Showerthought: My old way of fishing lines through finished walls was a total pain

Honestly, I used to just tape the cable to a coat hanger and hope it didn't get stuck. After a job in Austin where I spent 45 minutes on one drop, my buddy showed me his fiberglass rods. Ngl, I bought a set that same day. Now I can link a few together and push through insulation way easier without snagging. Anyone have a better trick for tight corners in old plaster walls?

4 comments

4 Comments

shane_hayes2mo ago

Did you ever try using a string with a small weight on the end? I saw a video where a guy used a fishing sinker to drop it down the wall cavity.

gray8751mo ago

Oh man, you should have seen what happened to my buddy Dave last year. He tried that exact trick with a fishing sinker on a string to fish a USB drive out of his wall. He got the weight down fine but then the string got tangled around something inside the cavity and he couldn't pull it back up. He ended up having to cut a big hole in the drywall just to untangle everything. Now he swears by those fiberglass rods instead, says the string method is only good if you've got a straight shot with no obstacles.

smith.parker2mo ago

That's a solid tip from @shane_hayes, totally changed how I deal with dropped stuff in walls now.

patricia2622mo ago

Man, those fiberglass rods are a total game changer. I used to fight with a straightened hanger and a lot of bad words. @smith.parker is right, it makes fishing through insulation feel almost easy. For old plaster, I've had luck using a really bright inspection camera to peek into the wall cavity first, just to see what kind of mess I'm dealing with. Sometimes you find a block you have to go around, and knowing that ahead of time saves so much headache.