Dealing with 250' romex rolls

[mdshunk]

This tip works pretty good for dealing with 250' rolls of romex while roughing in second and third floors in new construction. Normally, I set up 1000' rolls somewhere in the house, but these often get snagged when working on the 2nd or 3rd floor. As a result, I often opt for the smaller 250' rolls higher up (except for the home runs). Tip is, unwrap the romex and open a window. Neatly, completely unroll the entire roll out of the window and on to the ground below. Using the romex in this manner eliminates the "coilies", since you unrolled the cable, and it gets it out of your way since the bulk of it is on the ground outside. The only thing you have to remember is to loop it around a stud or something if you intend to let go to staple or whatever, since it'll jet across the room and outside onto the ground. This dosn't work well at all on 1st floors, but you should be using 1000' rolls on 1st floors or single story buildings anyhow. The other option for using 250' rolls is the "sit and spin" type roll unloader. These are not only heavy, but expensive and I don't like them much for romex. They're great for MC.

[6pack]

MD, never have done house wiring per-say in a money making manor, or should I say cut throat manor. From what I know about house wiring, it is somewhat cut and dry and a matter of running to meet (what?) the quotah. I quess I do not know what you mean 1000' coils on Ist floor but then 250 on second floor.
When young i'm sure 1000'coils meant nothing weight wise VS hauling 250" coils to designated areas.
I quess living in an area where weather plays such a factor, say rain and now rough grade, nothing but Mud I'd hate to toss cable down into that muddy ground and then work with it. Same holds true for snow Wet & slop. Guess just glad never had to deal with that.
I do hear where your coming from though.

[mdshunk]

The weight of a 1000' spool is a big factor for me. I'm pretty sure a big spool of 12-3 weighs as much as I do. I think I lose about 20-25 pounds every summer in sweat, and gain it back over winter. If I worked down south where it's hot all the time, in just a few years I'd be invisible. :D

[Unregistered]

OK, just use the partial 1000' spools from first floor or a previous job and haul that upstairs. Maybe that is too obvious.