Crawling under old houses = no fun.

[Oneslowz28]

I spent the morning running fresh quad shielded RG6 under my grandmothers home, and added 2 more phone jacks. To say the least the ground under a 50 year old home is nothing but nasty. There was more spider webs covered in dust than I have ever seen. The dirt under the house was a fine powder (finder than flour) and the whole place was only about 20-27" off the ground. Now I know why the cable company wanted to charge her $800 to update the coax. They are making everyone update the wires or risk service cancellation. She has been wanting 2 new phone jacks in her kitchen and laundry room for a few years now so I took the advantage of being under there already to go ahead and run the wires. Now I have to go get some jacks and call the cable company to come and hook her feed line back up from the main line. It took me about 3 hours to do the work and I only spent about $150 on cable and new jacks and I still have over 3/4 box left of both the cat6 and RG6 quad shielded. I wish someone was there to take a photo of me when I came out from under the house I must have looked like an albino from all the white sand dust that was covering my body. :D

[Zephik]

The second I saw cobwebs, I would of turned around, looked my grammy in the eye and said "You first, I'll wait here just in case". lol

Spiders freak me out. Even cobwebs where there is obviously no more spiders, just the thought that a spider made those and there might be more around somewhere... blech.

One time, as I was half way into bed, I looked down and there was this giant black spider right beneath where I was about to plop down. I FREAKED out. That spider was nothing but a memory when I was done with it. Even though I knew it was gone, I still slept on the couch for the next two weeks.

Yea, I think I have a problem with spiders. lol

But kudos for you! That was a pretty nice thing you did. I might do it for some homemade cookies. Nothing beats freshly baked grandma made chocolate chip cookies!

[Luke122]

Crawling under houses is always a... *shiver*

I've done some networking under friends houses and things like that, but they were always 30-36", I dont think I'd even fit through 20" of clearance. :P

Spiderwebs = gross. I use a broom handle or long stick, and clear them from a distance.

[Oneslowz28]

Crawling under houses is always a... *shiver*

I've done some networking under friends houses and things like that, but they were always 30-36", I dont think I'd even fit through 20" of clearance. :P

Spiderwebs = gross. I use a broom handle or long stick, and clear them from a distance.

I drug a broom and a can of RAID with me. I did not see any spiders though. Trust me I am about as afraid of spiders as ZEP is but some times you just gotta man up and get it done. I did have to "trench" my way through 1 spot where one of the floor joist was 16" wide and was about 6" closer to the ground. At least now when she gets home from the hospital she will have digital cable and a DVR.

BTW those compression style crimping tools for waterproof RG6 quad are expensive. I looked at them at the home depot and they were almost $80. I lucked out and borrowed one from a buddy who is a home automation installer. He gave me a nice universal punch down tool too.

[BuzzKillington]

I've only been under 2 houses and they both were unpleasant. I found what was left of a dead cat which made my first experience not the greatest.

20 inches?! The hell with that!!

What did make it easier the first time was that my dad had these white disposable chemical/painting suits that he brought from work that covered everything except the face and hands.

[crenn]

I love to do that with our house, but in Australia, it's illegal to install the cable yourself.

[Snowman]

I went under my moms house the other day and eff a can of raid I took my ruger mark 2. I don't mess around, we have coon's coyotes' voles (devil's own recreation of a field mouse) all other creatures with sharp vile teeth. I pray for spiders some days. I would also have demanded the cable company get their signals straight before they start demanding people rewire their houses or risk an unhook. The noise coming down their trunk line is ridiculous.

[Luke122]

I love to do that with our house, but in Australia, it's illegal to install the cable yourself.

Yeah.. that blows my mind. Even low voltage wiring must be installed by certified professional, or you can be fined and/or have your home insurance revoked.

[Oneslowz28]

That sucks about not being able to run your own wires. They did come out this morning and inspect it. And it cleared all but 1 run and thats because I terminated the end that connects to their box. They just snipped it and added their own connector (actually cheaper than the one I used).