fishing

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keith gigabyte

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New Kensington, Pa
I do a lot of old work; fishing walls ceilings and any other finished surface you can find in a house. Currently we use Klein glow rods. these work well, but take a lot of abuse. Current job 3,500 sq ft house old work 80% of the house. just about made it through the job but new set is destroyed, ends broken.
Sure we can tack on an extra $40 for cost of rods each job but looking to see whats out there.

Looking for long term replacements. Found creep-zit online. very similar product. Just wondering everyones input on the matter; what brand do you use how rugged are they

Thanks
 
I've used two sets of Greenlee; one that is very thin and good for fishing walls b/c of the flex, the other is much stiffer and good for spanning ceilings.

By all means, tack on tool replacement costs into a job bid. Doing commercial work, I figured ~$200 of drill bits and drill wear and tear in an avg wood framed hotel, 3x that much in grinding wheels and masonry bits in a concrete one. Even if you dont break them, you have to spend time filing dull cutting edges = $$$.

Last house we did, we popped the head off a brand new $50 5' flex drill bit; it caught a knot deep in a hole, twisted up the shaft, then sprung loose, sans head...and that was on a cordless drill.

Putting the ends on the glow rods will help save them, as will using something else if you're trying to navigate a tight turn.
 
keith gigabyte said:
I do a lot of old work; fishing walls ceilings and any other finished surface you can find in a house. Currently we use Klein glow rods. these work well, but take a lot of abuse. Current job 3,500 sq ft house old work 80% of the house. just about made it through the job but new set is destroyed, ends broken.
Sure we can tack on an extra $40 for cost of rods each job but looking to see whats out there.

Looking for long term replacements. Found creep-zit online. very similar product. Just wondering everyones input on the matter; what brand do you use how rugged are they

Thanks
Click to expand...


I wouldn't limit myself to one method of fishing. One thing that I used regularly was a cut piece of 1/4" fish tape. It worked very well at staying flat against a wall and sliding down between the insulation and the drywall without bunching the insulation. No insulation I use a piece of chain with welded links all day long. Welded is important because your standard jack chain can catch on anything, welded chain will gather on an obstruction and eventually fall off.

They also have a strong magnet and mouse I have seen at the supply house. Haven't tried it though.
 
They also have a strong magnet and mouse I have seen at the supply house. Haven't tried it though.

I went to a job with another guy. One person on the job site had one of these. I asked permission to use it. Worked Great! I would buy one if I fished walls more! :happyyes:
 
Agree with everyone..tack on tool cost to job more than one method. Was looking for other ideas.
How did the mouse work. Seems a little wimpy like everything. Would have to be perfect and smooth in walls.
Im in Pittsburgh so a lot of plaster and lath boards as well as some metal mesh lath.

thanks for the input any other ideas are welcome
 
Think of the rods as you would a drill bit-- it's a tool and is part of the overhead. Whether you tack on $40 or not there should be some margin in your bid to cover stuff like that
 
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keith gigabyte said:
Agree with everyone..tack on tool cost to job more than one method. Was looking for other ideas.
How did the mouse work. Seems a little wimpy like everything. Would have to be perfect and smooth in walls.
Im in Pittsburgh so a lot of plaster and lath boards as well as some metal mesh lath.

thanks for the input any other ideas are welcome
Click to expand...

I used to use a drop chain and magnet, but they are useless on insulated walls. If you have a in wall camera, that might help some. A very powerful flashlight thru a box can help fish in a rod or tape. Helpers are golden. Even tried a few times using an automotive stethoscope to hear where in the wall things are binding up.

Many of the older homes here have cross braces mid-wall, even on interior and non load bearing walls. Having to go thru that brace is a pita.

Glow rods come in varying thicknesses. For fishing a short distance, say from a crawlspace into a panel, and where you need flexibility for a tight turn, the thinner ones work whereas the thicker ones will just splinter from the bending.

If you're cracking the fiberglass, get thinner rods. If you're tearing up the ends, try feeding the female end first or use the attachments.

and like others mentioned, having a short piece of steel fish tape is a must. Just cut it off a cheapie 25' tape and not a 200' one, lest you get that 175' spooled out into a 180' conduit, have to reel it all back in, and go buy another tape (or suck/blow thru a string -much faster anyway).
 
In a related story...

I had a 100' fish tape, and I left it out in the rain on my deck after a project. Later, I found it and tried to extend it, but it was stuck. Like the idiot that I sometimes am (and DO NOT try this at home, kids!), I decided to open it up to see if I could free it. When I loosened the last of the screws that held the halves of the plastic shell together, it exploded. All the stored up tension in that spring metal let loose at once and it shattered; I found pieces of the steel tape out in the yard 30 feet from where I was standing. I am lucky I wasn't impaled.

Add it to the ever lengthening list of things that I only needed to do once to learn an important lesson.
 
For what it's worth I do a lot of work in residential homes where fishing is involved and I just use a 1/8" snake to get across ceilings and down walls wherever possible.
 
JDB3 said:
They also have a strong magnet and mouse I have seen at the supply house. Haven't tried it though.
I went to a job with another guy. One person on the job site had one of these. I asked permission to use it. Worked Great! I would buy one if I fished walls more! :happyyes:
Click to expand...
Can you provide a citation--who makes it, what's the tradename, how much does it cost ... ?

All in all, it's not a bad job when you spend half the work day fishing.
 
TENT POLES

TENT POLES

GOTO wall-mart and find fiberglass replacement tent poles . $6

buy a crappy tent at a garage sell .... keep the poles, and throw the rest away.

These are a little stiff and you have to tape the sections together, but, I don't get upset if I leave one stuck in a wall somewhere..

Also jack- chain works well. put approx 3 ft on the end of romex and drop it in the hole.

I also use one of those twist rods off of a set of cheep miniblinds.( flexes around corners)

Also "drop-ceiling wire".
 
rt66electric said:
GOTO wall-mart and find fiberglass replacement tent poles . $6

buy a crappy tent at a garage sell .... keep the poles, and throw the rest away.

These are a little stiff and you have to tape the sections together, but, I don't get upset if I leave one stuck in a wall somewhere..

Also jack- chain works well. put approx 3 ft on the end of romex and drop it in the hole.

I also use one of those twist rods off of a set of cheep miniblinds.( flexes around corners)

Also "drop-ceiling wire".
Click to expand...


As I said earlier, use chain with welded links. Jack chain gets hung up too easily.
 
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