked almost like it was cut on purpose. My buddy just shook his head and said 'probably Bob's work' and I guess Bob was this old timer who retired in 2001. Made me wonder how many houses out there have the same kind of hidden time bombs behind the drywall.

ellis.faith1mo ago

Heard a horror story from a buddy who works at a school district, said they found an old phone line wrapped around a power cable and a fire alarm cable all in one bundle. Apparently, some contractors just treat every cable like it's the same thing, don't care if it's data or 120 volts. That zip tie thing you mentioned is brutal too, I've seen cables with the jacket crushed so bad the pairs were exposed. Makes you wonder if they just yank everything tight and snip the ends without a second thought.

miles_burns1mo ago

Is it really just an old-timer thing though? I've seen plenty of young guys fresh out of trade school do the same kind of hack work because they're trying to meet a deadline. The real problem is that nobody wants to take the time to do it right, no matter their age. Pulling cable is a pain (especially in a hot attic or crawl space) but crushing the jacket with zip ties is just lazy, not a generational thing.