Q: As a contractor, one of my pet peeves is when hasty drywallers run their sheets right over wires that are supposed to be left exposed, such as speaker wire or thermostat wire. Or they bring the wire through in the wrong spot. Do you have any ideas for making sure that the wire ends up where it’s supposed to be when the drywallers are done?
A: Andy Hannan, production manager for Mark IV Builders, in Bethesda, Md., responds: Whenever I have wires that need to come through the drywall in a certain spot, I run them out through a good-size square of corrugated cardboard stapled to the framing in the exact position of the speaker, security sensor, or other fixture that the wire is supposed to feed. The corrugated cardboard is compressible, so it can be left under the drywall, and the arrangement makes it difficult for the drywall hangers to move the wire or bury it.
