A homeowner in Denver told me I was wrong for running wire through his attic

I was doing a full system upgrade on a house in the Cherry Creek area, and the owner, a guy named Mark, kept looking over my shoulder. I was pulling 22/4 for the new contacts through the attic space above his garage, which is pretty standard practice in my experience. He stopped me and said, 'You know, the last guy said you should never run alarm wire through an attic because of the heat. It'll cook the jacket and cause false alarms.' He was really sure about it. I explained that modern wire is rated for those temps, and that running it inside the walls of his finished basement would mean a ton of drywall repair he didn't want to pay for. He wasn't having it, and made me run a single line his way as a 'test'. Six months later, that line is fine and the attic lines are fine too. Has anyone else run into this kind of fixed idea from a past installer that just isn't true anymore?

2 comments

2 Comments

stella_ross147d ago

Sounds like Mark's last guy was stuck in the past, right? Wonder what other old rules he still follows.

michaeladams7d ago

Tell me about it. My old boss made us use carbon paper for invoices until like 2018. He also refused to let anyone work from home, ever, even when the roads were closed. Some people just can't let go of how things used to be.