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Question about running wires through finished walls
I ran into a problem last Thursday at a house in Arlington that took me way longer than I planned. The homeowner wanted a keypad in the hallway and a motion detector in the living room, but both walls were finished with that thick plaster over lathe. I tried using my standard glow rods but kept hitting something solid about 3 feet in. After 45 minutes of pushing and pulling with no luck, I finally grabbed my boroscope and found a diagonal fire block right in the middle of both runs. Ended up having to cut three access holes in the wall and fish wires around each block, which turned a 2 hour job into almost 6 hours. Does anyone have a trick for getting around fire blocks in old plaster walls without cutting so many holes?
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joelp8129d ago
Your boroscope is the right move but you might be better off drilling small test holes first before committing to big cuts. A 1/4 inch bit is plenty to pop through and see what's going on with a stiff wire, then you can patch those later with a little spackle. For diagonal blocks like that, I've had luck using a flex bit with a long extension and coming at it from the attic or basement if either is open. Saves you from hacking up the wall in three spots and losing your whole afternoon.
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charles91929d ago
Had a buddy try that flex bit trick @joelp81 and he damn near lost it in the wall for good.
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