Hi,
I recently posted regarding 3 way light wiring. I would like to know if anyone has any ideas on how to pull new romex to replace old wiring. I have torn into a couple of the walls here and the old wiring is fastened to studs very well so I don’t think that I can use the old wire to pull the new.
I don’t want to tear up my walls any more. My main concern is getting from the panel in the basement to the attic. Pulling through exterior walls seems tough with all of the insulation in place. Should I just run over to an interior wall to make things easier?
Mike
Replies
I did a similar project couple years ago.
Yes, insulation in exterior walls makes it tougher.
(We have a hip roof and going up through an exterior wall would have made things very difficult in the attic. I could barely wedge my head when I reached the spot where the wires would have entered the attic.)
I chose to go up through the middle of the house by running them up through the basement stairwell wall and continue up into the attic.
Had to open up a small section of the the stairwell wall so I could drill through a couple of blockings.
The attic area above the stairwell offered me the most headroom and was next to the attic access hatch.
The pros can do this kinda stuff with minimal cutting into the walls.
Get a DIY book that covers "old work"--fishing cables in finished walls.
Ge the right tools. Long drill bits, heavy-duty drill, fiberglass fishing wands and atachments (standard fish tapes are made for pulling wire into conduit; while it's possible to use them to fish in walls, it's very frustrating).
Be prepared to make more holes in your walls. It helps to know how the framing is constructed, and where existing wires and pipes are...
If all you want to do is run a 3-way circuit, maybe you ought to hire an electrician with the tools, knowledge, and experience. It'll probably be cheaper in the long run.
Good luck.
re - Ge the right tools. Long drill bits, heavy-duty drill, fiberglass fishing wands and atachments (standard fish tapes are made for pulling wire into conduit; while it's possible to use them to fish in walls, it's very frustrating).
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I found out the hard way and will be heading to the local electrical supply house to pick up one of them fiberglass fishing wands.
Getting ready to plunge into a full-blown upgrade on a 1950's era ranch with plaster walls...
Ahneed--
Best of luck. I'll bet that your 50's era house is plaster over rock lath...you can use a sawzall with good results.
In homes with wooden lath, especially where the keys are weak, I often resort to a Fein Multimaster with carbide grout blade and then a wood blade. It's not fast, but the alternative is having the plaster break off of the lath, and that gets expensive.
THE CHAIN TRICK WORKS PRETTY WELL, WE CUT SMALL RECTANGLE HOLES JUST ABOVE THE SWITCH PLATES IN THE CORNER WHERE THE WALL MEETS THE CIELING. IF THE ATTIC ISN'T FINISHED OPEN A WALL AND RUN A 4 INCH CONDUIT AND BRANCH FROM THERE FOR UPPER FLOORS
Guys,
Thanks for the tips. It really wasn't as hard as I had imagined. I had some clues in the basement and in the attic on where to find the wall cavity. After drilling holes I put a fish tape through from above and then cut a hole in the dry wall behind the base mold so i could just grab it and stick it into the hole in the bottom plate and into basement.
Hiring an electrician would have been much more expensive and I wouldn't have gotten to do the Denzel Washington imitation at the end.
Now THATs what IM talkin about.
Mike
Mikey,
Is it a single story or two story house ? If it's two then it's a little harder but then you just try harder.Look for chimneys,ducts,plumbing pipes that go where you want to go and see if you can get in next to them.The sanitary stack is in your basement, and it has to vent through the roof,so it gets there somehow.If it's a single story house ,and you can measure and lay things out, you should be able to drill up into an interior wall from the basement,down into the same wall from the attic,and drop a chain that you can fish out.Your worst enemies are self-doubt, impatience and fire blocking.Yes sometimes you do have to open up a wall to get through but you'd be suprised what you can accomplish when motivated.
If you screw something up, join the club.At least you weren't being paid to screw up in someone else's house. And if you DO pull the romex through, do your best Denzell Washington "Training Day" impression and say "Yeeeah , that's what I'M talking about! "
Barry
RE - Your worst enemies are self-doubt, impatience and fire blocking. Yes sometimes you do have to open up a wall to get through but you'd be suprised what you can accomplish when motivated.
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I couldn't agree with this more.
I sometimes wonder how I got through some projects, stumbling along with only determination and wisdom from others to get me through.
The best part is when it's done and over with and the inspector gives his thumbs up, I'm eager and anxious for the next round.
(I wish I had used a chain instead of a fiberglass fishing rod between fireblocks...)
Barry's right. Even if you have to go 20 - 30 feet out of your way to get to a plumbing stack that's open all the way, it's much easier that way than chopping up the walls to make a more direct route.
-- J.S.
Don't go through all this trouble for one wire. Think ahead and run a couple extra for future use. ( coax, phone....)
I agree with the extra Romex lines, phone, coax, maybe even speaker wire. Also consider running some flexible conduit, so extra wire or whatever Cat 5e and R6 wires did not consider (which is therefore the hands on favorite for communication line of the future), you can pull through the tube when needed....that's not a mistake, it's rustic
Barry has the key - weight dropped down from the top is far easier than fishing up or down. If you have old wiring, you have an older house (right?). Usually, older houses have wet walls, thicker walls where drains and piping were concentrated. Start by measuring door jambs and you might find a likely spot, particularly in the vicinity of bathrooms on the second floor. Alternatively, look for a large diameter plumbing drop into the basement. If you have 4" cast iron like a lot of older houses, it definitely doesn't fit in a standard wall thickness. The point of this is that usually the wall chase created isn't 'safed' off by floor sheathing at each level.
If you drill up from the basement and get a bright light pointed up the hole, when you drill in the attic you ought to be able to see it in the dark cavity right away. Go to one of the sports places and see if you can find some lead fishing weights that are longer and skinnier or use chain as our union guy suggests.
T. Jeffery Clarke
Edited 6/11/2002 12:23:14 PM ET by Jeff Clarke