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So I had this job in a 1950s house in Tacoma last week and the old plaster walls were a total nightmare for running wire.
I mean, I've dealt with lath and plaster before, but this place was something else. Every time I tried to fish a wire, it would just get stuck. I was about ready to start cutting big holes, which the owner really didn't want. Then I remembered this old trick another installer told me years ago: using a shop vac to pull a string through. I taped a plastic bag to the end of my fish tape to make a little parachute, stuck the hose on the other end of the wall, and it sucked the line right through on the first try. Felt like a genius. Saved me probably two hours of fighting with it. Anyone else have a go-to trick for those impossible old walls?
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kai_butler831mo ago
Ever try using a glow rod instead of a fish tape? I found the stiff fiberglass ones can sometimes push through that old crumbly plaster when metal tape just binds up. Good call by @lopez.karen on the parachute idea though, that's perfect for longer runs where you already have one open end.
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lopez.karen1mo ago
A plastic bag parachute? That's actually brilliant.
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Hold on, that's not quite a parachute, it's more like a bag sock. You cut the bag into a big rectangle and tie it to your pull string, not the cable itself. The air pressure pushes it through the conduit like a plug, not a fluttering canopy. @kai_butler83 is right about the glow rods though, that old plaster is a nightmare with metal tapes. Just make sure you're using a thin grocery bag, not a thick trash bag, or it'll just bunch up and get stuck.
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