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I finally got a coax line through a packed wall cavity in a Denver apartment
The old plaster and lathe was blocking everything, so I tried a trick with a shop vac and a plastic bag. I taped the bag over the hole upstairs and ran the vac hose on the lower floor, which pulled the fish tape right through. Has anyone else used a vacuum to help with a tough pull?
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wright.taylor4mo ago
That's a clever trick with the plastic bag to seal the hole. I've used a vacuum to pull string through conduit before, but I've never tried it through a whole wall. How much of a pressure drop did you get? I'd worry about the bag getting sucked in and blocking the path if the hole was too big.
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anna9834mo ago
Yeah, that bag trick is way too risky for me.
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jesse_nguyen3mo ago
The bag trick works great if you keep the hole sealed tight around the fish tape. With plaster and lathe you gotta tape the bag completely over the opening upstairs and use a strong shop vac, not a regular vacuum. For @wright.taylor the pressure drop is real if the hole is too big, so I always cut a small slit in the bag for the tape to pass through and seal the rest. Less gap means more suction. I've done this on three different old apartment walls and it saves hours of frustration. Just make sure the bag is thick plastic so it doesn't tear mid pull.
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