CABL Forum - Fishing is cool

I'll try to answer your question. I'm going to assume you're not trying to offset joist, which isn't impossible, but makes things harder. Drywall ceiling in basement? Probably with a plasma. Here we go. This should take a real installer about 20 minutes. Its worth a minimum of 50 bucks cash. 40 if she's really cute. If they don't want to pay, I'd rather just not do it than hack it up so they can call and complain.

There's something about fishing, either at the end of a snake or the end of a rod, that gets a man thinking about the best of things. Things like hope, and luck. Luck is cool.

If you're comming from the first floor wall plate to the basement, the walls will be offset, because the first floor wall cavity is resting directly over the foundation wall. If its poured, you're going to have to drill down past the plywood subfloor, to get into the first floor joist cavity. Flex bit is real sweet for this, just pull off the wall plate and go down. But you can also pull back the baseboard molding to get at the top plate with a bellhanger bit.
If the molding is painted and will cause more damage than its worth, and its low, you can try angling the installer's bit though the drywall to hit the bottom plate, then fish up and patch the tiny hole (a white wall won't even show, and if its behind a dresser, or furniture, this is the way to go.)

I've spent a ton of money on wallfishing equipment. My favorite is a metal snake. ( No snake? long metal coathanger and good luck.) here you're gonna want to take advantage of the natural curve of the snake and get it to loop back towards you once you get it into the hole you've drilled. Make sure your hook is closed. Here you're gonna want to tape a string to the fish and push it through with it, cause odds are you'll have better luck hooking the string and then pulling down with it. don't shove in more than 3' or so, it will start to curl and jump joist bays, and when you pull back it will pinch on the strapping.

cut the outlet/wallplate hole where you're gonna hang the display, and if your lucky there's a wood top plate Drill up with a flex bit untill you're in the joist cavity. Unlucky would metal, and harder to drill with a flex bit. Your display will be 5' off the ground and you could cut your hole 6' and then be within striking distance with a straight bit. I don't know, just keep the bit off the concrete.

Now that youv've got your 2nd fish into the cavity, START FISHING. This is where I like the string, because its easier for me to catch that string and pull it through the small hole than to hope I can get the end of that hook through the hole I drilled.

An old phone guy taught me a basket weave, a cabledawg taught me a logger's not. Unless the string/snake breaks, I don't loose fish once I've hooked them.

Don't forget not to hit any wires or pipes. This is a very narrow scenario, but typical of newer construction in the North East 1970-s to present.

Now, go charge your friend 100 bucks for my time.

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Fishing is cool