Found a cable run from 1998 that used a garden hose as conduit

I was doing a rewire in this old house in Bellingham, Washington, and had to trace a line from the basement. I pulled down a ceiling tile and found a bright green garden hose snaking across the joists. Inside it was the original coax, just shoved right through. The install date was written on the cable jacket in marker, 'Oct 98'. Has anyone else found a truly wild 'solution' like this behind a wall?

3 comments

3 Comments

charles_green951mo ago

Look at it from a basement in 1998. That hose was just a sleeve to pull the cable through a dirty joist space. It was never in sunlight. The plastic might get brittle but it's not carrying current. People act like every old DIY fix is a house fire waiting to happen, but most of the time it's just ugly and weird. This one is more funny than dangerous.

brian_ramirez1mo ago

Man, that's a classic. Seen some stuff like that over the years. Found old extension cords run inside dryer vent tubing once. Another place had speaker wire wrapped in duct tape and just stapled to a floor joist. It's always a surprise what you find when you open up a wall. People get creative when they're in a pinch and just use what's in the garage.

mila_perry131mo ago

A garden hose is not even close to being up to code, that's insane. The UV from sunlight would break that plastic down so fast. It's pure luck it didn't start a fire or melt onto the cable. Someone really just had a hose lying around and went for it, lmao. The fact they dated it is the best part, like they were proud of that work.