Yeah, labeling is one of those things you swear you’ll remember, but it never works out that way. I did the same—ran a bunch of extra lines thinking I’d just “know” what was what. Now, every time I open up the panel, it’s like playing cable roulette. Sharpie and masking tape would’ve saved me hours.
On the future-proofing front, I hear you. I thought Cat6 everywhere would be overkill, but now with all the streaming and smart devices, even that feels dated in spots. Fiber seemed excessive at the time, but looking back, I wish I’d at least pulled some conduit so upgrades wouldn’t be such a pain. Hindsight’s 20/20... Next time around, I’m definitely overdoing it on both labeling and empty conduit runs.
I did the same—ran a bunch of extra lines thinking I’d just “know” what was what. Now, every time I open up the panel, it’s like playing cable roulette.
I get the urge to overdo it on conduit, but honestly, there’s a point where it just adds cost and complexity without much payoff. I’ve seen folks run empty conduit everywhere, only to never touch it again. Sometimes, just planning out your main runs and leaving a couple of strategic access points is enough. As for labeling, yeah, masking tape works, but I’ve had it peel off after a year or two—heat in the attic doesn’t help. I switched to printed heat-shrink labels and haven’t looked back.