Old timer told me to stop running wires behind baseboards

Had a veteran installer named Frank watch me tuck a zone wire behind a baseboard in a finished basement 8 years ago. He pulled me aside and said "son, that's a call back waiting to happen in 6 months when they paint that room." I laughed it off until I got a service ticket for a trim carpenter nicking that exact wire on a new molding job. Now I always fish through the wall cavity or use wire mold - adds maybe 20 minutes but saves a 2 hour trip later. Any of you old school guys got a pet peeve you see new guys doing?

4 comments

4 Comments

the_ryan1mo ago

Yeah, shortcuts always come back to bite you eventually.

willow4071mo ago

So you're saying a pencil dot and a "hey remember this" chat with the homeowner is gonna stop every future painter or trim guy from yanking that wire out? I'm not convinced that's as foolproof as you think.

bennett.noah1mo ago

Oh man, this reminds me of what happened to my buddy Dave. He bought this house from some guy who did the whole "pencil dot and a chat" thing with the previous owner. First time he hung a mirror in the living room, he put a nail right through the wire for the whole upstairs. Turns out the painter two owners ago just painted right over the dots, nobody knew about the wire, and it was an absolute mess to fix. Cost him like $600 and a weekend of drywall patching. I'm with you, a mark on the baseboard might as well be invisible once the next guy with a paint roller shows up.

rubyschmidt1mo ago

See I actually go the other way on this one Frank. I've been doing this 25 years and baseboard tucks have saved my bacon more times than I can count. The trick is not just jamming it behind there, you gotta notch the drywall just a hair and staple it to the stud so the wire sits flush. Then when you put the baseboard back on with a slight gap at the top for paint expansion, that wire is basically invisible and untouchable. I've got jobs I did in 2005 with wires behind baseboards that never had an issue because the trim guys know exactly where they are - I mark the studs with a little pencil dot on the baseboard top and tell the homeowner. That old timer advice sounds good on paper but in practice a wire mold in a finished basement looks terrible and homeowners hate it way more than a potential callback they might never get.