Hi...

Our house was wired for cable when it was built in the 70's with old
rg59. On top of that, they horseshoe nailed the cable to the studs.
I started re-wiring it with rg6 but ran into a snag in the back
bedroom.

The wiring starts in the basement, runs up the center of the house to
the attic, then through crawlspaces, etc back down to the bedrooms.
One bedroom that we're using as an office has a drop, but the jack is
in the mid-line of the house, so it runs back and forth under a lot of
sub flooring.

My problem is those damn horseshoe nails. I broke the top out of the
wall box and was able to pull out one of the horseshoe nails with a
coat hanger, but there's another one somewhere up there in the wall.
Because of all the zigging and zagging under the subflooring, a snake
wouldn't work to run a new line. My understanding is that snakes work
okay if you have essentially a straight shot, which I don't.

Any ideas on how to free up the line/get rid of the horseshoe nail
somewhere up the stud without taking all the drywall down?

Thanks
Mark

"MMark" wrote in message
...
Hi...

Our house was wired for cable when it was built in the 70's with old
rg59. On top of that, they horseshoe nailed the cable to the studs.
I started re-wiring it with rg6 but ran into a snag in the back
bedroom.

The wiring starts in the basement, runs up the center of the house to
the attic, then through crawlspaces, etc back down to the bedrooms.
One bedroom that we're using as an office has a drop, but the jack is
in the mid-line of the house, so it runs back and forth under a lot of
sub flooring.

My problem is those damn horseshoe nails. I broke the top out of the
wall box and was able to pull out one of the horseshoe nails with a
coat hanger, but there's another one somewhere up there in the wall.
Because of all the zigging and zagging under the subflooring, a snake
wouldn't work to run a new line. My understanding is that snakes work
okay if you have essentially a straight shot, which I don't.

Any ideas on how to free up the line/get rid of the horseshoe nail
somewhere up the stud without taking all the drywall down?

Thanks
Mark


Typically, you cut the old stuff off and abandon it, and run the new cable
in whatever fashion works best now that there is sheetrock up

On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:32:03 -0400, "RBM" wrote:


"MMark" wrote in message
...
Hi...

Our house was wired for cable when it was built in the 70's with old
rg59. On top of that, they horseshoe nailed the cable to the studs.
I started re-wiring it with rg6 but ran into a snag in the back
bedroom.

The wiring starts in the basement, runs up the center of the house to
the attic, then through crawlspaces, etc back down to the bedrooms.
One bedroom that we're using as an office has a drop, but the jack is
in the mid-line of the house, so it runs back and forth under a lot of
sub flooring.

My problem is those damn horseshoe nails. I broke the top out of the
wall box and was able to pull out one of the horseshoe nails with a
coat hanger, but there's another one somewhere up there in the wall.
Because of all the zigging and zagging under the subflooring, a snake
wouldn't work to run a new line. My understanding is that snakes work
okay if you have essentially a straight shot, which I don't.

Any ideas on how to free up the line/get rid of the horseshoe nail
somewhere up the stud without taking all the drywall down?

Thanks
Mark


Typically, you cut the old stuff off and abandon it, and run the new cable
in whatever fashion works best now that there is sheetrock up

But being able to use the old stuff as a "fish tape" sure makes the
job easier.

wrote in message
...
On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:32:03 -0400, "RBM" wrote:


"MMark" wrote in message
...
Hi...

Our house was wired for cable when it was built in the 70's with old
rg59. On top of that, they horseshoe nailed the cable to the studs.
I started re-wiring it with rg6 but ran into a snag in the back
bedroom.

The wiring starts in the basement, runs up the center of the house to
the attic, then through crawlspaces, etc back down to the bedrooms.
One bedroom that we're using as an office has a drop, but the jack is
in the mid-line of the house, so it runs back and forth under a lot of
sub flooring.

My problem is those damn horseshoe nails. I broke the top out of the
wall box and was able to pull out one of the horseshoe nails with a
coat hanger, but there's another one somewhere up there in the wall.
Because of all the zigging and zagging under the subflooring, a snake
wouldn't work to run a new line. My understanding is that snakes work
okay if you have essentially a straight shot, which I don't.

Any ideas on how to free up the line/get rid of the horseshoe nail
somewhere up the stud without taking all the drywall down?

Thanks
Mark


Typically, you cut the old stuff off and abandon it, and run the new cable
in whatever fashion works best now that there is sheetrock up

But being able to use the old stuff as a "fish tape" sure makes the
job easier.

Not where it's drilled horizontally through studs and stapled

Any ideas on how to free up the line/get rid of the horseshoe nail
somewhere up the stud without taking all the drywall down?

Can you just run a new line through the cold air return?

wrote:
Any ideas on how to free up the line/get rid of the horseshoe nail
somewhere up the stud without taking all the drywall down?

Can you just run a new line through the cold air return?


Aghhhh !

Just curious why you are replacing the RG59? Were you getting a bad
picture? Is it for a cable modem?

wrote:
Any ideas on how to free up the line/get rid of the horseshoe nail
somewhere up the stud without taking all the drywall down?

Can you just run a new line through the cold air return?



Hi,
Against code!

On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:41:04 -0400, "RBM" wrote:


wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:32:03 -0400, "RBM" wrote:


"MMark" wrote in message
...
Hi...

Our house was wired for cable when it was built in the 70's with old
rg59. On top of that, they horseshoe nailed the cable to the studs.
I started re-wiring it with rg6 but ran into a snag in the back
bedroom.

The wiring starts in the basement, runs up the center of the house to
the attic, then through crawlspaces, etc back down to the bedrooms.
One bedroom that we're using as an office has a drop, but the jack is
in the mid-line of the house, so it runs back and forth under a lot of
sub flooring.

My problem is those damn horseshoe nails. I broke the top out of the
wall box and was able to pull out one of the horseshoe nails with a
coat hanger, but there's another one somewhere up there in the wall.
Because of all the zigging and zagging under the subflooring, a snake
wouldn't work to run a new line. My understanding is that snakes work
okay if you have essentially a straight shot, which I don't.

Any ideas on how to free up the line/get rid of the horseshoe nail
somewhere up the stud without taking all the drywall down?

Thanks
Mark


Typically, you cut the old stuff off and abandon it, and run the new cable
in whatever fashion works best now that there is sheetrock up

But being able to use the old stuff as a "fish tape" sure makes the
job easier.

Not where it's drilled horizontally through studs and stapled

That's why he's asking how to get the staples ohy. I've found
sometimes just giving it one H of a pull pops the staples out, and the
cable can then be pulled out. The cable itself is good for close to
1000 lbs of pull. Doesn't take that much to pop cable staples.

Sometimes you get lucky - sometimes you don't.

On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:41:15 -0700 (PDT),
" wrote:

Any ideas on how to free up the line/get rid of the horseshoe nail
somewhere up the stud without taking all the drywall down?

Can you just run a new line through the cold air return?


Illegal unless you use plenum rated cable.

On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:52:52 -0700 (PDT), Mikepier
wrote:

Just curious why you are replacing the RG59? Were you getting a bad
picture? Is it for a cable modem?
How about digital HiDeff TV.

On Oct 24, 10:33*pm, wrote:
On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:52:52 -0700 (PDT), Mikepier

wrote:
Just curious why you are replacing the RG59? Were you getting a bad
picture? Is it for a cable modem?

How about digital HiDeff TV.

It is still possible to get HiDef TV with RG59. Although the
performance not as good as RG6, with a strong signal RG59 should work.

On Oct 24, 8:52*pm, Mikepier wrote:
Just curious why you are replacing the RG59? Were you getting a bad
picture? Is it for a cable modem?

Good question... We tried to go with the Comcast Triple Play package
in August but the phone kept dropping out.

The Comcast tech found that we were losing 45 db from where the cable
entered the house to the office where the phone sat (+25 to -20).
Even with an amplifier on the line and him replacing all the ends, we
only got to -10.

He blamed the rg59; a neighbor who's an EE figured it had to be the
horseshoe nails once I got in some of the crawlspaces and found them.
My neighbor figured the horseshoe nails were messing up the shielding.

If I could get the office cable free, I'd been planning on doing a
home run of rg6 all the way back to the source but have been having a
heck of a time getting that office cable free.

The Comcast tech found that we were losing 45 db from where the cable
entered the house to the office where the phone sat (+25 to -20).
Even with an amplifier on the line and him replacing all the ends, we
only got to -10.

He blamed the rg59; a neighbor who's an EE figured it had to be the
horseshoe nails once I got in some of the crawlspaces and found them.
My neighbor figured the horseshoe nails were messing up the shielding.

You sure you don't have a splitter, or a lot of splitters somewhere in
the mix? 45db is a heck of a drop.
Anyway, your best bet might be to forget about trying to use the old
cable as a drag, and maybe go from the outside, or perhaps in the
attic to run the cable to the location.

Mikepier wrote:
The Comcast tech found that we were losing 45 db from where the cable
entered the house to the office where the phone sat (+25 to -20).
Even with an amplifier on the line and him replacing all the ends, we
only got to -10.

He blamed the rg59; a neighbor who's an EE figured it had to be the
horseshoe nails once I got in some of the crawlspaces and found them.
My neighbor figured the horseshoe nails were messing up the shielding.

You sure you don't have a splitter, or a lot of splitters somewhere in
the mix? 45db is a heck of a drop.
Anyway, your best bet might be to forget about trying to use the old
cable as a drag, and maybe go from the outside, or perhaps in the
attic to run the cable to the location.

Attic, maybe. Outside, no. Ugly and leads to early failures. There has
to be some usable way to fish a new wire in the walls. Around here,
Comcast and the others always try to cheap out and do it the quick and
dirty way. I'm surprised OP got their tech to spend any time diagnosing
it. Most of the techs are subs, and they want to get in and out fast,
since they don't make that much per site visit.

I always tell people to pre-wire it themselves, or hire somebody, before
their scheduled hookup date. I've had to rewire several cable and satt
installations for relatives, where the 'free' installation was worth
about what they paid for it.

--
aem sends...

--
aem sends...

I had a problem with my phone/cable modem dropping out, and it was
because my cable modem was hooked up to the 7.5db tap of a 3 way
splitter. I moved it to the 3.5db tap, and it was fixed. Most 3 way
splitters have 2-7.5db taps and 1- 3.5 db tap.

On Oct 25, 8:44*am, Mikepier wrote:
I had a problem with my phone/cable modem dropping out, and it was
because my cable modem was hooked up to the 7.5db tap of a 3 way
splitter. I moved it to the 3.5db tap, and it was fixed. Most 3 way
splitters have 2-7.5db taps and 1- 3.5 db tap.

I just had a Comcast guy tell me I had a problem with the wiring in my
house. I had complained that the new digital conversion boxes they
sent out as part of their digital conversion were not working very
well when the weather was wet. He said the signals at my distribution
box in a chase off the family room were plenty strong and so the
problem was in my internal distribution wiring. I pointed out to him
that there were no leaks in my roof and that the problem had to be in
their cable which ran from a tap on a telephone pole cable support
location down the pole and underground 100' into my house.

After he went up on a ladder at the pole and looked at the tap into
the main cable, he discovered that the squirrels that abound around
here had eaten into the line. After he ran a new cable from the tap
into my house, things are just fine. Of course, he forgot to tell
Comcast that they had to send out a crew to bury the new feed line, so
I am having to move the cable every time I cut the leaves up to avoid
having to rake them. Called Comcast and bitched at them for
forgetting about me. They were very apologetic, and now I only have
one more week to wait until they come out to bury the cable.

On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:08:17 -0700 (PDT), Mikepier
wrote:

On Oct 24, 10:33Â*pm, wrote:
On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:52:52 -0700 (PDT), Mikepier

wrote:
Just curious why you are replacing the RG59? Were you getting a bad
picture? Is it for a cable modem?

How about digital HiDeff TV.

It is still possible to get HiDef TV with RG59. Although the
performance not as good as RG6, with a strong signal RG59 should work.


With Rogers digital it MUST be 100% sheilded RG6 throughout, or you
get pixelation

wrote in message
...
On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:41:04 -0400, "RBM" wrote:


wrote in message
. ..
On Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:32:03 -0400, "RBM" wrote:


"MMark" wrote in message
...
Hi...

Our house was wired for cable when it was built in the 70's with old
rg59. On top of that, they horseshoe nailed the cable to the studs.
I started re-wiring it with rg6 but ran into a snag in the back
bedroom.

The wiring starts in the basement, runs up the center of the house to
the attic, then through crawlspaces, etc back down to the bedrooms.
One bedroom that we're using as an office has a drop, but the jack is
in the mid-line of the house, so it runs back and forth under a lot of
sub flooring.

My problem is those damn horseshoe nails. I broke the top out of the
wall box and was able to pull out one of the horseshoe nails with a
coat hanger, but there's another one somewhere up there in the wall.
Because of all the zigging and zagging under the subflooring, a snake
wouldn't work to run a new line. My understanding is that snakes work
okay if you have essentially a straight shot, which I don't.

Any ideas on how to free up the line/get rid of the horseshoe nail
somewhere up the stud without taking all the drywall down?

Thanks
Mark


Typically, you cut the old stuff off and abandon it, and run the new
cable
in whatever fashion works best now that there is sheetrock up

But being able to use the old stuff as a "fish tape" sure makes the
job easier.

Not where it's drilled horizontally through studs and stapled

That's why he's asking how to get the staples ohy. I've found
sometimes just giving it one H of a pull pops the staples out, and the
cable can then be pulled out. The cable itself is good for close to
1000 lbs of pull. Doesn't take that much to pop cable staples.

Sometimes you get lucky - sometimes you don't.

I too, have been able to give a hard snap and rip a pile of staples off of
RG-59, but I think he's got horseshoe nails, not staples. Them puppies ain't
commin out so easy

On Oct 25, 9:33*am, aemeijers wrote:
Mikepier wrote:
The Comcast tech found that we were losing 45 db from where the cable
entered the house to the office where the phone sat (+25 to -20).
Even with an amplifier on the line and him replacing all the ends, we
only got to -10.

He blamed the rg59; a neighbor who's an EE figured it had to be the
horseshoe nails once I got in some of the crawlspaces and found them.
My neighbor figured the horseshoe nails were messing up the shielding.

You sure you don't have a splitter, or a lot of splitters somewhere in
the mix? 45db is a heck of a drop.
Anyway, your best bet might be to forget about trying to use the old
cable as a drag, and maybe go from the outside, or perhaps in the
attic to run the cable to the location.

Attic, maybe. Outside, no. Ugly and leads to early failures. There has
to be some usable way to fish a new wire in the walls. Around here,
Comcast and the others always try to cheap out and do it the quick and
dirty way. I'm surprised OP got their tech to spend any time diagnosing
it. Most of the techs are subs, and they want to get in and out fast,
since they don't make that much per site visit.

I always tell people to pre-wire it themselves, or hire somebody, before
their scheduled hookup date. I've had to rewire several cable and satt
installations for relatives, where the 'free' installation was worth
about what they paid for it.

I'd pay those guys not to run wires. In one house I worked on the guy
ran from the electric meter up into the gutter, inside the gutter
around back, around the wing, up the side of the building and poked a
hole into a back bedroom. Almost 200' of cable and the basement was
open, there was a wire chase from front to back, and the house was
balloon framed so you could pull the wire up 1-2-3. Maybe he was
killing time at the end of the day, or fell off the ladder a couple
times too many. I was trying to figure out how many times the damn
idiot moved his ladder.

R

MMark wrote:
On Oct 24, 8:52 pm, Mikepier wrote:
Just curious why you are replacing the RG59? Were you getting a bad
picture? Is it for a cable modem?

Good question... We tried to go with the Comcast Triple Play package
in August but the phone kept dropping out.

The Comcast tech found that we were losing 45 db from where the cable
entered the house to the office where the phone sat (+25 to -20).
Even with an amplifier on the line and him replacing all the ends, we
only got to -10.

He blamed the rg59; a neighbor who's an EE figured it had to be the
horseshoe nails once I got in some of the crawlspaces and found them.
My neighbor figured the horseshoe nails were messing up the shielding.

If I could get the office cable free, I'd been planning on doing a
home run of rg6 all the way back to the source but have been having a
heck of a time getting that office cable free.

If the staples are installed too tightly, meaning denting the cable, the
sum of all those dents really messes with the cable impedance. I see the
same problems with data cable where the stuff is mashed by the staples
or there are sharp 90 degree bends in the cable. Did you notice any
sharp bends in your coaxial cable or perhaps a staple piercing the
insulation? It only takes one staple sticking in the cable to ruin it.

TDD