I got kinda lazy yesterday, and didn’t get too much done on the bedroom fan wiring project. But, I did get one step closer to running a new wire from the basement to the attic. I got holes drilled in the top and bottom plates, and verified that both holes hit the same stud cavity. Fishing the wire should be pretty easy at this point.

Rules of thumb for anyone who wants to attempt this…

1. Ensure that you own a ranch house. 🙂
2. Tools of the trade: tape measure, stud finder, drill, 1/8″ x 12″ feeler bit, 5/8″ spade bit, flashlight.
3. Find reference points in the basement and attic so that you can (somewhat accurately) pinpoint where to drill. Examples are: pipe penetrations, wire penetrations, ducts, etc.
4. Locate the wall studs, and pick your drilling spots so that you don’t hit the top (or bottom) of a vertical wall stud.
5. Measure, measure, measure! Can’t stress this enough.
6. Drill a pilot hole first to make sure you hit an open stud cavity. I use a 1/8″ x 12″ bit for this. After drilling, leave the bit in the hole. Then go upstairs/downstairs and make sure the bit is not sticking through the ceiling/floor!
7. Assuming everything looks good, use a 5/8″ spade bit to enlarge the hole. When drilling downwards from the attic, make sure the bit is TIGHT in the chuck.
8. Once you have drilled both holes, put a flashlight over the hole in the attic. Adjust the light for a focused (not diffuse) beam. Go down to the basement. Turn the lights off, look up into the hole, and make sure you can see the beam.

Next: Let’s fish some wire..

So, I’m doing a bit of rewiring in our spare bedroom, soon to become my 3-year-old’s new room. The previous owners put up a ceiling fan. Problem is, they didn’t bother to install an approved box. It’s one of those lovely nail-to-the-underside-of-the-studs metal bar jobbies. Rather than sit around twiddling my thumbs until the fan comes crashing down, I’m putting a new box in with a proper brace. Along the way, I’m replacing the wall switch, a fan/light control that has (putting it nicely) seen better days.

Well, nothing is ever that easy. The new fan control is slightly deeper than the old one. The power feeds through the wall box. There are 3 cables coming into the box: A 14-2 BX feed, a 14-3 BX carrying switched, unswitched and neutral to the ceiling box, and a 14-2 romex that someone added at a later date, to carry switched power to the fan (separate from the lights). So, we’ve got 3 cables and a grand total of 5 wirenuts (3 for the switch, 1 for neutral, and 1 to cap off the unused wire in the romex cable). Short story: I can’t fit everything in the box with the deeper switch.

I want to use this switch. I’ve got 2 other identical ones elsewhere in the house. So, looks like I need to do some rewiring.

I suppose I could replace the box. Nothing I haven’t done before. But, these boxes are holy hell to get out of the wall, without destroying the wall (plaster over gypsum board, or “rock lath” as it was called back in the day). No, I think I’ll rewire things and take the wall box out of the circuit, and make it a simple switch loop. Then I can cut it down to a single 14/3 cable going to the box, with a hot and two switched lines, 1 for the fan and 1 for the lights. Then it’ll fit.

So, I’ll just find a wire in the attic that’s ahead of the switch box in the circuit, cut it, and route it directly to the ceiling box, right? Sure, in theory. Problem is, there are no wires in the attic that are ahead of the switch box. The switch box IS the feed from the basement to the attic. Time for plan B. Looks like I’ll need to run a new wire from the basement to the attic. This will require me to break out my wire fishing skills. Now, having wired my own security system, I’ve done my share of fishing. However I’ve never run a wire straight from the basement, through a stud cavity, and into the attic (this is a rancher, BTW. Unfinished attic on top, drop-ceiling basement on bottom. If you’re into wiring, ranchers rock). Seems like it should be easy in theory. I guess I’ll find out. This should be fun! More later.