Question regarding running cabling in a house

A

Adam P

Well-known member
My wife and I are on the verge of finishing the purchase of our first house. It has a finished basement that I've already claimed as a music room for my band to rehearse and whatnot, and I'll be using one of the bedrooms on the second floor as a office/computer/mixer room if all goes as planned. I'd like to run some cabling, audio snake and Ethernet, from the basement to this second floor bedroom (and also maybe eventually some speaker wire, when I set up my surround sound), and I'm wondering just how feasable (or not) an undertaking this is. The two rooms in question are in the same corner of the house and have two outside walls in common. Is this something that can be done relatively simply (not necessarily easily, but simply) or would it involve some major alterations like cutting holes in walls and stuff like that. I know at my folks' house that there is speaker and television coax wire run from several rooms to other rooms through the walls and across the basement ceiling, but its all in rooms that are on the ground floor.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance.
 
first, an interior wall would be better (one that is the same plane on the first and second floors), no chance of insulation in the way there...
and its really a crap shoot...
I would drill a hole from the basement into the wall cavity.. as big a hole as possible...
....then cut a hole for your receiving end (the size of a dbl box, or whatever your using).. in the wall on the second floor...
....then drill a hole with a long bit (or a curvable bit) through the bottom plate of the second floor and top plate of the first floor, into the wall cavity that you drilled the basement hole into...

still with me?

then run some fish tape (flexibale metal rod) through the top hole, into the wall cavity and hopefully into hole going to the basement
... this is the real tricky part .... sometimes its helpful to bend a bit of 12 gauge wire (or coat hanger) into a little hook to catch the fishtape...
then once the fishtank is into the basement, attach your wire run.. and pull it into the second floor..

there ya go .. (in theory)...
2 hardest parts=
hole in bottom of second floor wall
getting fishtape all the way to basement

potential obstacles = other wires, plumbing, nailer boards, insulation, bad luck, ????

i've had this work befor, but its not real easy...

I would set your mind to do it... if it fails after a couple of hours and different attempts, then you begin cutting holes in the drywall
A. at the base of the second story wall, if the hole to first floor wall cavity doesnt work
B. at the base of the first story wall, if the fish tape wont go thourgh....
C. maybe whereever you hear the fish tape hitting something in the wall....

as long as you have matching paint, or feel like repainting the rooms, the drywall option isnt so bad ...but i drywall quite a bit in the daytime

got extra money?? an electrician might have the right tools to do it....



your folks had it easy, from basement to first floor is a snap

i think this is my longest post yet

:)
gl


p.s. you could always run some ugly conduit on the exterior, if all else fails
 
Hey, thanks a lot guys. No, I don't have extra money to hire an electrician, but the guitarist of my band paints and hangs drywall for a living so he might be able to give me a hand.

I appreciate the help. Thanks again.
 
When you pull your first wire run, tie some strong twine to it so it pulls along with your cable. Then you can tie the next piece of wire to the twine and use it to pull the wire. Repeat as necessary, even for the last wire, in case you want to add anything else in the future.
 
Last edited:
TexRoadkill said:
Usually it's the bass player.
Click to expand...

Nope, the bass player be me, and I certainly don't do that stuff. Not well, at least.

We actually discovered during the home inspection that there is a tiny laundry chute that goes from the second floor down to the basement, so I will most likely utilize that. I appreciate everyone's advice though. Thanks again!
 
I've done a bit of rewiring - running new wires from the basement to the 2nd floor. It was one of the most frustrating things ever. It ended up with me cutting several holes in the plaster along the way, to guide the wires, even using the method described by seismetr0n. However, even after you've cut holes all over the place, a bit of plaster and a putty knife, and a swipe of paint takes care of it. But basically, if you think you will need to drill 4 holes, you probably will need to drill 8 or 12.

All that being said, I would just question whether it is really in your best interest to have your computer 2 floors away from the studio. Seem like you'd be getting a lot more exercise setting up mics and stuff than you could possibly want.
 
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