That one old guy who showed me how to fish a wall in 5 minutes flat

Was on a job in an old house downtown. Thick plaster walls, no basement, attic full of insulation. Customer wanted a line run from the living room to the bedroom upstairs. I was about to start cutting holes everywhere. This old timer was doing the neighbor's place next door. Saw me sweating and came over. Said 'you're working too hard son, grab your glow rod and a magnet.' He walks me through the whole thing. Drop a weighted string down from the attic. Use the magnet to grab it through a small outlet hole. Took me maybe 10 minutes total. I would have spent 2 hours and destroyed that wall. He didn't even charge me for the advice. Just said 'pass it on' and walked back to his truck. You guys ever meet a random installer who saved your whole day like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

john4305d ago

Bet that old timer had a whole basement full of saved drywall patches.

spencerl325d agoTop Commenter

Read something the other day about a guy who had a stack of old 2x4s in his garage from a project in the 70s. He'd mark each one with a felt tip pen where the nail holes were. Said he'd pull out that dusty old lumber every time he needed a temporary support. Seems like those drywall patches would serve the same purpose for quick fixes. Funny how we hold onto things that might be useful later.