Wall Fishing Tools & How To Use Them When Dealing With Fire Stops and Insulation

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72-Inch Klein Tools Flex Auger Bit 53717

Magnepull XP1000-LC Wire Pulling System

Mid-Flex Glow Rod Set, 15-Foot Klein Tools 56415

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Structured Cabling Parts & Tools

72-Inch Klein Tools Flex Auger Bit 53717

Magnepull XP1000-LC Wire Pulling System

Mid-Flex Glow Rod Set, 15-Foot Klein Tools 56415

[fsevilla]

I have been doing this for many years and never have i gotten a beer out of a wall.
I think i need more training on this

[KaraAshleyThrace]

Great video for starters. I do cabling from time to time and had everything I've learned tossed out the window by one building. The building is/was a 195 year old Hotel. We installed 30 UniFi Protect cameras. I brought all the tools you mentioned in this video along with some extras like a Borescope, and a extra long Steel fish tapes, (120'). This Hotel had been remodeled an unknown number of times. While the current owner had owned it for 40 years, he was completely hands off in terms of maintenance. Current people who were familiar with the building included a 30yr who had worked there for about 5 years and myself. I have been the IT person for over a decade. The hotel had never had cameras and the wifi system was limited to a single wired UniFi AP and 2 remote wireless Uplinks, only about 1/3rd of the hotel had usable wifi. One of the ceilings was solid wire mesh and basically isolated each floor like a faraday cage.

I planed for 3-5 days. It took 10 days, 10-12 hr a day, and over 5500' of ethernet. Most of the walls were anywhere from 3-5" thick with newer sheetrock on top of plaster from the 50s, on top of wood paneling, there was then a gap that varied from 4" to 10" and the original walls which were some type of plaster, that literally took chisels to break and was effectively concrete.

The older wood, 100yr+, was in a type of petrified state that took hammer drills to get through. In addition there were multiple sections of the building that had granite support walls. These walls were around 14" thick solid granite.

In addition to the 30 cameras, I added 3 more APs bringing out total to 6 and that got us about 80% coverage. At least there was usable wifi in all the hallways.

We pulled the 2/3 of the ethernet from a single wiring cabinet on the ground floor. There are 3 stories above the ground floor total 4, the top floor is unused and wasn't touched. We put a remote switch/box on the 3rd floor and ran 5 cameras from it. Due to other problems with the ceiling on that floor we found it easier to run wiring to one of the back hallways from the ground floor to the 2nd floor then used one of the sprinkler pipes as a guide to get to the 3rd floor.

Between the ceiling of the 2nd floor and the 3rd floor is about 5-6' of sub ceilings and sub floors. The floors don't exactly line up and it was something of a nightmare getting to the 3rd floor, took nearly an entire day due to sub floors, brick walls, granite walls etc.

The current height of the hallway ceilings is around 10' on the 2nd and 3rd floors, though it is not consistent. The ground floor has a more reasonable 8' ceiling though some rooms have 10-12' ceilings.

[Zenas]

I like your calm mater a fact style to information sharing. It seems like everyone else is ether boring or overtly dramatic. Thank you so much for sharing.

[mikey]

i love that even while shooting a video in a controlled environment you were able to show the things that go wrong. i love a flex bit but dam can they be a pain sometimes. and the coax coming off of the magnet there at the end was priceless, yet lucky. I've had that happen countless times mid wall and had to pull it back out and start over, oh well that's how we learn.

[cheddarcheese]

Always cut horizontal first! If you hit a stud or obstacle, you can turn back and cut the other direction.

[paulhubbard]

Honestly being an electrician and network installer for many years I see a bunch of issues with this video.

First off when marking out cut in data rings NEVER use pen or marker. Always use pencil and mark it lightly so that you can erase any mark in the case of something being behind where you plan on putting your ring in.

Secondly, you have a magnepull, a good pointer for anyone that has a magnepull would be to use the fish end (the leader end that goes in the wall) to find the drywall screws so you will know where the studs are before you even plan on marking out your spot as no wall in real life would have the screws exposed with no drywall mud on them.

Third, when cutting your data ring in ALWAYS start in the centre of your ring shape mark and cut either way horizontally to make sure nothing is behind the wall where you want to put the ring in. Also good to start in the centre and cut vertically up then down from the centre line incase for the odd reason there is something lower or higher then your box you can adjust your marks before you have to fix the drywall.

And last but not least, make sure you tape your wire onto your fish sticks, magnepull, fish tape or whatever means of fishing you are doing really well as sometimes fishing walls may take lots of time depending on how easy it is to fish and you don’t want to do it twice.

Anyways, those are my pointers. Have a good day everyone

[hatchetman]

Thanks for the video. I learned something so wanted to reciprocate: you can run a wall sensor from the planned outlet location on up to the spot where you would insert the fishing wire. If there's a fireblock then it saves you from making a hole. Building code says the integrity of a fireblock must be maintained so I've just slid over and picked a new spot so I didn't have to mess with it. But I realize that may not be an option for some installs.

[JJnATX]

I bet Corey is fun to work with. Thanks for not editing out the snags in this video either. Real stuff that happens on the job(s) every day.

[TheRealAfroRick]

Awesome job guys. You've given me lots of ideas about ways to fish some Cat6 through my walls instead of relying on WiFi!

[jimgriffiths]

What I like the most is how your instructions are presented. I watched this because I want to run coax cable from one room down to my basement. This has really helped me. Thanks

[technicaldisasters]

I’m gearing up to pull Cat6 through the house and this helped immensely. I wished I could find some videos that cover complex building scenarios. Seems like only one wall in my whole house was standard. Everything else is super weird.

[goodun]

Former telecom and home theater installer here: another option for fishing a fiberglass insulated wall: a 12 to 16 ounce lead fishing sinker with a string tied to it. It may require a 1"-plus hole in the top stud; but if you jerk on the string and bounce the lead weight, eventually it'll find the path of least resistance---- between the fiberglass and the sheetrock ---- and each time you jerk the string the weight will work its way father down inside the wall cavity. A "bank" sinker, or an ovoid, egg-shaped lead "drail" with pointed ends, worked well for me most of the time, but occasionally, the skinnier and more streamlined the weight, the better, like maybe a piece of 1/2 or 3/4" copper pipe filled with lead shot or molten lead. This technique is particularly usefull when you can't drill through the top plate, and/or are working inside a drop ceiling where you don't have much vertical height or room to manipulate glow rods.

[johnbach]

Not only for info but showing when things don't go as planned and the humor got my sub...good work guys

[greghercher]

I have literally been dreading running new wiring in my house that was built in 54 with no grounds because it has a lot of additions and shoddy fixes all over the place. There is no way of telling where the fire blocks are or anything like that so I have just avoided doing it. I just came across this video and I never knew there was a drill bit that is attached to the end of a fishing wire, that is a total life saver!

[NMETSGChan]

I use a template made of MDF for the mud plate hole to have the hole at the same height and cut it with a oscillator cutter. Saves me a lot of time.

[MattHawkinsUK]

Useful video. Glad you didn't edit out the imperfections. Much more useful to see a bit of reality rather than imply it works out perfectly everytime. +1 for the inclusion of some fine European beverages!

[andrecomanigault]

I have been working for myself full time since 2015.. it's great to see that I have been doing this the right way prett much from the start..

[djlogic]

GREAT video, thanks Tom! Next, can you please do a video on pulling a bunch of new drops through an attic, by yourself, with j-hooks, around corners, without the cables getting tangled? That's what I'm working on now and it's a real PITA! I'm lacking the formal training so a video would be amazing! Thanks for all the time you spend on educating us youtubers.

[TheMemcon]

Great video demonstration. You can tell Cory really has done this 1000's of times, and did a really good job of explaining.