Overlash

What Does Overlashing Save You?

Overlashing places a new cable onto an existing messenger strand and lashes both together, rather than framing new strand on every pole. Because you are not adding a new attachment point, the pole owner process is usually shorter and the make-ready exposure is usually smaller.

The construction savings are just as real. There is no framing, no new anchors, no new dead-ends, and no bonding work at every pole. A crew that would spend a day framing and stringing strand spends that day placing cable instead, which changes the production rate on a long route substantially.

That makes overlash the default answer for adding capacity to a route you already occupy: a second fiber cable on your own existing strand, a higher count replacing a run you plan to retire, or a new distribution cable following an existing backbone through a neighborhood.

Overlash is also the fastest way to respond to a capacity request on a route that is already built. Where a new attachment could take months of pole owner review and make-ready, an overlash on healthy strand can often move from notification to construction in a fraction of that time. That difference is usually what decides whether a service date is achievable at all.

When Is Overlashing Not the Right Answer?

Overlash inherits everything about the existing plant, good and bad. If the strand is undersized for the added weight and wind area, if it is corroded at the clamps, or if it was overtensioned when it went up, adding a cable turns an existing problem into your problem and your liability.

Existing clearance is the other trap. If a span is already marginal over a roadway, the added weight increases sag and pushes it out of compliance. That gets discovered either during pole owner review or during a post-construction audit, and the audit version is far more expensive than the review version.

Where the existing strand cannot take the load, the honest answer is new strand or targeted make-ready, not a hopeful lash. We would rather tell you that during the walkout, while the design can still change, than after mobilization when the schedule is already committed.

What Do We Inspect on the Strand Before We Lash?

Before an overlash we walk the strand and look at what is physically there rather than what the records claim. Existing plant in Florida has usually been through several storm seasons, and coastal air is hard on galvanizing.

Where the strand looks marginal, replacement or reinforcement is priced before cable is ordered, not after a crew is standing under the pole with a reel on the truck. We also look at the neighbors, because attachments above and below yours set the separation you have to work inside, and a lash that crowds another attacher is a clearance complaint waiting to be filed.

• Strand diameter and apparent class, compared against what the design assumed.
• Rust, broken wires, and deterioration at clamps, dead-ends, and splices.
• Hardware tightness, missing bolts, and worn strand clamps.
• Guy and anchor condition at every direction change and dead-end.
• Existing sag and current ground clearance at crossing spans.
• Bonding continuity along the run and at dead-ends.

What Notice and Approval Does an Overlash Need?

You can generally overlash your own attachment, but the pole owner still expects notice, and overlashing a cable that belongs to another attacher requires that company permission as well as the owner process. Requirements vary by pole owner, so the first step is confirming what this specific owner requires and in what format.

Many owners require a loading review before an overlash is approved, based on the added cable weight and diameter. Supplying accurate cable data up front, including outside diameter, weight per foot, and fiber count, keeps that review short and prevents a resubmittal cycle.

We handle the notification and the data package, and we track it to approval so your project manager is not chasing a status through three companies.

How Is an Overlash Built in the Field?

An overlash is built on top of plant that is already in service, so the first rule is to leave the existing cable exactly as it was found. The new cable is placed in blocks hung on the existing strand, and the lashing machine wraps the new cable, the existing cable, and the strand together in a fresh spiral of lash wire.

The original lash wire stays in place. Cutting it would leave the existing cable unsupported in mid-span, and that cable may be carrying live service for its owner. At each pole the new lash wire is clamped, the new cable is tied off, and both cables pass the pole without being pinched against the hardware.

Attachments above and below are not moved or loosened to make room. If the bundle cannot pass a pole without crowding a neighbor or breaking required separation, that pole becomes a make-ready item rather than a field adjustment.

Because the existing cable is live, we coordinate with its owner when the work calls for it, keep tension off existing drops and risers, and report damaged or unsecured existing plant we find instead of quietly repairing another company's cable.

How Does an Overlash Change Sag and Clearance?

Adding a cable changes the sag of the span. The strand was tensioned for its original load, and the new weight settles it lower, most noticeably in long spans and on hot afternoons when the cable is already at its warmest.

We measure ground clearance at the low point of crossing spans after the overlash rather than before, and we compare against the requirement for what sits underneath: roadway, driveway, parking area, or pedestrian-only space. Where a span comes up short, the fix is retensioning if the strand allows it, an intermediate support, or taking that section underground.

Those measurements go into your closeout package with photographs. If the attachment is ever audited, you have a dated record of what the clearance was on the day the work was finished instead of an argument about it.