Fishing wires through existing construction

[RicodJour]

I like to have mine hanging from my belt loop when I go for my morning cup of coffee. Makes me feel all official and shit. ;)

R

[Al Bundy]

"RicodJour" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Maybe your proctologist will give you a deal on a used one?

[Peter Shepherd]

One low-voltage wire installer I saw used the thin beaded chain dropped from the top & magnets attached to a fish or stick at bottom access hole to catch chain when fishing down long open vertical cavities, then pulled string from them, then the wire. He also had the sectional fibreglass rods describe earlier, however they were much thinner than many sold in big box stores & electrical supplies; he got them from an alarm equipment supplier. They were about 8 or 10' long I think, the thicker one (still thinner than the ones I've seen in H Depot) was about $20 (in 2001), & the thin one about $45. Either could be bent in a fairly tight radius (12" for the one I saw him use) for feeding from tight spaces such as from within a closet, & would slide easily between v barrier & backside of drywall through insulated walls without destroying insulation as previous poster noted with regular fish tape & hook.

Peter

[Terry]

. Considering they go 'Where the sun don't shine" you'll also need a light!

[The Carters]

Most of the posts are on fishing, so I'll leave all that good advice in place. I will place a strong "Yes" vote for Option 2, prying off the old box and putting in an "old work" box. I have done it a number of times, mostly for the reason you state, being able to get your hands in the cavity. Old work boxes work exactly as advertised, with one caveat. Your switch plate over the box has to be large enough to cover the tabs of the old work box on the outside (room-side) of the box. many of the switch plates are small, and a little bit of the blue tab still sticks out. Another issue is that the tabs stick out about 1/8" from the drywall, so the switch plates that to me have worked best are those slightly larger metal plates that have a roundover on the ends. Those cover both the tab length and thickness.

Greg

[Don Young]

Sometimes a piece of #4 copper ground wire can be bent and pushed where you need to snag a chain, wire, string, etc. to feed the wire. I found it to be particularly helpful in reaching across ceiling joists under low eaves and also in low crawl spaces. You can also feed it in any direction inside wall cavities and make it enter small openings such as drill holes, box openings, or narrow gaps in the framing.

Don Young

[jimmiedee]

I just fished a wire to a switch. Made a hole just above the switch that would be covered by the switch cover. Ran the wire in from the top threw the plate then fished for the wire with a hook made from an old clothes hanger. Worked for me.