Discovered you can use a zip tie to fish cable through insulated walls way faster

Been fighting with this one house all week, old fiberglass insulation everywhere. Tried the glow rods, tried a fish tape, took like 20 mins per drop. On a whim I taped a zip tie to the end of my fish tape so it would slide through the insulation instead of snagging. First try it went through in like 3 seconds. Has anyone else found a random hack like that that just works better than the proper tools?

3 comments

3 Comments

mitchell.thomas6d ago

I mean, is it really that serious? You're acting like you just discovered fire or something. It's a zip tie taped to a fish tape, not exactly rocket science. I get that it worked for you, but I dunno, maybe it's just me but I've never had that much trouble with standard fish tapes even in old fiberglass. Like are you sure you weren't just using the wrong tool for the job in the first place? A glow rod is for visual stuff, not for pushing through insulation. Sounds like you skipped the proper technique for a basic cable pull and then acted surprised when a jury-rigged solution worked. But hey, if it saves you time, more power to you. I just wouldn't call it a "hack" more like common sense.

max_schmidt776d ago

Right? I feel like people are way too quick to jump on stuff like this. It's just someone sharing what worked for them, not claiming to have reinvented the wheel or anything.

webb.hannah6d ago

Wait, didn't you see the post from that sparky in the Midwest last week about fishing through blown-in insulation? He said the same thing about glow rods being useless for that. I think it really depends on the insulation you're dealing with. Some of that old dense stuff just grabs onto a regular fish tape no matter how careful you are. The zip tie trick at least gives you a little more control to nudge the tape around. It's not like it's replacing your whole tool kit, it's just a quick fix for a specific headache. Seems like the guy was just sharing something that worked for him, not claiming it was some groundbreaking invention lol.