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I was trying to get cat6 to an upstairs room on an exterior wall and was trying to follow along the outside of the air duct to give me a clear shot. I've got the wall opened up on 2nd floor a couple of 1/2" holes drilled through into the space below the floor. The problem is that I'm centered over the air duct and can't get the snake to follow the downward turn of the duct so its getting stuck. FYI, Its not clear if its the duct or the insulation

Don’t really want to open up wall on first floor Some options:

1) find another cable snake that is more flexible that would be able to make turn from one of the exisitng holes. Or get something into hole that can guide the snake so it goes horizontally first and get it between the outside of duct and exterior insulation.

2) drill (again) close to left stud within same space (electrical on right), thinking that this should give me a better chance by going between the edge of the opening and the actual duct.

3) open up the air vent so I can ‘pull’ the duct out of the way, using existing holes. Concerned about screwing up the air vent and duct - making a bad situation worse.

Tester101
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Doug
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You're almost certainly going to hit the top plate of the 1st floor wall, and possibly some fire blocking and duct bracing, so doing this without opening up the first floor wall is going to be difficult if not impossible. Not only do you have insulation to worry about, but there's also the vapor barrier that you don't want to tear by forcing the fish tape down.

Best option is to relocate to an interior wall, preferably one near a closet on the first floor so you can install some access panels high and low inside the closet should you ever need to fish more wiring.

Next best option would be to run directly through wall to the outside of the house and down some conduit from there. Make sure to seal the wall back up so it's watertight.

BMitch
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    You can get exterior cat6 wire so you dont need to have an ugly conduit on side of house. If it is vinyl siding just unlock a strip of siding to an inside or outside corner then tuck it in channel so you cant see it. – Justin K Feb 19 '14 at 19:23