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So I picked up a trick for threading cable behind baseboards without damage
A little bit of soap on the cable end lets it slide right through, no scratches left behind.
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phoenix_bailey5mo ago
Remember when everyone said soap was the perfect trick? I used to swear by it too... until I ran speaker wire behind my couch. The soap left this sticky line that just collected pet hair and dust bunnies for months. Now I just use a bit of talcum powder from the baby aisle. It dries totally clean and helps it slide without any gross film.
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riverh496mo ago
When I wired my home office, I tried the soap trick on some coax cable. The soap made a huge mess and left a film on the wall that took days to dry. It also attracted a bunch of lint and dirt behind the baseboard over time. Now I just use a thin piece of plastic tubing to guide the cable through. It's cleaner and doesn't risk damaging the paint or the cable insulation. I get why people suggest soap, but in practice, it caused more problems for me.
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logan5256mo ago
Yeah, the soap thing is such a classic tip, but I had a similar mess with it once. @riverh49 is totally right about the film it leaves (and the dirt it grabs later). What ended up working for me was actually just a tiny bit of water-based personal lubricant on the cable jacket. Wipes right off with a damp cloth, no residue, and it slides through like a dream. It doesn't gum anything up or hurt the cable. Saved me a ton of headache on my last cable run.
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claire_grant346mo ago
Back in our old apartment, I used dish soap on some ethernet cable and it left a greasy streak on the drywall. (It took me a week to notice the dust clinging to it, like a weird fuzzy line.) Now I keep a small bottle of silicone spray in the toolbox just for cable pulls. A quick spritz on the jacket and it goes through tight spaces without any mess. It dries clean and doesn't seem to hurt the wires over time.
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