Home Automation - How to snake wires through plaster walls?

I want to install some more outlets in our new 110 year old house. I know how to wire them in, but how do I snake the wires through the old plaster walls?

You do not say from where you want to snake your wires, from the basement up, or the attic down. Either way, you need to make sure that the area you will be drilling into is inside the wall space. Measure, measure, measure!
To do attic work, you need to purchase a drop chain, about 10'long. This chain is not the s type, but has closed loops, more like old sash chain in windows. Most hardware stores carry this.

From the attic, drill a 7/8" hole into the wall cavity, above where you want to install the receptacle. Drop the chain while holding one end. You should be able to hear/feel the chain drop down the wall cavity. If you have a helper, have then listen/feel, at the location of the outlet, for the chain moving around inside the wall. If it is going all the way down, then you can proceed to cut in the box. Then either reach in or use a hooked piece of wire, and get ahold of the chain, and pull it out into the room. From the floor, attach the drop chain to your romex, and tape the end good so the wires will not hang up on the lath inside the wall. Then from the attic, pull the chain/wire up, into the attic, allowing enough to go to a junction box. don't forget to staple the cable before finishing. You can then move on to the next location.

There may be sometimes when the chain won't drop all the way down, because of fire blocks, door or window headers, etc. Don't dispair, just move over to another bay, and try it there. At places where an outlet is required or wanted, and you can't use the drop chain, you may have to come from the basement.

Here again you need to make sure you are in the wall cavity. From underneath, drill a 7/8" hole up into the cavity, and just push some wire up. Cut out your hole, and pull what you need to terminate into a box.

A helper really helps in this type of work. It gets old real fast having to climb up and down a ladder, or in and out of a crawlspace.

There are other methods to do this. You might want to get a hold of some DIY books at your local hardware store. Most of these are for drywall types of walls, but there may be other hints to help you.

Good luck. RM

Thanks for the advice. Probably will be going from basement and from attic. Someone else told me not to use power tools with plaster walls...is this true? (I assumed he meant power saws) Is it better to use hand tools only?

hello blove,
yes they were correct on saying no power tools(saws) on lath and plaster walls. whin u try useing a power saw on lath and plaster more times then not u will break the plaster, i have used a saber saw that had varabel speed with some sucess, but it takes almost as long as a hand saw. useing a drill on lath and plaster is fine as long as u dont force it. best way i have found to cut in boxes in lath and plaster is to take a small cut off saw and score the plaster and then cut the lath, with the saber saw. DO NOT USE A SAWSALL, they creat 2 much vibration and will loosen the plaster.