My go-to trick for fishing lines through finished walls without a mess

I was on a job last Thursday in an old brick house and the customer wanted a new coax run from the basement to the second floor. Every time I tried fishing through the walls I kept getting snagged on insulation or old lath. I had tried using glow rods and a standard fish tape but nothing was working cleanly. Then I remembered a tip from a guy named Tom at the supply house about using a 2 liter soda bottle as a guide. I cut the bottom off the bottle, attached my line to the neck, and shoved it through the hole. That plastic funneled everything straight through without catching on anything. It saved me like 45 minutes of frustration. Has anyone else tried something random like a bottle or a magnet trick to get through tricky spots?

2 comments

2 Comments

jamiesingh1mo ago

Oh come on man, a 2 liter bottle? That sounds like a hack you'd see on a clickbait YouTube video. I've been doing this kind of work for years and plastic bottles just crumple and jam up in tight spaces, especially with old lath and blown-in insulation. You probably got lucky with that one. For tough spots like brick houses I just use a proper fiberglass fish stick with a bullet tip - it slides right past most junk without getting hung up. The bottle trick might save time once but when it fails you're stuck digging it out with a coat hanger.

lisar141mo ago

That bottle trick is fine for clean new construction, but @jamiesingh is right about old houses with lath and blown-in insulation, the plastic just gets chewed up and leaves you with a bigger mess. I'd add that if you're set on trying something like that, a thick soda bottle cut into a cone works better than a flimsy water jug because it holds its shape longer. The real pro move with those old lathe walls is to cut a clean access hole and use a glow rod with a small pilot bit to punch through the worst of the debris.