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Tried a new way to fish cable through an old farmhouse near Lancaster
I was working on a 1920s farmhouse outside Lancaster last week and decided to try using glow rods instead of my usual fish tape. Figured it would be quicker since the walls were all plaster and lathe. Ended up snapping two rods and had to cut three holes in the ceiling to get the coax through. Has anyone else had bad luck with glow rods in older homes?
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alicecooper29d ago
Yeah glow rods are way too flimsy for plaster and lathe, that stuff will eat them alive. Stick with steel fish tape and a good magnetic retrieval tool for old farmhouses, saves a lot of ceiling holes.
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emery_lopez29d ago
Whoa, hold up, I gotta push back on that a little. In my experience, glow rods are actually the better tool for old plaster and lathe if you know the trick. The key is to use the thicker, fiberglass based ones, not the cheap plastic sticks they sell at the big box stores. I've pushed a 6-footer through some seriously nasty, sandy plaster without it snapping by rotating it slowly as I go. Steel fish tape can get hung up on every single cross-lath and then you're fighting to wiggle it loose, which is way more frustrating than a clean snap.
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robinj2929d ago
You know, I used to be all about steel tape for plaster and lathe, but you've got me rethinking that with this thicker fiberglass trick. Have you tried it on a really old plaster job with lots of horsehair mixed in?
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