Coax cable removal or disconnect

RobbC2

Not sure where to post this, but hoping someone here can help.

We just bought an old house where every bedroom is wired for cable TV. When the coax was installed, a hole was drilled through the carpet and the floor (not in the walls). Unfortunately, the ceilings below are sheetrocked, so I can't access the coax from below.

Now we are in the middle of removing the old carpet and putting in new and I'm not sure the safest way to get rid of this old coax cable that will otherwise end up beneath the new carpet.

We do not want cable TV in these rooms, and will not in the future.

Is it safe to simply cut the coax cable flush with the floor and tuck any remainder back into the floor? Should I wire-tape the ends and hide it under the carpet? Is there something else I should try?

I will try to find the splitter and disconnect the wires there. But I don't want any kind of potential hazard lurking under the floors or the carpet.

Thanks so much for any suggestions!

jwhite

The coax cable is likely to be safe no matter what you do with it. However it is best that you find both ends of a wire that you plan to abandon in place, tape them up and cut them off as short as possible before poking them into the last accessable hole.

The original installer may have burried the splitters above that drywall.. Yuck. Talk about hack work. If when abandoning these wires you get a short you may ruin your picture quality for the rest of the house. Be prepaired to re-wire to the locations that you want to have a TV.

__________________
Master Electrician

J187

IF they are more than three coaxial lines, it is possible and somewhat likely that there is also a drop-amplifier in use. Typically, after an ordinary cable signal is split 3 times + the picture quality begins to suffer. Some people use drop amplifiers - like a coaxial splitter, only powered. If there is one in place here, you may wish to find it and remove it as it may be plugged into a receptacle.



THe use of a drop amp here is questionable though, it doesn't sound like the home owner knew what they were doing in the first place. I guess it may be unlikely that they knew anything about drop amps. HOwever, its worth a glance.

RobbC2

thanks to both of you for the help!