Rant: "Just fish it through" is the worst advice you can get on a rewire

Was on a job last month in an old house in St. Louis, trying to run new Cat6 through a finished wall. Every guy on the forum says just fish it, it's easy. Tried for 45 minutes, hit fire block, hit insulation, got the tape stuck. Finally said screw it, cut a 4 inch hole behind the baseboard, pulled a glow rod through the crawl space, and had it done in 10 minutes. Why do we always try the hard way first? Anyone else just start cutting access holes earlier now?

3 comments

3 Comments

brooke_jones10d ago

and honestly, the "just fish it" crowd has never dealt with old balloon framing or fire stops from the 40s. i've been doing this long enough to know that cutting a small access hole is way better than fighting with a fish tape for an hour and still ending up with a tangled mess. plus, patching a clean cut in drywall is easier than fixing a mangled tape or a ripped wire. sounds like you learned the same lesson a lot of us do - sometimes the simple, direct path saves you the most time in the long run.

felixm2910d ago

Nope, you're dead right. A clean hole beats a busted tape every time.

spencer_gonzalez110d agoMost Upvoted

Cut the hole. Save the headache. I learned that lesson pulling wire in a 1920s bungalow last year - fire blocks everywhere, insulation packed tight, and my fish tape snapped after 20 minutes of cursing. Now I just mark where I need to go, cut a neat square, and patch it clean. Takes less time than fighting a losing battle with old framing.

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