# Best wire method to run inside an outside wall?



## luby104 (Mar 28, 2009)

Hello and good day.

Any suggestions on the best way (least intrusive way) to get a single 20a circuit up from the basement to the second floor?
The problem is that I don't want to mess up the fiberglass insulation in the wall.
It's bad enough that I have to cut the plastic membrane under the drywall.

I have some fiberglass rods that I could use to pull NM.
Or would 1/2in conduit be less intrusive to the insulation?
Any suggestions?


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## erics37 (May 7, 2009)

If you use fiberglass fish rods with a little bullet nose tip on it you can pierce through insulation and whatever without screwing it up and dragging it all over the place inside the stud cavity.


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## zapped_electric (May 24, 2013)

luby104 said:


> Hello and good day.
> 
> Any suggestions on the best way (least intrusive way) to get a single 20a circuit up from the basement to the second floor?
> The problem is that I don't want to mess up the fiberglass insulation in the wall.
> ...


Any reason why you can't use an inside wall for your chase??


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## SteveBayshore (Apr 7, 2013)

I don't even worry about the insulation when I work in my own house. Just don't put an auger bit up up into the wall and pull out the whole sheet of insulation through the hole. 
Surface conduit if it is that critical.:thumbsup:


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

I would not try to fish from the basement to the second floor. If I could I would run a conduit up to the attic and then fish down, if possible.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

To go from a basement to 2nd floor, I'd run up to the attic first, then back down to where I need it on the second floor.

Stick stacks are a great chase.


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

I wonder if the second floor is the attic--- that changes things


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

Or if you have vinyl siding you can pop two lengths loose and drill the plates from both sides, snake cable against outside sheathing to not disturb insulation. Great Stuff holes and tack scrap of tar paper or housewrap over holes.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Shockdoc said:


> Or if you have vinyl siding you can pop two lengths loose and drill the plates from both sides, snake cable against outside sheathing to not disturb insulation. Great Stuff holes and tack scrap of tar paper or housewrap over holes.


Run NM behind vinyl siding? :001_huh:


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

480sparky said:


> Run NM behind vinyl siding? :001_huh:


No, doesn't say that:whistling2:


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Shockdoc said:


> No, doesn't say that:whistling2:


That's the way I read it.... '_snake cable against outside sheathing to not disturb insulation_'.....


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

480sparky said:


> That's the way I read it.... '_snake cable against outside sheathing to not disturb insulation_'.....


When snaking up from basement, bend snake to rub outside wall until it reaches access hole.....Better ?:laughing:


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

480sparky said:


> Run NM behind vinyl siding? :001_huh:


You'd never get a snake down vertically on horizontal siding.


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## pistol pete (Jul 4, 2011)

Probly not however you got a very good chance of going up


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## 99cents (Aug 20, 2012)

Take out a strip of drywall about a foot wide. Score it with a knife or Hackzall but don't cut deep enough to cut the vapor barrier. Break the drywall out. Slice the vapor barrier with a sharp knife, lay your wire in the wall and then repair the vapor barrier with Tuck Tape. Drywall isn't sacred. Sometimes you gotta remove some.


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## mbednarik (Oct 10, 2011)

Here are some results of having nm behind siding. It was like this for 15 years the owner said.


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## captkirk (Nov 21, 2007)

Look to see if there is a vent stack or firplace you can follow up. Going between two floors isnt that bad. If you can drill through the middle plate without damage or by means of a "free outlet your practically there.


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## Magnettica (Jan 23, 2007)

Yeah, I'm thinking you should try to snake the wire up the plumbing venting/ waste water pipe (stack) to the attic and then back down to the outlet. Conduit on the outside of the house is the last alternative, not the first.


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## Switched (Dec 23, 2012)

For those of you that deal with Vapor Barriers. What are your guy's requirements for dealing with Vapor Barrier when installing cut in boxes?

How do you reseal everything? 

When you penetrate from an outside wall with some conduit, what are your requirements for sealing it all back up, and how do you do it?


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## FlyingSparks (Dec 10, 2012)

Switched said:


> For those of you that deal with Vapor Barriers. What are your guy's requirements for dealing with Vapor Barrier when installing cut in boxes?
> 
> How do you reseal everything?
> 
> When you penetrate from an outside wall with some conduit, what are your requirements for sealing it all back up, and how do you do it?


I had to install a new data run in my friend's house with a vapor barrier :no: We just cut in a box and left it. But then I did some research and we took off the sheets of drywall around the box and vertically (the walls had not been finished yet) and used that moisture barrier tape around the box after we had ran a 1/2 emt up to the attic. I had some extra 3m fire barrier putty so we wrapped the box &fitting with that. Probably overkill, but this was a brand new house and we didn't want to screw it up. External walls ALWAYS suck, especially underneath windows.

I don't know if there is a better way, maybe we just got too paranoid, or maybe we were really hack. LOL I have no idea.


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## pete87 (Oct 22, 2012)

luby104 said:


> Hello and good day.
> 
> Any suggestions on the best way (least intrusive way) to get a single 20a circuit up from the basement to the second floor?
> The problem is that I don't want to mess up the fiberglass insulation in the wall.
> ...




Look for closets . I have found closets to be lined up between floors and ran

emt up to attic . No mess , quick , and future proof .


pete


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## gold (Feb 15, 2008)

Remove a switchbox on the first floor and replace it with a smartbox. Remove the trim / baseboard just above it on the second floor. Your anywhere you want to be.


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