Spent a whole afternoon on a single coax run in an old Seattle apartment

The wall cavity was packed with old plaster and lathe, and I hit a fire block I didn't expect. What should have been a 30 minute job turned into a 3 hour fight with a flex bit and a lot of patience. Anyone have a better trick for dealing with those solid old fire blocks in pre-war buildings?

3 comments

3 Comments

marymorgan1mo ago

My old building in Portland had the same thing. I used a long flex bit and a lot of fish tape to finally get past it.

xenar141mo ago

A heat gun on the pipe worked for me when fish tape failed.

sagea882d ago

The long flex bit was the only thing that saved me in a similar situation. I spent a whole afternoon just poking and prodding with regular fish tape and got nowhere. Finally rented a proper flex bit from the hardware store and it cut right through whatever was blocking the pipe. Still had to use a ton of fish tape after that to actually pull the wire through, but the bit did the hard part. Definitely worth the hassle once you get past that first stubborn spot.