[ILUG] OT - Sorry. - running cable through a house.

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Colm Buckley (colm at tuatha.org):

> It is definitely best done by someone who's experienced in doing it;
> it's not difficult to explain nor to do, but it is kind of "knacky".
> Typically the first twenty or so one does will be very bad.  An
> electrician with exposure to telecomms stuff will have no trouble
> doing it - or you could simply request that (s)he practice on some cut
> lengths first.

Using a bloke with telecomms stuff can be a mixed blessing:  Some of the
very worst cabling work I've ever seen performed was done by old telco 
guys whom I was obliged to work with, on build-outs of networks:  The
problem is that they "know" what they learned about cabling back in CAT3
days in 1962, and have never updated their procedures to accomodate the
needs of -- oh -- computer networks, for example.

I've had to argue with such guys to _not_ grossly violate CAT5/6/6e
specs, e.g., sharp corners, needless splitting of pairs, running cable
parallel to electrical wires without shielding, not bothering to use
plenum for horizontal stretches inside ceilings (fire code violation!), 
and so on.  

Many years ago, when I helped my then-firm manage its move to a new
building with an all-new network build-out, my boss insisted in the
contract that the cabling contractor must fully meet the then-current
IEEE spec, rolled around a cart checking each cable run as it was
completed, and made them re-do every single one that had problems.
(They hated us.)