Looking at your wiring closet right now with a mix of shame and dismay? Don’t know where to start? Esticom’s list of top wiring closet makeover suggestions will help your job become easier with a few easy steps.

• Clean, clean, clean! Simple but true – the easiest way to have an organized wiring closet is to get rid of the things in the closet that are not serving a purpose. Any unnecessary electronic debris that don’t serve a purpose should be removed.
• Consider a Cable Management System. If you have a large wiring closet, Cable Management Systems (CMS) are incredibly useful tools. A system of cables, racks, and cable clips, this system helps you visual your entire system and keeps all cables exactly where they belong. A quick and dirty tip:On a budget? Consider velcro or zip ties to group cables together as a cheaper alternative to a CMS. Cabling lacing is also a lost art that can dress up some of your larger cable bundles.
• Buy a labeler and label everything. On a budget? Not a large wiring closet? Consider a labeler. One of the most difficult issues with a wiring closet is chasing down exactly where each cable leads. A simple solution is to label each cable to its input/output. A quick and dirty tip: Label both ends of the cable. Often times these cables are long and you don’t know which end you need, so labeling both ends makes the job of finding a specific end a bit easier.
• Use a color scheme and a naming structure.  The difficulty with a wiring closet is when a stranger (or even you after a few months) walk into the closet. It’s often confusing and overwhelming to see all those network cables. Using a systematic coloring system or naming structure allows quick and easy identification of each cable and its purpose. For example – WAN uplinks are pink, KVM cables are red. A quick and dirty tip:Tight budget? Buy colored tape and wrap a piece around each end. Also wrap the color around the middle of the cable. This allows a pop of color and easy identification.
• Buy the correct sized cable. The simplest solution to organization is to get rid of the excess cable length! It’s unnecessary to have a three-foot cable connecting two inputs that are directly next to each other. Cables are cheap and can be purchased in bulk. Take a quick inventory and consider reducing the length of your cables. This will clear up the excess “hanging” cable and will create less clutter.

We hope these tips help your wiring closet become a little more manageable!

If you´re interested in other tricks to make your wiring life easier, look at our list of 110 old wiring tricks electricians still use today.