Made a wiring boo-boo. Need some home-improvement help.

[JoyMonkey]

I've wanted to have cable and internet connections in my kitchen for a while now; my wife likes something to watch while slaving over the hot stove. So last night I thought I'd give it a go.

I live on the ground floor of an old colonial house, and figured it would be easiest to snake cables from the basement up through a wall. I found an opening in the crumbly basement ceiling that revealed a couple of drill holes in a floor joist that looked like they had been used to route power cables at one time- one hole appeared to be in the right spot so I stuck the snake up there and had my wife wiggle it around a bit while I checked up-stairs to see where I could hear it.

Sounded good- the snake seemed to be in the right place, so I cut a hole in the drywall to fit a small wallbox. Then I realized that there was a stud directly to the left of the hole- and the snake was on the other side of the stud 

Should I start drilling holes in the 150 year old floor-joist and try to snake a cable to the hole I cut, or should I patch the wall and make a new hole?
I've never patched before and the wall has a nice paint finish that I don't really want to have to restore.
Any recommendations?

[captainpotato]

Patch the hole and try again. I wouldn't want to start drilling floor joists.

[NinjaEpisode]

Given that you've already cut the hole, it'll be quicker to drill the joist, but if the size of the existing holes is fairly large, you need to take into account structural soundness before going that route.

[Monkey]

Sounded good- the snake seemed to be in the right place, so I cut a hole in the drywall to fit a small wallbox. Then I realized that there was a stud directly to the left of the hole- and the snake was on the other side of the stud 

Metal Stud or Wood stud?? i assume its wood stud, and the cable your trying to feed being 10-15mm in dia.

why not drill a 20 mm hole (max) in the stud, im assuming again that its 75-100mm stud (could be 50mm) i know it sounds awquard but if you can get oh of a battery screwdriver (3.6V min) it will fit in the cavity and will drill through, but it could take a bit of time. how far away from the hole you cut in the wall is the stud??

[electricd]

Metal Stud or Wood stud?? ...

If his floor joists are 150 years old.......

[JoyMonkey]

Thanks for the replies.

The old holes in the joist are about 1/2" diameter, and are right at the top of the joist - where the joist meets the floor-boards. So I don't think putting another hole at the top of the joist will cause any structural problems.
I think I'll try drilling one hole in the joist, and if that doesn't work out I'll patch the wall and move the wallbox to the other side of the stud.

[DrewKaree]

$20 for a studfinder is the best investment you'll ever make.  More expensive ones can tell you if there's electrical behind there, less expensive ones are simply frustrating and a waste of money.

Sounds like you're JUST on the other side of the stud.  Get or rent a right-angle drill attachment for your drill.  This should fit inside a hole big enough to allow an electrical box. 

Pull the cable up and through the hole in the wall.  Knock out one of the plugs in your electrical box (shouldn't need more than a single-gang box, and those knockout plugs are just slugs stuck there for just this purpose) and pull the wire through your knockout hole.

Attach the electrical box to the stud, and cover it with a standard wall plate.

The only thing throwing a wrench in this plan is if you're a lot further from the stud than a single-gang box.  You could go with a double/triple gang box if you don't mind the extra room. 


How close is this to the fridge?  If you feel like you MUST drill into the floor as your last resort, behind the fridge is always a nice place.  Trim the molding behind there and throw a surface channel there to run the wire out from behind there and to protect it from being smashed by the fridge.

If it's not close to the fridge, getting more involved will give you good results - get a little prybar (DON'T use a screwdriver, you'll end up honking up the trim that way) and remove the base trim.  Drill as close to the wall as possible from UPSTAIRS once you're sure there's no electrical you'll hit.  Pull the wire up through there.  Once you've got the wire up there, then you can place your outlet box somewhere. When you drill the hole for that, put a hole into the wall right where your wire comes from the basement.  It'll be covered with the base trim when you put it back on.  Drop the snake down, pull the wire, fasten everything back together, and you're done.

[JoyMonkey]

$20 for a studfinder is the best investment you'll ever make.  More expensive ones can tell you if there's electrical behind there, less expensive ones are simply frustrating and a waste of money.

I have a studfinder (I think I paid about $30 for it a couple of years ago) but it was useless with this wall; not sure if its because of the insulation or how narrow the wall space is or the amount of junk in my wall. I did try using it first but it gave me pretty random readings.

Sounds like you're JUST on the other side of the stud.  Get or rent a right-angle drill attachment for your drill.  This should fit inside a hole big enough to allow an electrical box. 

Pull the cable up and through the hole in the wall...

Attach the electrical box to the stud, and cover it with a standard wall plate.

The only thing throwing a wrench in this plan is if you're a lot further from the stud than a single-gang box.  You could go with a double/triple gang box if you don't mind the extra room.

The hole is about 4 inches to the right of the stud. The stud takes up almost the full width of the wall-space, so putting the box on-top of it isn't an option- the box I have attaches to the drywall surface.
Are you suggesting that I drill through the stud with the right-angle attachment? Snaking the cables up through the wall and out a hole in the stud would be impossible. My plan is to get the snake-tape up the wall, grab it through the hole I made and attach the cables to it then send them down the wall to the basement.

How close is this to the fridge?

Other side of the room. Any cables running form the floor would be really obvious so I'd rather keep it all hidden in the wall.

...Drill as close to the wall as possible from UPSTAIRS...

Anything involving upstairs is not an option, since there's a seperate condo unit up there.

[JoyMonkey]

I tried putting another hole in the joist down in the basement last night but my drill bit just wasn't long enough (no reflection of my man-hood I assure you). At one point I thought I got through, but I think I might have come out on another piece of wood. I hope I'm not trying to drill right under a stud.
I'll grab a longer bit from work and give it another try tonight.

[DrewKaree]

...Drill as close to the wall as possible from UPSTAIRS...

Anything involving upstairs is not an option, since there's a seperate condo unit up there.

Not upstairs from you, upstairs from the basement, which I interpreted you to be saying would be your unit.  Basement, your unit, other unit in order from bottom of the house to top.  By upstairs, I was referring to your unit, since it sounds as if you're pulling wire from the basement to your unit.

Even though you're on the first floor, technically you're still considered "upstairs" since there's a basement.  Plus, there'd be no reason to pull wire from the basement up to the unit above yours, then back down to yours.

[JoyMonkey]

All better now; the hole I drilled in the floor joist just about worked out. Now the mrs can watch telly while she whips me up delicious meals and surf the inter-nets on the XBox or stream videos to her hearts content.