Warning: Hiding cables in walls without a conduit is asking for trouble

I've been doing custom home network setups as a hobby, and I learned this the hard way. When I ran ethernet cables directly through drywall, the edges rubbed against them over time. After a year, the jacket wore thin and caused signal issues that took days to track down. Now I always use flexible tubing or proper conduit for any in-wall runs. It adds a few minutes to the job but saves so much frustration later. Trust me, a small step now keeps your installs solid for years.

3 comments

3 Comments

the_michael3mo agoMost Upvoted

Totally learned this lesson myself. Drywall edges are basically sandpaper for cable jackets over time. Just spend the extra five minutes with conduit.

reese_singh873mo ago

Saw a video where a guy used old garden hose as cheap conduit for exactly this. Works surprisingly well.

ward.piper3mo ago

Yeah, @the_michael is so right here. I found an old ethernet cable at my place that was basically sawed in half from rubbing against a cutout for years. It's one of those things you don't think about until it fails. Totally worth the tiny bit of extra work up front.