Yesterday was one of the more frustrating days in my life. My in laws bought a new electric cooktop and asked me for help to get it installed as they dont like to deal with electrical wiring. I read the instructions and determined that the existing wiring was too small. The new cooktop draws more current than the one to be replaced so a new higher rated wire was in order (bought a roll of 6/3). We needed to get the wire from the panel in the corner of a finished basement over to a laundry room (with unfinished ceiling) which was directly under the kitchen. There is a large beam that divides the basement in two parts that we needed to traverse, also hidden under drywall. They had not expected this when buying the new cooktop; they only wanted me to wire the appliance whip to the existing junction box underneath in the cabinet. Well I reassured them that it would take maybe a couple of hours to get it done and snaking was going to successfully put the new cable where we needed it....
After over 4 hours of useless poking the snake in no less than 5 different joist bays & trying to use a sewer stack pipe chase built into the wall as well as disassembling 3 can light fixtures so I could try to stick my arm up into the ceiling, I was about to lose my mind. The snake was getting bound up in the ceiling or being diverted to the side of my intended target. It would NEVER show up at my destination. And other times I would run head first into a hidden obstacle with no way of going around it. I was so frustrated and the basement was littered with tools, dismantled light fixtures, rolls of 6/3 wire etc... My father in law was also getting pissed off and began arguing with his wife about her crazy idea to replace the cooktop (he said it could be repaired) and that he was going to rip all of the drywall off of the ceiling. At that point I was feeling defeated and decided to go get my oscillating tool so we could make clean strategic cuts in the ceiling to help the snake along. My father in law cursingly and grudgingly agreed.
On my way to get the tool I decided to call my electrician who I remembered is a marvel with fish tape. Ive personally witnessed him fish up 3 floors and up and over a staircase with a landing and reach into the attic from his position in the basement. He agreed to come and help out. Why not before I cut holes in the ceilings? If he couldnt do it than nobody else could. Met him in my in-laws driveway as I was returning from fetching the oscillating tool. He took my snake and keep feeding it. I watched with amazement as he flipped the tape over to the left and back to the right and cleared the obstacles I had run into. He even knew exactly where he was in the ceiling when he called out to me to watch my face. True to his word, I was waiting at the destination point and moved over while the head of the snake exited clean as can be. He did this all on his first attempt and in less than 3 minutes. Traversed a huge beam, rode over every bit of ceiling drywall strapping and maneuvered around hvac ductwork while going diagonal between the 2 points whereas I was going parallel to the joists. I fastened the wire to the snake head and it was effortlessly pulled into the laundry room. And like that, he was gone 10 minutes later! While it was a blow to my ego, I felt humbled to witness a master of this craft work and succeed in embarrassingly short time. I got the cooktop wired up so mamma could cook dinner for us (at a much later time that night than planned).
After over 4 hours of useless poking the snake in no less than 5 different joist bays & trying to use a sewer stack pipe chase built into the wall as well as disassembling 3 can light fixtures so I could try to stick my arm up into the ceiling, I was about to lose my mind. The snake was getting bound up in the ceiling or being diverted to the side of my intended target. It would NEVER show up at my destination. And other times I would run head first into a hidden obstacle with no way of going around it. I was so frustrated and the basement was littered with tools, dismantled light fixtures, rolls of 6/3 wire etc... My father in law was also getting pissed off and began arguing with his wife about her crazy idea to replace the cooktop (he said it could be repaired) and that he was going to rip all of the drywall off of the ceiling. At that point I was feeling defeated and decided to go get my oscillating tool so we could make clean strategic cuts in the ceiling to help the snake along. My father in law cursingly and grudgingly agreed.
On my way to get the tool I decided to call my electrician who I remembered is a marvel with fish tape. Ive personally witnessed him fish up 3 floors and up and over a staircase with a landing and reach into the attic from his position in the basement. He agreed to come and help out. Why not before I cut holes in the ceilings? If he couldnt do it than nobody else could. Met him in my in-laws driveway as I was returning from fetching the oscillating tool. He took my snake and keep feeding it. I watched with amazement as he flipped the tape over to the left and back to the right and cleared the obstacles I had run into. He even knew exactly where he was in the ceiling when he called out to me to watch my face. True to his word, I was waiting at the destination point and moved over while the head of the snake exited clean as can be. He did this all on his first attempt and in less than 3 minutes. Traversed a huge beam, rode over every bit of ceiling drywall strapping and maneuvered around hvac ductwork while going diagonal between the 2 points whereas I was going parallel to the joists. I fastened the wire to the snake head and it was effortlessly pulled into the laundry room. And like that, he was gone 10 minutes later! While it was a blow to my ego, I felt humbled to witness a master of this craft work and succeed in embarrassingly short time. I got the cooktop wired up so mamma could cook dinner for us (at a much later time that night than planned).
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