# Tricks for Fishing Walls Solo



## chicken steve (Mar 22, 2011)

*Is a bad day fishing is better than a good day working in this thread?*

All kinds of methods , but what_ really_ moves a _'fish job'_ is investigating how any given structure is built ....

~CS~


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## telsa (May 22, 2015)

My old buddies had a sure fire technique.

They used a hammer.

Heh.

They got 'er done in no time.

Sweeping up and re-plastering was a ^%$##%^&%^ though.


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## drsparky (Nov 13, 2008)

I use ball chain (dog tag chain) for the difficult jobs. Flows like water. Can be used with tubing to get it in hard to reach places. Can also be steered with a magnet on the outside of a wall (the joint clips are steel).


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## telsa (May 22, 2015)

I paid serious coin to get the full length CD...

Yet the content ended up being pushed on to YouTube !
















Very clever. :laughing:


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## telsa (May 22, 2015)

One trick that is NEVER mentioned: painter's tape -- blue or green.

Use it to lay out the inner structure of a target wall.

Simply roll out 5 feet -- horizontally -- onto the painted dry wall. Then find and mark all of the studs,

The same technique is used to display the fire stops// blocks.

It's nothing short of astounding how much easier it is to plan your attack when the inner structure is right in front of your eyes.

Discovery of the studs requires combination methods.

Density meters (electronic)
NIB magnets (finds nails and screws -- and steel studs)
48" stiff rule ( either a carpenter's level or a rocker's rule.)

This last tool needs elaboration.

You use painter's tape to EXACTLY mark it // lay it out like it's a stud wall... 16" on center. You attach tape -- in the correct thickness -- right where a stud should have been roughed in. It's best to just leave this tool so marked.

All recent rough carpentry will stay extremely close to such a lay out. A stiff rule will cast a shadow when side lit at the seams of the typical sheet rock. ( Rushed, poor quality mudding)

Above all, existing receptacles and switches will be directly attached to a stud. (typ) You can pull the trim and spot which edge is on the stud. Then, from that point, the stiff rule will lay out the other studs... almost dead nuts.

Stud location is critical because it's drastically easier to use the corner pocket -- stud & far side sheet rock to guide a flexibit up. Such routing is the ONLY way that you can be sure to re-find your penetrations. This slot also does wonders for aligning flexibits true and vertical.

Irregular studding // doubled studs// jack studs, etc. should be either obvious or revealed by the density meter.


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## chicken steve (Mar 22, 2011)

I break out my special specs......:laughing:










~C:jester:S~


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## daveEM (Nov 18, 2012)

I'm fishing a receptacle in next week. Router is coming out, drywall neatly removed. Install RI box, replace drywall (use existing removed).

Handylady comes in and tapes and touches up paint. No idea what she costs but I'm done in an hour.


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## backstay (Feb 3, 2011)

I cut the rock wedged shaped so it goes back in place. Then let my brother in-law tape it. I also use the long bits and a camera to see where and what I'm drilling. Sometimes a hook on each stick and you get lucky when they find each other.


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## telsa (May 22, 2015)

backstay said:


> I cut the rock wedged shaped so it goes back in place. Then let my brother in-law tape it. I also use the long bits and a camera to see where and what I'm drilling. Sometimes a hook on each stick and you get lucky when they find each other.


Ah yes, the ol' pumpkin flap-cut. :thumbup: 






And no tip sheet would be complete without a Magnepull video.


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## 99cents (Aug 20, 2012)

I always try the use the "one small hole, one big hole" rule. You can push a wire or tape through a small hole but you need a bigger hole somewhere else to retrieve it.


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## EJPHI (May 7, 2008)

Had a job one summer helping an ancient electrician. We fished a lot wire in old houses and he showed me many good tricks. My favorite is the use of two fish tapes. You push one into one side of an opening or wall cavity, and hook it with the second one from the other side of the opening. Next you pull on one of then until the end clips/hooks engage. Works easier with two people, but can be done solo.

You can use wire instead of fish tape if that floats your boat.

Also learned about Sawzalls but that lesson was more painful than educational.


EJPHI


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## B-Nabs (Jun 4, 2014)

If using fish sticks or a fish tape, it's a good idea to tie/tape a 6" or so loop of string on the end going in the wall; it's much easier to hook that and pull it out than to try to catch and extract the stiff end of the tape/stick.

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk


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## gnuuser (Jan 13, 2013)

from the attic drop a plumb bob between studding and retrieve it from the box cutout.
or if replacing old wire use it to poll your fish tape in:laughing:


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## telsa (May 22, 2015)

Review all of the LSD// Labor Saving Devices fishing videos up on YouTube.

Google is your friend.


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## ELECTRICK2 (Feb 21, 2015)

MHElectric said:


> I've become spoiled. Haven't had to fish a wall by myself in quite a while.
> 
> We use Green Lee fish sticks, fish tape, and tons of pull string. I'll drill 100 holes to get the job done.
> 
> If you're a fishing wizard, spill the beans and share your techniques.


I've had good luck with using a tape measure on commercial jobs. Usually cut a hole above ceiling tile and shove the tape down. If it makes it far enough to where I want the box I cut a hole for the rework box. Shove the tape up to previous hole and attach your cable. Take the body of the tape measure up the ladder with you. You can then feed the cable with one hand and feed with the other. Works better than other methods for walls with insulation in them. Disadvantage is I've busted a couple of tape measures when they got stuck in the wall. With practice you can get pretty good at aiming the tape measure at your hole. That don't sound right.:blink:


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## papaotis (Jun 8, 2013)

it seems that most of these replies are for hollow walls, and all of them work in the right situation. it depends on your structure, your experience, your 'convenient' tools, and WTF is in the way that you cant see or detect! there is no clear answer. like the fowl one said, it helps to know how the structure is built. in really old houses there is a wind brace at a 45% angle in the wall that you never could have imagined if you havent run in to it before


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## varmit (Apr 19, 2009)

If fishing from an attic down a wall, a piece of jack chain (like you would hang a florescent strip) works well.

The easiest that I ever encountered was an old house that had no plates, top or bottom on any of the interior walls. I could see from the attic to the crawl space. This was a once in a career find.


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## telsa (May 22, 2015)

varmit said:


> If fishing from an attic down a wall, a piece of jack chain (like you would hang a florescent strip) works well.
> 
> The easiest that I ever encountered was an old house that had no plates, top or bottom on any of the interior walls. I could see from the attic to the crawl space. This was a once in a career find.


There's a term for that: 'balloon' construction. :thumbup:

Regular, modern, framing is known as 'platform' construction.

"Old-timers called this "balloon construction." It seemed as light and insubstantial as a balloon. They spoke in contempt, but the term stuck. These buildings were like balloons, or maybe more like woven baskets. They were light, flexible, and tough. Stresses were taken up throughout the structure. "

http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi779.htm


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

70 per cent of my re-wiring is performed on ''single wall'' constructed dwellings. A whole new ballgame to those of you who never chanced upon it. There is a bunch of different tricks to that also. The best trick is to try to get the customers to wait till October so the attic is not so deadly hot.


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## LARMGUY (Aug 22, 2010)

The best trick I've found is to make sure the bell hanger bit you buy has a drilled hole at both ends. That way you don't have to remove the bit to run wire you use the bit.
I have a 2 foot, a 3 foot, and a six foot which I sharpen after every job.


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

telsa said:


> There's a term for that: 'balloon' construction. :thumbup:
> 
> Regular, modern, framing is known as 'platform' construction.



We have a lot of balloon framing around here! I don't know quite when it went out of style, maybe about the 1940s. If you see the old roughcut dimensional lumber, there's a good chance it's balloon framed. 

If it hasn't been framed, and there's no fireblocking, you're on easy street. You can cut a box in a second floor wall, drop a bolt on a string down it, and find it on the basement floor.


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