Chasing cable from the attic down.

j14

Hi all, looking to add a tv point in the sitting room and trying to bring the cable down from the attic on an external wall and having no luck. The house is a bungalow was built in 89. The wall is plasterboard with a polystyrene backing and then about a 3mm gap and then the solid block external wall. The plasterboard was dot dabbed onto the external wall. I tried attaching the tv cable to a coat hanger but the coat hanger was bending. I went and bought electrical rods and the go all the way down the wall but I cannot find it! I've already knocked one hole in the wall thinking I'd find the electrical rods but no such luck. I'm running the rod down beside an existing power cable that goes down to a double socket in the wall but the electrical rods doesn't appear where it should. Does anyone have any advice. Maybe a small led attached to the electrical rod???

aido79

j14 wrote: »

Hi all, looking to add a tv point in the sitting room and trying to bring the cable down from the attic on an external wall and having no luck. The house is a bungalow was built in 89. The wall is plasterboard with a polystyrene backing and then about a 3mm gap and then the solid block external wall. The plasterboard was dot dabbed onto the external wall. I tried attaching the tv cable to a coat hanger but the coat hanger was bending. I went and bought electrical rods and the go all the way down the wall but I cannot find it! I've already knocked one hole in the wall thinking I'd find the electrical rods but no such luck. I'm running the rod down beside an existing power cable that goes down to a double socket in the wall but the electrical rods doesn't appear where it should. Does anyone have any advice. Maybe a small led attached to the electrical rod???

Have you tried feeding the rods up rather than down?

j14

aido79 wrote:

Have you tried feeding the rods up rather than down?

Yep...but they seem to hit something in the wall about 2ft from the attic, it feels like a piece of wood as it's solid but flexible? I can't wiggle past it on the way up but coming down its not an issue. Also the gap in the wall between the plasterboard and the external wall is very hit and miss. The dot dab adhesive makes it very hard to just go up the wall hence the reason I'm going down where the existing cables are...it's just that the rods aren't coming put where they should.

punisher5112

If its blobbed plaster the rods are most likely bending and running off in other direction.

One way is run it in surface trunking not so easy on the eyes.
Other way is get to a point then cut out a section in plaster board and clear behind then repeat and fill holes after.

j14

punisher5112 wrote:

One way is run it in surface trunking not so easy on the eyes. Other way is get to a point then cut out a section in plaster board and clear behind then repeat and fill holes after.

punisher5112 wrote:

If its blobbed plaster the rods are most likely bending and running off in other direction.

Surface trunking is not an option as the wife is a bit OCD about seeing wires or trunking. Maybe the only option left is to "Swiss cheese" the wall with holes until I find the damn rod and cable. No wonder I couldn't get a Sparks out to do the job...it's a nightmare due to the way the walls were built back in the day.

Stoner

Do you hit the same issue when you go from the top down , just two foot into the attempt

Using something like the plastic lid off a 25mm trunking would be safer and better tool than coat hangers too.

j14

Stoner wrote:

Do you hit the same issue when you go from the top down , just two foot into the attempt

Stoner wrote:

Using something like the plastic lid off a 25mm trunking would be safer and better tool than coat hangers too.

No, going from the top down the rod goes all the way down the wall but I just can't find where it goes...that why I was thinking of attaching a small led to the rod to try and find it by looking for the light.

I bought electrical rods because the coat hangers kept bending.

exaisle

Black and Decker (amongst others) do a detector that will indicate the presence of cables behind a wall...I suppose that would only be useful if you're running the coax far enough from the mains cable to be detected itself..

j14

The other problem I have is that the plasterboard is so close to the wall that there really is bugger all room behind it to run the coax cable. There is about an inch gap between two of the Polystyrene sheets and I have been trying to run the rods through that but they still seem to hit something about two feet from the attic.

Bruthal

Lid off mini trunking is usually the best thing for that. It's width compared to thickness tends to keep it straight.

Whatever is used though, it can bend and still feel like it's continuing on into the wall in the desired direction.

the_pen_turner

What part of the country ate you in

The problem with the rods is that they can go anywhere and you won't know if it went left or right.

leinster93

Would it be possible to use 2 super strong magnets - n type
One with a hole in the middle to tie builders line and drop from the attic behind the plaster board.
If you then go into the room below and locate the magnet behind the plasterboard using the other magnet you should be able to drag the line downward... u may have to do drill a couple of holes swiss cheese job to help it on its' way. Hope this helps.. used this technique for cat6 cabling

Alun

I had the same problem when I installed a satellite dish / aerial in our bungalow to replace the existing UPC setup, and ended up using mini trunking in the end. I was lucky in that I could run it in the corner of the chimney breast so it wasn't that visible, and also painted it the same colour as the wall. It's not perfect, but all attempts to run it via the same route as the existing UPC cabling failed miserably. I needed at least two extra cables as well, so couldn't just snip the existing cable and use a combiner.

2011

Bruthal wrote: »

Lid off mini trunking is usually the best thing for that. It's width compared to thickness tends to keep it straight.

Agree 100%

This is the best solution, I have done this a million times (or maybe it just feels like it). If the thrunking lid doesn't keep straight nothing will.

aido79

I'm not sure if you can get these in Ireland but they are perfect for this type of job:

http://www.rexel.com.au/products/NON-CONDUCTIVE-FISH-ROD_SER4_786959.html

Edit: Here's a link for them on ebay:

http://www.ebay.ie/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.XYellow+Tongue+Wall+Snake+Puller+Push+Electric+Cable+Wire+Nylon+Fish+Tape+Rod.TRS0&_nkw=Yellow+Tongue+Wall+Snake+Puller+Push+Electric+Cable+Wire+Nylon+Fish+Tape+Rod&_sacat=0