How would you run wire in this style of home?

K

karson

New Member
Our family recently purchased a new home, with a unique (for the area) Mansard/French style roof.  Now that we're settled in, I'm in the process of planning for some PoE cameras on the front and rear of the home. In an ideal situation, I hope to run the cable up through the soffit into the attic, but I don't know what to expect with this style of roof where the exterior room walls are actually part of the roof design. I definitely don't want to start drilling if I'm going to be fighting fiberglass insulation in the upstairs bedroom walls.
 
Will trying to pull cable up into the attic be a giant pain in the rear, or even be possible? Maybe I'm answering my own question!? Or, should I just plan on running the cable where the soffit and siding meet, possibly finding some paintable/stainable conduit to hide the cable?
 
Hoping some seasoned veterans can offer a bit of wisdom here.  Thanks in advance...
 
 
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:878]
 
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:877]
 
 
 
I'm surprised there's even an attic.  That style of roof doesn't afford much opportunity to fish cables from above.  There's usually framing running horizontally along the top of each rafter where it meets the top roof slope.  Given the very low slope, and the likelihood of roofing nails, it'd be very difficult to get far enough out toward the edge to gain access to the framing.  It might be possible, and I'd suggest you look, but I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope.
 
It's not uncommon in difficult to wire situations to pull off the baseboard and run things behind it.  Assuming, of course, that you don't have baseboard heaters in the way.  The idea being you remove the trim and then cut away a horizontal section of drywall.  This leaves you enough room to get in-between the studs with a right-angle drill and a paddle or forstner bit to cut holes for wiring.  You want to be careful about seeing BOTH sides of a stud as there's likely electrical lines tacked on at least one side or another.  Don't just drill blind.  Once the wires have been run you patch the drywall and reapply the baseboard trim.  This is one area where using the blue flexible conduit may be worth considering as you don't want to have to go back in there should wires need replacing.  I mean, you could, but conduit would be a good fallback against potential problems.  
 
Surface raceway is the last resort.  Yes, wiremold and others make a variety of solution for this.  But they're kind of ugly.  The baseboard trick is a bit more work but will look like nothing's been tacked on.
 
wkearney99 said:
I'm surprised there's even an attic.  That style of roof doesn't afford much opportunity to fish cables from above.  There's usually framing running horizontally along the top of each rafter where it meets the top roof slope.  Given the very low slope, and the likelihood of roofing nails, it'd be very difficult to get far enough out toward the edge to gain access to the framing.  It might be possible, and I'd suggest you look, but I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope.
 
It's not uncommon in difficult to wire situations to pull off the baseboard and run things behind it.  Assuming, of course, that you don't have baseboard heaters in the way.  The idea being you remove the trim and then cut away a horizontal section of drywall.  This leaves you enough room to get in-between the studs with a right-angle drill and a paddle or forstner bit to cut holes for wiring.  You want to be careful about seeing BOTH sides of a stud as there's likely electrical lines tacked on at least one side or another.  Don't just drill blind.  Once the wires have been run you patch the drywall and reapply the baseboard trim.  This is one area where using the blue flexible conduit may be worth considering as you don't want to have to go back in there should wires need replacing.  I mean, you could, but conduit would be a good fallback against potential problems.  
 
Surface raceway is the last resort.  Yes, wiremold and others make a variety of solution for this.  But they're kind of ugly.  The baseboard trick is a bit more work but will look like nothing's been tacked on.
Click to expand...
 
In the right situation, I like the trick of cutting out some of the drywall along the baseboard trim! With regards to the attic, I agree I'm lucky there's one at all. Surprisingly there is about 4-5ft of clearance between the roof and truss
 
I guess I won't really know until I climb up there and scope out the attic/soffit and drill a pilot hole.  I've got a crew coming to do 12" of blow in insulation in a couple weeks, so I'll need to go up there some morning while it's still cool and see if it's possible, and if so at least get a pull string going.
 
There are soffit vents with ridgecaps at the top, so one would think there is some unobstructed convection pathway to get a fish rod/pull string through  :wacko:
 
Thank you for your tips!
 
Well, the presence of a roof vent doesn't mean squat.  It "should" mean there's decent total-roof venting, but often it just means a roofer put something up there with no regard to proper venting.  Yes, the sooner you get up there- the better.  
 
Signs to look for are electrical lines coming up to the attic from outlets on the outside walls.  If you see any then find where they leave the attic and go down into the walls.  It could be into 1/2" holes or it could be along the gap of framing.  The latter would lend hope to you fishing something else through there to the walls below.  Holes would mean you'd also be drilling holes for your own new wires (and not right adjacent to the electrical lines, as to avoid line noise interference).  But if you see no wires then look for flat, closed framing at the slope or a gap.  If it's enclosed then you have roofing on the outside not getting vented.  If there is a gap then make sure it stays gapped when the insulation in installed later.  Preferably by adding some foam vent guides (or whatever they're called).  These to insure an air gap remains clear up through the insulation being added.  

There's "more to it" but that's likely beyond the scope of this forum or thread.
 
Though I can't see the pictures, a mansard style roof is pretty straightforward to fish, assuming there's a small attic or crawlspace above. Very easy using glow rods and some string to pull wire up. You can also do it with a traditional fish tape although it's slightly more work.
 
The walls inside aren't butted up tight to the framing or the walls would be slanted in. The only variable is if there's blocking in the top of the bays, but that is doubtful.
 
All you need to do is get the fish to ride up the wall and once it hits the roof, there's a few ways to either pull it up or fish the other end.
 
DELInstallations said:
Though I can't see the pictures, a mansard style roof is pretty straightforward to fish, assuming there's a small attic or crawlspace above. Very easy using glow rods and some string to pull wire up. You can also do it with a traditional fish tape although it's slightly more work.
 
The walls inside aren't butted up tight to the framing or the walls would be slanted in. The only variable is if there's blocking in the top of the bays, but that is doubtful.
 
All you need to do is get the fish to ride up the wall and once it hits the roof, there's a few ways to either pull it up or fish the other end.
Click to expand...
I'm hoping you're right! I drilled a 1/4" hole in my soffit and have about 20' worth of fish rod up there some place. I felt that "ah ha!" feeling when the fish gets up and over something and is freely dangling around, but I can't see it up in the attic.
 
It's really hard and inefficient by myself to hunt and peck for fish rods in places you don't know where things go.  May have to wait until a cool morning when I have an additional set of hands to move the fish rod around. I've had enough ladder time for a while!
 
 I plan on leaving what I've got up there since it's protected from the weather and isn't doing any harm.
 
Will report back on my success (positive self talk!) for anyone else out there wondering about fishing under a mansard roof soffit  :rockon:  Might be next week, but I'll remember.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

H
Pull security wire into existing home questions
Replies
7
Views
2K
standon
S
Back
Top