Found a wire fishing trick that saved me 2 hours on a kitchen rewire

I was stuck trying to get a new circuit through a finished wall, then my journeyman showed me to tape a rare earth magnet to the fish tape and another to the pull string. Has anyone else used magnets like that for fishing through insulated walls?

3 comments

3 Comments

riverm482mo agoTop Commenter

Hate when shit gets stuck in insulation like that.

king.aaron2mo ago

Oh man, tell me about it! The worst is when you don't catch it right away and then it starts to smell. Some people think all insulation is the same, but it really isn't - fiberglass holds onto stuff way different than that spray foam stuff does. I've seen folks try to just cover it up with more insulation and that never works out well. You gotta get that mess outta there or it just gets worse over time.

the_jake26d ago

Tape a magnet to the pull string too, that's smart. I've done the opposite where I just stuck a magnet on the end of the tape and swung it around hoping to catch the screw on the box, but that takes forever. The real game changer is using those little neodymium cup magnets with the hole in the middle, you can thread the string right through them and they grab way better than those cheap ceramic ones. Also if you're going through cellulose insulation that stuff is heavy and clumpy, magnets don't work as good there because the insulation just pushes the tape around. But for fiberglass batts it's golden, you can practically push the tape right through and the magnets will find each other through an inch of insulation no problem.