Areas · Washington, DC
Reels and spools in Columbia Heights: rowhouse rewiring and a busy main street
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS — Columbia Heights, in ZIP 20010 with parts in 20009, is a dense neighbourhood of rowhouses and apartment buildings around a busy commercial stretch of 14th Street NW. Its reels come from renovation and fit-outs a few at a time, and most leave by the alley.
From the reel desk · Checked 9 November 2026
Schematic line map, not to survey: Columbia Heights marked. The Potomac, the Anacostia, the District line and the Beltway are drawn for bearings.
Fact box: Columbia Heights
- ZIPs
- 20010, 20009
- Transit
- Columbia Heights Metro (Green and Yellow lines)
- Building type
- Rowhouses, apartment buildings, retail
- Access
- Alleys behind most blocks
Rowhouses and renovation
Columbia Heights is mostly early twentieth-century rowhouses, many of them split into flats, along with apartment buildings and a large retail centre at 14th and Irving streets. Electrical work here is renovation: old knob-and-tube and cloth-insulated wiring replaced, services upgraded, kitchens and basements redone. Each job leaves a reel or two of building wire, usually a 23 to 30 inch reel, often plywood.
The commercial stretch of 14th Street adds fit-outs of shops and restaurants, which go through more cable in a shorter time.
The alley pickup
Almost every Columbia Heights block has an alley, and alleys are how reels leave. The desk will ask:
- Which alley, and from which street it is entered.
- Whether the alley is wide enough for a box truck, or only a pickup.
- Where the reels are: behind a garage, in a yard, or at the alley edge.
Leave reels standing on their flanges, not lying flat, so they can be rolled to the truck. Small reels from several houses on one block can go in one stop.
Plywood reels
Many reels from building wire are plywood. No maker take-back program we have read accepts plywood reels. AFL’s program, for example, accepts nailed wood only. So plywood reels from rowhouse jobs come to the desk. Sound ones are reused; broken ones are recycled.
Buyers
Columbia Heights residents ask for reels for small gardens, patios and rooftops. The questions for delivery are about the gate, the stairs and whether the reel has to go through the house. A 24 or 30 inch reel goes through most rowhouse doors on its edge; a 36 inch reel usually does not.
Community gardens in the area also ask for hose reels. A reel with a sound 3⅛-inch arbor hole and a length of pipe makes a simple hose winder.
Getting here
Sixteenth Street, 14th Street, Georgia Avenue and Columbia Road are the main roads; the neighbourhood has no highway access. Truck pickups work best late morning or early afternoon, between the rush hours and before school pickup.
Sending a request from Columbia Heights
- Count and measure. Count the reels and measure the largest flange edge to edge across the face. A photo with the tape in it is better than a guess.
- Check the build. Nailed lumber, plywood sheet, steel or plastic. Look for a stencil or tag naming the maker and the reel number.
- Set aside steel and tagged returnables with their serial numbers. Those go back to the maker, not to the desk.
- Say where they stand: yard, dock, garage level, alley or curb, plus clearance, gate hours, badging or escort a driver needs.
- Say what loads them: forklift, pallet jack, loader, ramp, or only people. Reels over 42 inches weigh more than 100 lb empty.
- Say how often: one time, weekly, monthly or at each job close-out.
- Buying instead? Give the flange and height you want, how many, and how the reel gets from the truck to where it will sit.
- No form handy? Email info@dcwoodenspools.com with the same details and a few photos.
Reels you are likely to have
| Reel | Build | Flange | Traverse | Drum | Lb | Usually carries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C-5 | Nailed wood | 23 | 17 | 12 | 34 | Copper building wire, grounding |
| A-10 | Nailed wood | 30 | 22 | 16 | 66 | Service drop, bare aluminium |
| N-24 | Nailed wood | 36 | 28 | 14 | 83 | Insulated and multiplex cable |
| A-29 | Nailed wood | 42 | 28 | 21 | 154 | Overhead conductor, feeders |
| A-38 | Nailed wood | 48 | 28 | 24 | 212 | Aluminium and ACSR, large feeders |
| A-62 | Nailed wood | 60 | 28 | 28 | 397 | Utility conductor |
| A-76 | Nailed wood | 66 | 28 | 30 | 473 | Heavy conductor |
| S-120 | Steel, returnable | 84 | 36 | 42 | 895 | Transmission and medium voltage |
Other makers' reels differ by an inch or two. All flange sizes · How to measure
Questions the desk gets
Can the desk pick up from an alley behind a rowhouse?
Yes, if a truck can enter it. Tell the desk which alley and where the reels are.
Will a 36 inch reel fit through a rowhouse door?
Usually not. A 24 or 30 inch reel goes through most doors on its edge; measure before you order.
Sources
Each opened and read on 9 November 2026.
- AFL, Wood Reel Recycling Program: nailed wood only, no plywood; flanges at least 1½ in thick and 30 in across; 75% of staves; full truckloads; mainly East Coast and Midwest