Finally figured out the trick to running coax through old plaster walls

Had a house in Denver last week where every stud bay was blocked by diagonal fire stops. Spent three hours fighting fish tape and making extra holes. Finally tried using a 1/2 inch drill bit with a 4 foot extension and a vacuum attached to catch the dust. Ran a glow rod through first, then taped the coax to it and pulled back. Saved me at least an hour and a half on the second floor alone. Anybody else got methods for dealing with old plaster and lath?

2 comments

2 Comments

olivia_harris191mo ago

@simons28 isn't the whole job just trading one headache for another?

simons281mo ago

Hang on, are we REALLY calling three hours of messing around a "trick" for old plaster? I've been in houses from the 1920s where half the walls are basically rock, and that vacuum trick is fine until you hit a nail plate or a random piece of metal lath that just shreds your bit. I bet that 4 foot extension wobbled like crazy and you probably still had to patch a couple extra holes anyway. Honestly, for old plaster and lath, the REAL trick is just accepting you're going to have to cut a bigger access hole and patch it right, not trying to be some surgical wizard with a dust collector. But hey, if it saved you an hour on the second floor, maybe it's less of a disaster than I'm picturing.