We get broadband internet service from our cable provider, so there's a Y-splitter in the attic where the incoming cable is divided to go to the TV in the living room and the computer in the library. When we moved the computer from the study to the library I ended up having to make four holes in the wall header. The problem was that particular library wall is shared with the bathroom. There was a crosspiece between the studs where I was dropping the cable. I think it had something to do with the sink. Anyway, there was a hole for the cable, a hole for the coathanger to manipulate the cable with, a hole for the flashlight, and a hole for me to look through. Meanwhile Lexie was down below with a flashlight looking through the hole we'd made for a sight of the cable. It was an event fraught with learning experiences.
This time I got away with a single hole through the header. I purchased a new cable and a couple of new cable wall plates which have female coaxial connections on each side of the plate. Coaxial cable male terminations have that pointy single pin in the middle which is easy to damage or be damaged by. Whoever originally installed the cable in the living room put the cable through a plate with a hole only large enough for the actual cable and terminated it on the outside. With the new arrangement of furniture, this would leave that male connection relatively exposed. I didn't feel comfortable leaving this dangerous and unattractive connection where it was. So I broke the old plate off the cable, attached the new plate, and shoved the excess cable up into the wall. I unscrewed the connection to the old cable at the Y-splitter, but left the unattached end nearby. That way, should we decide to move the furniture back, it will be a simple matter.
The Y-splitter is within a few feet of where I put the new drop. I could have gotten away with a twelve foot cable, but wanting flexibility, I bought a twenty-five footer. I straightened out about eight feet of the coiled cable and paid it through the hole I drilled in the pair of two-by-fours that head the wall. I relied on the resistance of the cable to tell when it had reached the floor. I attached the cable to the Y-splitter and trusted that I had done everything correctly and took all my tools back downstairs.
After drilling and widening a hole in the sheetrock where I wanted to pull the cable through, I fished with a coathanger for quite a while, but never felt the cable. By divine providence, all my manipulations were rewarded. After coming back empty a number of times, finally when I stuck my finger in the hole I found the cable and snagged it. The trick was getting the end of the cable off the floor and up to where the hole was. The cable was too thick and stiff to bend back on itself to pull double through the hole. Only being able to fit one finger through the hole I'd made I would grab a little cable and lift it, but friction on the backside of the drywall was insufficient to hold it in place while I slid my finger back down the cable for a new grip. The cable kept sliding back and I was making no progress. I ended up borrowing a pair of needlenose pliers from the neighbors since I could only find one of our pair. With two pairs of skinny pliers I was able to work it up inch by inch until I reached the end of the cable and pulled it through the hole.
Lexie called to tell me they were thirty minutes away when I was still fishing for the cable. I managed to do the rest, vacuum up the sheetrock dust and put away all the tools before she got in. It felt a little like the surprise home design show "While You Were Out." It would have been a little cheesy to have moved the furniture, but only be able to say, "We can watch videos for now until you can help me with the cable drop." I proudly had Nickelodeon tuned in playing when they came in the door.
Posted to Family and Home at July 6, 2004 10:02 AM