|   ATTN: People in homes with crawl spaces | Mike S.
Aug 14, 2001 7:31 AM | | A friend of mine just bought a new house with only crawl space under it. I am trying to convince him to buy a HT system, but he (and his wife) would only consider it if there is a way to run the wire down through the crawl space. (The first floor is all hardwood and there are open doorways on either side of the TV location, so running cables around the room is not an option.) I'm going down to visit this weekend and we might take this on as a project, but neither of us is familiar with crawl spaces so I wanted to toss it out here and see if anyone had any experience with this. So my questions are:
- how much room is there typically to work in (vertical space)?
- what kind of surface will I be crawling/laying on (dirt or gravel)?
- how do I determine where to drill up from underneath? The speaker wires will be run into the walls and then down underneath, so what should I look for under there to know where the walls are so I can drill up into the wall cavity and not through the hardwood floor?
- what special tools will I need (i.e. for fishing the wire through the walls, etc.)?
- finally, and most important, will I have bugs and spiders crawling all over me, or do crawl spaces generally have some sort of insect barrier or pestacide treatment when a house is built (it's been up for about 3 months).
Thanks in advance for an insight anyone can provide. I'm just wondering what kind of job this will be. I prewired my house while it was under construction, but that was simple because it was just framed. Doing this in a finished house is a whole 'nother game. |
| re: ATTN: People in homes with crawl spaces | Bender
Aug 14, 2001 8:08 AM | | 1. Room varies from just enough to crawl on your belly to enough to walk upright.
2. In Oregon at least, crawl spaces are lined with plastic but are still dirty/dusty places (sometimes wet)
3. Drill down from the floor. I then use a clothes hanger and flashlight to locate the hole when I am in the crawlspace.
4. They make actual tools for wall fishing but I have had good luck with patience and thick copper wire. This works on both inside and outside walls. I simply drill a decent sized hole where the speaker will go and put an outlet sized hole at the base of the wall. Work the wire down the wall from the speaker hole until you are able to grab it at the bottem. Tie the spkr wire to the copper and pull it back up to the speaker hole.
5. In Oregon, we don't have as bad of insect issue as many other parts of the country. I imagine there will be some spiders down there but not as many as one might think.
The job should be easy. It will just take some time. It took me 5 hours to run cable to 2 back speakers and a sub. |
| re: ATTN: People in homes with crawl spaces | Worf101
Aug 14, 2001 8:13 AM | | I ran speaker wire in my basement cause I had similar open doorways on two walls. Crawl spaces are interesting places. As an ex Combat Engineer I had to run wire and det cord into some "interesting" places. I've some suggestions for you.
1. Where proper clothes, long sleeve and pants and goggle or glasses are a must.
2. If possible put up small PVC pipe and run your cables through there. It'll save on stress and problems if you have to replace them (just pull the cable out and push the new through)and it makes it more difficult for varmints to munch on your beautiful copper cable. If you don't use pipe, get those big flat centered staples and a good hammer and pin the wire up inside the supports.
3. If you've got 2 to 3 feet down there you'll be lucky. It's a new house so the bugs should be minimal but the construction debris could be quite dangerous.
4. Plan ahead, carry, plenty of light and measure your wire right the first time.
Hope this helps.
Da "low crawlin' and low ballin'" Worfster. |
| And don't forget.... | nick4433
Aug 14, 2001 8:35 AM | | Enough food to last you a couple of days and water. Just kidding. You should be OK, your best bet is to drill from the floors as close to the wall as possible. Make thoughtful drills as you don't want too many holes. I have my my HT wired in part this way. The sub and the Back and surround wires are going thru the crawl space. I don't have any rats under there but I pray everyday that rats don't chew on my wires. I would hate to redo it. |
| re: ATTN: People in homes with crawl spaces | Jedi_Master
Aug 14, 2001 8:34 AM | | A normal crawl space should give you around 3 feet or so to maneuver. Chances are it will be dirty and you might have bugs to deal with.
As far as where to drill the hole from below, you need to use points of reference. There may be HVAC vents in the room that run under the floor which you could go by. Also look for electrical wires or anything else that will give you a reference point. Are any of the walls of the room exterior walls? These will be harder to run wires through because they may be positioned above the foundation and you may have to drill in at an angle from underneath. Good luck. |
| Thanks All | Mike S.
Aug 14, 2001 10:31 AM | | Jedi, good ideas about looking for ductwork and existing electrical wiring to determine where to drill up into the wall from (some of you suggested just drilling through the floor, but they're not going to want to drill through brand new hardwood floors where there's no carpeting to conceal the holes!). Also, Worf's point about construction debris under there is a very good one. You'd think they would clean that out pretty well since they know people will eventually be crawling through there, but I know for sure they don't. |
| Thanks All | Worf101
Aug 14, 2001 12:50 PM | | If you've got mouldings on the floor where it meets the wall, drill holes in that instead. I did that through vintage 1939 inch thick hardwood floors.
Da Worfster. |
| re: ATTN: People in homes with crawl spaces | mtrycrafts
Aug 15, 2001 10:42 AM | | Some good ideas already, but be very careful, you don;t want to be drilling into a gas line, a 120V power line, or the hardwood floor.
While it sounds easy, it is frustrating to find the right location and in someone elses house, a friend. What a way to mess up a friendship if the hardwood floor is drilled by mistake:(
You will also have fiberglass insulation to contend with underneath. You will be very lucky if you have 3 ft underneath. If time permits, have your friend measure beforehand. Remodeling is not fun:( |
| Yes... | Mike S.
Aug 16, 2001 12:34 PM | | I have a friend who went to the Persian Gulf ... maybe I should borrow his full fatigues and mask to do this. Ugh, what am I getting into ... :-) |
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