Young House Love

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How To Run A New Cable Wire

One thing we were excited about doing differently in this house vs. the last one is having a TV in our master bedroom.

Cable 1 Before

And while we did briefly have a TV in our last master, we never hooked it up to a DVD player or bothered to get a second cable box. Heck, I’m not sure it even got plugged in.

Cable 2 Old Room

We’ve never been gung ho about having a bedroom TV (and we realize it can be a hot topic) but as two people who struggle to snap out of blog mode at night, we thought it would help fight the temptation to work on our laptops (which happens all the time downstairs on the sofa) if we were snuggled in bed instead. So we took the plunge and ordered two set top boxes for this house. One step closer to living the dream, y’all.

Cable 4 TV In Place

Except, once again, we didn’t get the bedroom one hooked up. In order for our alarm system to work, we needed a phone line which led to a pre-move installation of cable/phone/internet, but before moving in all of our furniture we weren’t sure where we wanted the Verizon guy to put the new cable jack in the wall upstairs. So he convinced me I could easily do it myself whenever I was ready and off he went, leaving me wondering if he was persuasive or just lazy. Either way, we had another non-working bedroom TV on our hands (well, until we hooked up the Blu-ray player for the occasional weekend movie).

Cable 3 Instagram Blu Ray

I’ve never done any sort of wiring through walls, so I was pretty unsure how this would all turn out. The basic goal being to snake a cable from an existing splitter in the attic, down through the wall and out a new hole in the bedroom. Between the basic instructions from the cable guy and a few YouTube videos I felt brave enough to start drilling a few holes in our attic. But first I had to figure out where. So I followed a visible electrical wire in the attic to help me pinpoint where the wall was amidst all that insulation (the wall I was looking for runs parallel to the joists).

Cable 5 Following Wire In Attic

I also knew I was at the right place because (after some digging) I found the phone line that also connects to a jack in our bedroom. Seeing where both of these wires were threaded through the attic floor gave me confidence that I would be making a hole in the right piece of wood.

Cable 6 Following Phone Line

I was having trouble translating my measurements from the bedroom to the attic. For some reason I couldn’t wrap my head around adjusting for measuring against drywall in one space and an exposed rafter in another. So instead I used other fixed reference points to figure out where I should drill. For instance, I knew where the phone jack was in the bedroom and could see where its wire snaked through in the attic. So, here went nothing.

Cable 7 Drilling Hole

Meanwhile, in the bedroom I used a jab saw to make a small hole where I wanted my wire to come out. Crossing my fingers the whole time that this was more-or-less below the hole I’d just drilled overhead.

Cable 8 Jab Saw

In order to connect my “dots,” I bought this set of glow rods from Home Depot. They’re basically flexible fiberglass poles (almost fishing rod-ish) that are stiff enough to poke through insulation, but bendable enough to snake around corners. Oh, and they glow in the dark since, well, it’s dark between your walls and glowing makes them easier to spot.

Cable 9 Glow Rods

So here you can see me jabbing the long glow rod in through the top of the attic. It took a little bit of effort to jab it through the insulation in the wall, but it wasn’t long before I felt it hit the bottom.

Cable 10 Glow Rod In Hole

This is the part where I should have gone downstairs to see the rod glowing nicely through that hole in the drywall. Nope. Didn’t happen that way. My “measurements” were off enough that my holes were just barely on opposite sides of the same stud. Oops. So rather than create more drywall to be patched, I drilled a couple more holes upstairs in the attic…

Cable 12 Multiple Holes

…til I found one that did this. It was a glorious moment, I’ll have you know.

Cable 11 Glow Rod Coming Out

Of course in my haste to thread my glow rod through the wall, I forgot to actually attach the coaxial cable to it. Oops again. So I pulled it back out, taped the cable to it (I’m sure there’s a more professional way to do this) and snaked it back through to its destination.

Cable 13 Cable Taped To Rod

After untaping things, I pulled the glow rod all the way out leaving the cable ready to be attached in place. To do so, I used this simple wall plate that I picked up a Home Depot. The coaxial cable screwed into the backside just like it would connect to a cable box, and then I screwed the plate directly to the drywall. I figure there’s a more polished way of doing this, but this was already an upgrade from the cable-poking-up-through-a-random-floorboard that I’m used to (that’s been the setup in every home and apartment we’ve ever had).

Cable 15 Attaching Plate

Oh, and of course I attached the other end of the cable to the splitter that was already in the attic. It had previously sent cable into the guest room for the previous owners, but I removed that hookup that popped up through the floor in there when we installed our new hardwood floors right before moving in.

Cable 14 Splitter

So in theory we were all set to watch cable in our room. Huzzah! But Verizon had other plans. I’ll spare you the details (it involved two trips to their store to swap out set top boxes while they struggled to get our system running due to a random glitch in our area). Instead, just enjoy these selfies I took whilst trying to capture how much I enjoyed talking to support for two hours on a beautiful Saturday afternoon.

Cable 16 Selfies

But eventually all was good in TV land. Especially the part where we got the multi-room DVR service working. Now things that we record on the downstairs TV can be watched upstairs. Is this what it feels like to be king? I think so.

Cable 18 Hooked Up Far

Oh, and yes I realize it seems funny to go through all of this trouble and still not have the jack hidden behind the dresser. But since we eventually plan to get a wider piece for this spot (this skinny one looks kinda weird on that big wall to us) we figured it made more sense to put the cable jack near with the other outlet on the wall. Why spread out your eyesores when you can concentrate them in one spot that will eventually be covered?

Cable 17 Hooked Up

But I guess we could at least stand to get a white connector cable so it blends in a little more. Eh, maybe next weekend. For now I’m enjoying the fact that we dodged the $150 fee that Verizon charges for doing the job. All told, it was about $40 in materials and an hour or two of work (not counting those phone hours spent working out a random DVR glitch that was going on in our area) – but for my first foray into in-the-wall wiring work, I’d say it was a very satisfying project indeed.

Psst- We announced this week’s big Kohler giveaway winner, so click here and scroll down to the Rafflecopter box to see if it’s you.

Comments

  1. Avery says

    Cable running is part of my job description, and though I’m not the boss, and we use a tape, your technique with the tape is spot on. Even using the green tape is good. The Residue from other types of tape can be bad for wires.

    Reply

  2. Kathy says

    Oooh, you’re connecting cables, and we’re disconnecting over here! We just cancelled our cable service yesterday and are switching to Hulu Plus streamed on the Xbox/laptop. Plus, since we have high speed internet, we still actually get the basic channels, just without the ridiculous price tag.

    Reply

  3. Kimberly says

    We did the same sort of thing last summer with surround sound speakers = 6x the cable drops. I think we would have killed for a glow rod since we were just dropping down wires tied to string. After that project my husband says we can never move again (but it may just be that he loves his speakers!).

    Reply

  4. Penny says

    I live in Washington state and ALL my cables have always been hooked up through the exterior walls, and I’ve had both Comcast and Dish. Of course I just remembered your exterior is brick (which is really uncommon around here) so going through a wall/floor may be the only option. Interesting!

    Reply

    • Trevor says

      That’s typical when you have the cable company installers run your cables. They’re looking for the quickest, easiest way to do it, which is usually just to drill a hole to the outside of your house, run the wire through, then fish it back in somewhere else. As you can imagine, that’s a lot easier than going up into your attic/basement/crawlspace and fishing the wires through neatly. If that’s going to bother you, make sure you run your cable yourself or hire a professional and specify, rather than rely on the cable company.

      I had a friend just buy a house that previously had 2 different cable providers and a satellite provider before getting Verizon FIOS. Each installer ran new cables, in addition to the existing cables. He had coaxial cables coming out the wazoo. There were several places with a cable jack on the inside, which simply led to a clipped cable on the outside of the house.

    • Mary S. says

      I was looking to see if someone had mentioned the low voltage boxes yet. I’m not sure if it’s code or not, but my husband works in construction (remodeling mostly), and whenever he runs coax or phone cables through walls, he always installs one of those green low voltage boxes in the wall to screw the face plate to. By using the low voltage box there’s far less risk of pulling your wire and plate straight out of the wall if you ever move your dresser without unplugging the cable first. And with the position of those two screws, if that ever happens, you’ll have to patch the drywall before you can re-install the face plate. Just thought you’d like to know! It’s an easy fix that’ll save you headaches down the road!

  6. nick says

    Little jealous your job turned out relatively “easy” (though still a pain). I’ve been haggling with an electrician to drop a junction box with outlet/cable/hdmi setup for a tv wall mount in the living room, and it is the most ridiculous-expensive “small” job I’ve ever paid for. But after messing around in the attic and almost electrocuting myself (don’t ask), I figured the loss of cash was better than the loss of life. Anyways, nice job John.

    Reply

  7. Jason says

    If you want the cover to stay better attached to the wall, what you need is a low-voltage old work bracket. You cut out a rectangle just like you would any electrical box, but they have an open back and serve mostly as a screw-in location for the faceplate. makes it much sturdier and less-likely to pull out of the drywall. They’re a buck or so at home-improvement centers.

    Reply

  9. Annette says

    My husband embarked on a massive wire-hiding project a few years ago. Basically, he put the tv up on the wall over the fireplace and all of the components (stereo, blu-ray player, google tv) in a closet across the room. There were at least half a dozen large holes cut into our wall at one point (the wires had to be threaded perpendicular to/through the studs because of the chimney)and I was REALLY nervous. But he came through!

    Reply

  10. Bill says

    I may have to trade in my electrician’s fish tape for those glow sticks. Great idea.

    BTW, I install an electrical work box in the wall, run the coax into it, and attach the wallplate to the work box. I think simply pulling the coax through a hole in the sheetrock and then screwing the wallplate into the sheetrock to cover the hole may be too easy.

    Also, I hope you sealed the holes in the attic.

    Bill

    Reply

  14. bridgette says

    If I only have one cable line in my house, would I still have a splitter in my attic that I could connect another line to? If not, how do you add a splitter?

    Thanks!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I think the splitter was in our attic because there used to be cable in the guest room, so if there was never cable on the second floor of your house you might not have any wires up there to feed off of.

      xo
      s

  15. Dana says

    Since you said “I figure there’s a more polished way of doing this”, let me help you out for future reference. You can get a low-voltage ring from HD for peanuts:

    http://www.homedepot.com/p/Carlon-1-Gang-Low-Voltage-Old-Work-Bracket-SC100RR/100160916#.UfFRro3iiGw

    It will work for television cable, phone, or even internet-style CAT5 cable. It’s pretty much about the size of an electrical box, but it’s backless. You’re just putting a hole in the wall and using the ring to add some stability to the cable and whatever plate you’re putting on.

    In addition to making a prettier installation and something that you can go back and un-screw and re-screw your cover-plate to, you can cut a bigger hole in the first place! I don’t know how in the heck you hit that tiny hole you cut with your glowing rod TWICE, but kudos on your superior marksmanship. Next time you can make the target bigger. :)

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha! I find myself staring at it while we’re watching TV. My favorite game is trying to remember all of the paint names in order (I never can).

      xo
      s

  17. Laurie says

    OK, now THIS impresses me! You’ve laid entire floors and I thought, “well done!” and built decks which made me think, “That’s amazing!” but this fiddling with the cables in walls is something I find very intimidating. I read this with my eyes wide open and saying “ohh” the whole time.

    You are playing at a whole new level my friend.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Thanks Laurie! I was sweating a lot at first (cutting the hole into the drywall felt crazy) but it really wasn’t that bad! You can totally do it.

      -John

  18. bridget b. says

    wow! you definitely get points for this one. i would have totally had to reschedule them to come back and do all of that! :)

    someone has probably already mentioned this, but for the less DIY-inclined, one of the cool things about getting cable with AT&T Uverse is they have wireless cable/DVR boxes, which means that tv placement isn’t restricted by proximity to a cable jack. they also have a pretty cute commercial campaign that you guys could appreciate. this one reminded me of Clara’s dollhouse: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK7dHdVhTA4

    Reply

  20. Lisa in Seattle says

    John, sad to say I got to the part where you forgot to attach the cable to the rod and laughed so hard I had to fake a coughing fit at my desk. That is exactly the sort of thing that happens to us all the time. Like a few others upstream, we installed surround sound and it was excruciating. At one point I thought of tying the wire to a ferret, putting him in the ceiling, and squeaking his toy at the other end of the run. That’s how they used to wire airplanes back in the day.

    As for Verizon, I am reminded of this Big Bang Theory quote from Sheldon: “I have endless patience. I once spent two-and-a-half hours on hold with Hewlett-Packard customer service just to complain about their customer service. “

    Reply

  21. Melissa says

    I took some white cloth about 5 inches wide, cut it, folded it over, sewed it shut, then turned it inside out so it looked like a cloth tube. Thread your cables through it and you have instant cable cover. Surely you have extra fabric laying around! :)

    Reply

  22. B in PacNw says

    Nice work! My husband had to do the same thing in our master bedroom. Props to you men for being so handy!

    Reply

  24. Joseph says

    Our house must have a cable hole in the floor on every side of every room! It’s ridiculous. If we ever get cable we’ll definitely have to do something similar to this because so help me I’m filling everyone of those holes.

    Reply

  26. Jennifer says

    I feel you on cable company drama – Comcast/Xfinity once sent me all over town to their “repair” centers…finally after giving me 3 different addresses (all of which were no longer Comcast repair centers!) they gave me one last address…which ended up being a CEMETERY!!!!!!!!!!!! Instead of calling the 1800 number again, I pulled into a Starbucks, walked in, and in the middle of the coffee shop, I shouted, “Please tell me SOMEONE knows where the closest Comcast repair center is!” …and that’s when I was directed by a customer at Starbucks to the right center.

    #FAIL

    Reply

  28. Lauren says

    My hubs and I did the wiring for our in ceiling speakers a few years ago. He was in the attic and I was in the house pulling the wires out of the wall; however we did not think about how the communication between us would work, and suffice to say a lot of yelling ensued. Not angry yelling, but I-can’t-understand-you-so-I’m-just-going-to-keep-talking-louder yelling. At one point I was in the front yard where the attic vents because we thought we’d be able to hear each other better. I’m pretty sure I looked like I was screaming at the house for no apparent reason. Sorry neighbors.

    Reply

  29. Mary B. says

    Hi, question about your giveaways. I notice sometimes you remind people to look to see who won. Do winners get an email notifying them they won or do we need to check back to giveaway post each time? Thanks!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      We always email the winner but sometimes it ends up in someone’s spam folder, so we do the p.s. with a link to the winner announcement on the site in the hopes of alerting anyone who might have missed the email.

      xo
      s

  31. Caroline Gearing says

    Hello John and Sherry, have just loved your site since 2007. You are such a wonderful family. Normally I do not write because I know you spend endless hours responding.

    The chest in your master bedroom I think would look really wonderful, even perfect, in Clara’s bedroom. Her drapes have a lot of grey going on I think it could make a great Big Gir’s dresser.

    Caroline

    Reply

  32. Julanne says

    Great job! I feel for ya….waiting for customer service!

    Interesting story… When we moved into our second house, when my son was barely 3, i spent several hours on the phone with a rather large cable provider here in our area to get our service installed. There were several service calls made, but nothing fixed the problem. The issue was a neighbourhood glitch, too, and instead of calling, or coming to the door to see if the issue had been fixed, they assumed it was done and left. And Me, all the while, waiting out the whole day, assuming that they hadn’t come yet. Finally, after a week of endless waiting & calling, my son had had enough. The last call, I waited for 2 hours on hold & then finally got a customer service rep. Of course, my son was a bear for having to wait for my attention for so long, he started to get fussy. The customer service rep, during our conversation, then had the nerve to say to me “You know lady, a lot more could be accomplished if you could keep your child quiet” & then hung up! Needless to say, I wrote a letter to the President of the company, who went above and beyond to take care of my issue, “retrain” the service rep & change their system of making contact with the customer after a service call to see if the problem had been fixed. He also sent me a personally signed apology letter & the biggest bouquet of spring flowers I had ever seen. Definitely helped ease the pain, but whenever I have to call/wait it out for a service person, I get veklempt…kinda like going to the dentist! Lol #NotFun

    Reply

  33. Rachel says

    1: SO coveting that ombre dresser. Gimme! :) Think I’m gonna shamelessly copy that idea…

    2: Digging the scruffy beard! Thumbs up!

    3: The “Flavor Flaaaaav” footnote killed me. Spit iced tea all over the kid I’m nannying this summer. Luckily, he thought it was hilarious too (the spit, not the pop culture reference)….

    Reply

  34. rachael says

    Looks like you guys need waaaaay more insulation in your attic! This post is a good reminder b/c we are finishing our basement and need to add a cable before we put up the drywall!
    Also, we have an old house and these cables come up through a hole in the floor. When we first moved in we had the cable guy come out and he wanted to drill a new one in the floor, only 5 inches away from the previous hole! We were like “NO WAY!” That same guy went outside and drilled a new hole in our old siding without asking first for the cable box. We didn’t notice until he left, but our siding was made of asbestos. Stupid, stupid man.

    Reply

  37. elizabeth says

    I noticed you said that you used the feed that previously went to the guest room. That might be an interesting poll among your readership – whether they have a TV in their guest space and how they feel staying in a guest room that doesn’t have a TV.

    Reply

  38. Linda says

    This was a fascinating post – really. Electricity and wires and cables through walls always seemed incredibly intimidating – actually, it still does,but I’m incredibly impressed with John not only getting it all done, but providing such a great tutorial. You guys rock!

    Reply

  39. Cecily says

    Most Blu-Ray players are wifi enabled and you can stream Netflix directly to the TV, no phone jack needed!

    Reply

  41. Vicki says

    How many of us can identify having been down this horrid road of “hooking up stuff.” After seeing your phone pictures, the bottom line is: Black is not your color!! Ha!

    Reply

  46. erin says

    “Of course in my haste to thread my glow rod through the wall, I forgot to actually attach the coaxial cable to it…” -That’s what she said.

    LOL!! ;o)

    Reply

  47. Jessica says

    I don’t know if anyone else already mentioned this, but did you have someone check to make sure your attic insulation isn’t asbestos? My fiance had been crawling around in our attic for a couple of years doing electricity before we realized that our insulation could be asbestos…thankfully, it’s not, but it was definitely worth having an expert come out to ensure us that it isn’t!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Oh yes, thankfully ours is all clear! Always a good reminder for everyone out there though! Usually the inspector can tell (I think the asbestos kind is heavier and looks like kitty litter) but definitely get an asbestos test if you’re not sure!

      xo
      s

  48. Michelle says

    As a long time reader of your blog, I’ve picked up many frugal living tips from you. Our baby wore Bum Genius AIOs as per your endorsement. So from one penny pincher to another, I have to ask if you’ve ever considered ditching the cable for other cheaper or free options. Since all public broadcast stations broadcast for free in HD, a very inexpensive roof-mounted digital antannae will pick up the signals (legally and for free). For premium content, a combo of Netflix and iTunes will do the trick. We went cable free four years ago and have never looked back.

    Reply

  49. Jennifer : Creative Scatter says

    Nice! I’ve been using my bedroom television less and less lately. I think mainly because I find myself staying up until the wee hours because I’ve become too interested in something on tv to go to sleep.

    I’ve always wondered how electricians and the such add wiring through the attic and walls – now I know, haha!

    And I love that dresser!!

    Reply

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