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Fishing Wires In 100 Year Old House HerHusband 05-27-2006
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Posted by Don Wiss on May 27, 2006, 10:48 pm

>Normally I'd just drill a hole at the top, one at the bottom, and dangle a
>string down to connect the two. But as is common in these old houses, there
>is blocking partway up inside the wall. They have 12 foot ceilings, so I
>don't know yet whether there is a single block, or additional blocks.

They are fire stops.

Don <www.donwiss.com> (e-mail link at home page bottom).

Posted by Bob on May 28, 2006, 12:58 am

> I am in the process of replacing the wiring in my in-laws 100 year old
> house. So far the work has been in the basement, with short runs up to the
> appliances. But now I'll need to run wires up to the attic for ceiling
> lights, fans, and smoke detectors.
>
> The current knob and tube wiring actually runs along the OUTSIDE of the
> house between the basement and attic, and is seriously corroded with
> crumbling insulation. Obviously, this is not an acceptable way of routing
> the wires!
>
> Normally I'd just drill a hole at the top, one at the bottom, and dangle a
> string down to connect the two. But as is common in these old houses, there
> is blocking partway up inside the wall. They have 12 foot ceilings, so I
> don't know yet whether there is a single block, or additional blocks.
>
> I DO NOT want to cut into the old plaster and lath walls, so what is the
> best way to get a wire through the wall in this case? I remember seeing
> really long drill bits at Lowes, but I don't remember how long they were,
> and am concerned they wouldn't reach far enough into the 12 foot high
> walls.
>
> If all else fails, I figured I could mount a length of conduit in the
> corner of one of the closets, as a chase to run wires from the basement to
> the attic. But I'd prefer to fish the wires in the wall if possible.
>
> Any tips?

I went up into the attic, and dropped a plumbing snake down along the waste vent
pipe. This, with a little work, went through all the way to the basement. I then
pulled
wire, and additional pulling cord through. I probably ended up with 6 or 7 12/2
wires
with no big problem.

Then it's just a problem of running wires from rooms to the attic.

Bob


Posted by klaatu on May 28, 2006, 8:37 pm
wrote:

>I am in the process of replacing the wiring in my in-laws 100 year old
>house. So far the work has been in the basement, with short runs up to the
>appliances. But now I'll need to run wires up to the attic for ceiling
>lights, fans, and smoke detectors.
>
>The current knob and tube wiring actually runs along the OUTSIDE of the
>house between the basement and attic, and is seriously corroded with
>crumbling insulation. Obviously, this is not an acceptable way of routing
>the wires!
>
>Normally I'd just drill a hole at the top, one at the bottom, and dangle a
>string down to connect the two. But as is common in these old houses, there
>is blocking partway up inside the wall. They have 12 foot ceilings, so I
>don't know yet whether there is a single block, or additional blocks.
>
>I DO NOT want to cut into the old plaster and lath walls, so what is the
>best way to get a wire through the wall in this case? I remember seeing
>really long drill bits at Lowes, but I don't remember how long they were,
>and am concerned they wouldn't reach far enough into the 12 foot high
>walls.
>
>If all else fails, I figured I could mount a length of conduit in the
>corner of one of the closets, as a chase to run wires from the basement to
>the attic. But I'd prefer to fish the wires in the wall if possible.
>
>Any tips?
>
>Anthony
100 years ago they more than likely used what is called ballon
framing. Today platform framing is used. With ballon framing the
corner braces and floor brackets were let in to the long 2X4's. Since
there was no platform like we have today, you should be able to snake
a wire up from the basement to the attic with no interferance. This
type of construction is illegal now as there is a perfect path for
fire to travel in the wall cavity.


Posted by nospamgoingjag on May 28, 2006, 6:33 pm
My 120 plus year old house, with remodeling about 85 years ago has the
same kind of challenges. Although there indeed may be no blocking as
mentioned by an earlier poster, there is just as likely a chance to
find flocking in odd places/spaces/spacing.

When they installed the heating system in the 20"s, they made a square
channel to run some pipes up. If I didn't look carefully I could have
missed this "channel" in a little hallway. In addition, I created my
own "channel" in an upstairs bathrood by putting in an angled wall
behind the toilet (the vend pipe had been boxed in, just on that
floor). This gave me a shot down and up (I'm 3 stories, not sure what
you are dealing with). I rand a plastic onduit up this for future
purposes, and left a pull string in.

I was not able to find a place where I could run a 3 foot drill bit.
Before I got carried away with trying stuff, I would drill a small
pilot hole large enough for a 4 guage ground wire and use that to
determine how far I could go before hitting an obstacle.

IMHO adding the channel in the closet may be your fastest alternative.

You can always consider doing what they had to at I believe it was
Sears tower where they realized they had left out floor to floor
chases, and had to add and external chase! You could probably hide
that along side a chimney.

Posted by Don Wiss on May 28, 2006, 7:16 pm

>You can always consider doing what they had to at I believe it was
>Sears tower where they realized they had left out floor to floor
>chases, and had to add and external chase! You could probably hide
>that along side a chimney.

In NYC at the Waterside apartnment complex they did not prewire for phones
when it was built in 1974. So those wires run all around on the outside of
moldings. The buildings were in the news recently, as the architect for it
died a week or so ago.

Don <www.donwiss.com> (e-mail link at home page bottom).

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