vandalism and low voltage wiring

[wkearney99]

....sigh... as if it wasn't enough work to pull all the wire...
 
Apparently some kids got into the house and yanked a number of the low voltage wire bundles loose.  Some were already fixed to the framing.  But a few, like a number of bundles from the 2nd floor down to the basement were still unsecured.  Little bastards gave them a pretty decent pull and a few ended up wrapped TIGHT around some nearby romex.  Effectively ruining any value their CAT6 or coax insulation might have hoped to provide.  
 
The dilemma is whether to terminate and check, replace or just keep them and cross the old fingers...

 

[pete_c]

What a pita to have to deal with that. 
 
Personally (that is me) I would probably run them again (new cable) using what cabling is in place to help your endeavor and concurrently removing the old cables.  If the kids pulled on the cable enough they have maybe already damaged it such that it really probably should not be utilized.
 
Here as much as I tried I still have some LV (cat5e) cabling that runs near metal conduit; but not in the chases from the attic to the basement.
 
I would leave one old wire in place labeled such that it is utilized as a pull for future cable runs.  Here I have a 16/2 insulated cable that has worked in that fashion for some 10 years.  I keep the wire coiled up such that there is a length in the basement as long as the run to the attic and same wire length is coiled in the attic. 

 

[42etus]

Myself, I'd replace any cabling that I thought was compromised. I's easy and cheap to do with the walls still open. Keeping fingers crossed seldom works, atleast for me, and a cable qualifier can cost several thousand dollars. Oh, then I'd get a Doberman and keep him locked in the house.

 

[gatchel]

If it were me I'd get a deer cam and pull new cable.

 

[wkearney99]

Yeah, I'm pulling some new cable to replace the sections clearly abused.  
 
That and there's now cameras both inside and out.  Like I had three days to waste getting all that nonsense set up...

 

[pete_c]

Curious about the neighborhood you are moving to?
 
A few years back worked with company there (subcontracted to the company I worked for) and they mostly talked about how great it was there mostly spending the time on convincing me to move there to work for them.

 

[wkearney99]

Not moving, tore down the old house and building the new one on the same spot.  We're inside the beltway, in a great school district and like the way the neighborhood is laid out (sidewalks, no through traffic, etc).  It's expensive around here though, not the place I'd move to unless it was for serious money.

 

[pete_c]

Just bored kids then I suppose eh?

 

[wkearney99]

That seems to be the case.  One of the bundles was yanked from the wall (screwed down zip ties) and then 3' of it wrapped around a nearby run of romex.  Some kid sitting there winding the thing around it, wouldn't have been an adult wasting that much time.

 

[pete_c]

Yeah; during a teardown and rebuild in Florida I had an issue with a neighbor (65 or so at the time) who owned a pharmaceutical company acting like a teenager with "subtle" malicious intents. 

 

[wkearney99]

I've deliberately not discussed the situation with neighbors.  I'd rather have the cameras pick up someone where they're not supposed to be, and then let the police sort it out.