Home Cabling - working inside walls

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Reanalyse

381 posts

Ultimate Geek

#97527 16-Feb-2012 10:19

Does anyone have any hints on how to retrofit data and co-axial cabling inside the wall of an older house (gib walls, timber framing and exterior fibreplank construction).

To date I have been getting under the house and drilling up and hoping my measurement was accurate enough to end up in the wall cavity. Then using a strong magnet up through the hole on curtain wire to find where inside the wall cavity the cable can be pulled in.

But there must be a better way to do this where (after a safety check there are no wires under the house in the immediate vicinity of the cabling) the drilling could be done from where the cable will be installed.

Possibly some sort of flexi-drive on the drill ?

Any suggestions welcome

Thanks and regards

Jaxson

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#582229 16-Feb-2012 10:27

Typically the other option is to drop down from above. This requires drilling holes in the wall top plate and then using long drill extensions to work through each dwang in the way to your desired outlet.

coffeebaron

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#582296 16-Feb-2012 12:07

Cut (faceplate / flush box) hole in wall first through the Gib, then long drill down.

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chevrolux

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#582301 16-Feb-2012 12:25

coffeebaron: Cut (faceplate / flush box) hole in wall first through the Gib, then long drill down.

Yup. Just cut out the flush box and drill down with a long bit. My go to drill bit is a 25mm spade bit that is 300mm long and I put a 350mm extension on it. 300mm will go through the floor but most of the time you end up going in to the joists and you need that extra little bit.
I prefer using spade bits over an auger as they are sooo much easier on the drill and your battery will last for more than two holes lol.

k14

629 posts

Ultimate Geek

#582302 16-Feb-2012 12:27

A good way to work out where to drill is to bang a 4 inch nail down on an angle from above right by the skirting board. No trace of it when you pull it out and gives you a pretty accurate indication of where to drill.

My house has concrete floor so no chance of doing it that way so I just borrowed an extension and drilled from inside the ceiling. Bit of stuffing about but not too bad once you get the hang of it. After I had drilled the hole I cut the hole for the faceplate in the gib and either attached a piece of draw wire to the end of the drill or poked a piece of 15mm conduit down and attached the draw wire to the end of that. Having someone to help certainly makes the number of trips from ceiling to floor a lot less.

coffeebaron

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#582307 16-Feb-2012 12:36

Started an other thread on antenna installs:
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumid=83&topicid=97540

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Jaxson

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#582333 16-Feb-2012 13:12

If you do go the ceiling down route and are having issues, drill a second hole in the top plate and stand a torch on it. This lets you see the inside of the wall cavity and allows you to accurately locate the drill bit (on the end of your extension segments) onto the dwang below. This is useful if you're intending on the full drill down, through 2 dwangs, as you'll never see the second one.

This hassle alone is a great reason why you should lay as much of this stuff as you afford when you're doing anything new!

chevrolux

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#582469 16-Feb-2012 17:15

Jaxson: If you do go the ceiling down route and are having issues, drill a second hole in the top plate and stand a torch on it. This lets you see the inside of the wall cavity and allows you to accurately locate the drill bit (on the end of your extension segments) onto the dwang below. This is useful if you're intending on the full drill down, through 2 dwangs, as you'll never see the second one.

This hassle alone is a great reason why you should lay as much of this stuff as you afford when you're doing anything new!

Good advice! And if the wall has insulation in it (bats/wool etc..) dont ever bother trying to drill down because you WILL pop out the side. No matter how straight you think the drill is it wont go straight. I know this from experience lol.

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Jaxson

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#582506 16-Feb-2012 18:54

chevrolux:

Good advice! And if the wall has insulation in it (bats/wool etc..) dont ever bother trying to drill down because you WILL pop out the side. No matter how straight you think the drill is it wont go straight. I know this from experience lol.

And your drill ends up looking like a stick of candyfloss too!

Reanalyse

381 posts

Ultimate Geek

#583462 19-Feb-2012 15:55

Thanks for all the very helpful comments

rphenix

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#583941 20-Feb-2012 15:17

Get a bellhanger drill bit, I've got one must be a good meter long the shaft part is mainly steel sort of like very thick wire so you can actually bend it, allowing you to angle it a certain direction while inside a wall cavity :)