Installing Wires From Walls To Attic

On the first floor run wires up the wall from the basement.

Installing wires from walls to attic.

Attach the wire or cable to a fish tape or coat hanger using electrical tape and feed it into the hole until it reaches the opening at the other end. If you want to bring the wire up to the attic tie something to a string and lower it through the hole from above. Remove 3 4 inches of insulation from the individual wires. If there is access above the light in an attic or kneewall space you can remove the wire from the existing fixture box and install it in a junction box.

You can then splice on a new piece of wire make sure it is the same wire gauge and run the new piece from the junction box back to the fixture box. It will be next to impossible to drill downward under the portion of the roof that slopes to the attic floor without a right angle drill. To make the connections in the junction box. Depending on what the wiring is for this may be go through the drywall to the ceiling for instance for new lighting or be farther down on a wall.

Now go up to your attic or down to the basement or crawlspace and drill a hole in the top or bottom wall plate in the same wall cavity as the outlet. If you will need to fish wiring through a wall drill a hole through the wood plate in the attic only. If you have access to your basement crawl space and attic you should be able to run wires without having to cut patch any drywall. When working from an attic space it will be significantly easier to access a wall space on the floor below by working either an interior wall or the exterior wall that is on the gable end of the structure.

Pull the string from above to fish the wire through. And use semi rigid wiring fish tape to pull your wiring down to your outlet location. Thread the fish tape when you find the hole in the wall plate remove the wire then uncoil the end of an electrician s fish tape and insert it through the drilled hole in the wall plate. Remove the outer jacket from the cable ends using the cable ripper or the utility knife.

Once the string reaches the bottom go down to the lower opening and tie the cable and string together. Drill hole into wall plate. Enter the attic or crawlspace and look for the wire extending through the drilled hole.