Watched an attic install go sideways last Friday and it changed my whole approach

I was on a job last Friday helping a guy run lines through a new development outside Austin. We had this one house where the attic was already pretty packed with HVAC ducts. The homeowner wanted cable drops in three bedrooms, but the way the other installer started pulling through the insulation made me nervous. Sure enough, he snagged his foot on a duct joint and tore the flex loose, which meant we had to stop and call the HVAC crew to fix it before we could keep going. That cost us about two hours and the homeowner was not happy. After that, I started walking the attic path first with a flashlight and marking any obstacles before I even unspool a cable. Has anyone else had to change how they plan attic routes after something like that happened?

3 comments

3 Comments

grant_foster7924d ago

@holly_henderson86 great point about escape routes, nobody talks about that.

holly_henderson8628d ago

Man, have you ever had that gut punch feeling when you hear the flex tear? Same thing happened to me on a retro job in an old 1950s ranch. I was trying to be careful but I shifted my weight and straight up crushed a section of ductwork under my knee. Felt like such an idiot. Now I do exactly what you do, I walk the whole path first and I actually take a broom handle with me to poke at the insulation and find any weak spots or hidden ducts. Plus I always leave myself a few escape routes in case I need to backtrack, saves a ton of headache.

king.derek28d ago

Poke ahead with a screwdriver or a long rod before you commit your body weight. I learned that the hard way on a rewire in a damp crawlspace. The flex looked solid from the top but the foil jacket was rotted clean through underneath. Cost me a whole afternoon patching that mess. Broom handle trick is solid, I use a piece of rebar with a bent tip to snag loose insulation before I crawl in.