I totally get hung up on the details too. When I tried running wire to my garage, I spent way too long trying to make every conduit run perfectly straight. Ended up redoing a section just because it looked “off” to me, even though nobody else would notice. Guess it’s just hard to let go of wanting it to look professional, even if it’s just for my own peace of mind.
Can’t say I haven’t been there—spent an entire Saturday lining up conduit in my old place, only for a squirrel to knock one loose the next week. With these older homes, perfection’s a slippery slope anyway. Half the time, the walls aren’t square and nothing’s level, so “straight” becomes more of a suggestion than a rule. I’ve found that if it works and you’re not tripping over it, sometimes you just have to call it good enough and move on... or you’ll drive yourself up the (crooked) wall.
With these older homes, perfection’s a slippery slope anyway. Half the time, the walls aren’t square and nothing’s level, so “straight” becomes more of a suggestion than a rule.
That hits home—my garage project turned into a game of “what’s actually straight?” pretty quick. I kept measuring and re-measuring, but the lines on my level never matched up with the wall or floor. At some point I just shrugged and figured as long as the outlets worked and nothing sparked, it was a win.
Curious though—did you end up running your conduit above ground or did you go for the whole trench-digging adventure? I debated both and ended up going underground, but man, digging through roots and rocks was way more work than I expected. Wondering if above ground would’ve saved me some headaches...
I went above ground, mostly because the thought of digging a trench in my rocky yard was just... not happening. It’s not the prettiest solution, but I boxed in the conduit along the fence and called it good. It’s funny how you start out thinking everything will be square and perfect, then reality sets in and you just want things to work safely. Sometimes “good enough” is the only way forward with these old places.
Sometimes “good enough” is the only way forward with these old places.
I get that feeling, but I’ve always been a bit paranoid about above-ground runs. Had a neighbor’s kid once take a baseball bat to my conduit—total accident, but it made me rethink how “good enough” can sometimes come back to bite you. That said, rocky soil is a nightmare. I guess it’s always a trade-off between sanity and perfection.