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I have a situation in my attic where I need to drill thru some wood in a wall behind the closet as that's the only access I am aware of that runs from the attic, to the basement. There is an existing hole that was made when all the walls were down but it's full of wire. Want to drill a second one. Going to be near impossible to get to.

Picture of Attic

So from the picture you can see the fun and how things narrow and there are fun cables going horizontally across and all over and electrical conduit. Pulled away the insulation. I was going to use my Magnespot tool I've had sitting in a cabinet for years to identify where that hole currently is from below and if I need to try and drill in front of that hole with all the wires in the way or behind it as the wall gets more narrow to keep it within the confines of the studs. Studs there seem pretty close together, checking with a stud finder. Have maybe a foot or less between the two studs.

So any thoughts how to get to that corner or at least be able to drill the hole I need? Keeping in mind if at a distance won't be able to put any real pressure on the bit to get it to go thru. Was thinking of an auger bit or something and not sure how deep I'll have to drill anyway. Note I prefer even though would be the "quick" answer, to avoid cutting drywall.

Picture added for comments: scope pic

---- EDIT ----

Think editing my original question is the right path. Well I have flooring running all the way up to the darn electrical conduit sticking up back there. Light in the closet under there. For reference the red area above I highlight is about of area so between that conduit and only having a small area not sure I can physically get in there. Anyway, so have more detail.

So I ran the scope up the wall again from the basement. Here's where I am and shows the studs with blue tape

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Going up the wall again I get to here

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Also closeup of the area as you can see a copper pipe along the side of it.

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Not sure what that framing is but somehow the wires are snaking around the horizontal wood piece which not sure looks like a fire stop or not. Not used to things being about to get around a fire stop. I was about 11.5' up the wall and thought it was higher but think it's at the three horizontal pieces of tape (detects studs holding sideways) instead as can't detect any wood in the wall in that area so think it's lower down.

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But I basically have to get to the top of the wall as shown additionally here which getting to the three horizontal pieces of tape below is unreachable by a flexible bit.

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So any thoughts how I can access that back corner to get a hole thru the attic into the wall and probably guessing I will need to drill thru the "floor" in the wall of the second floor down to the first? Whatever is causing detection of those three separate horizontal studs not sure. Flooring? What allows these cables to get around those areas? Obviously the wires already there are making it to the basement. Ugh.

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    Might have to remove some drywall anyway. Most walls have blocks of wood(2x4s) half way up to act has fire stops and backing for nailing/screwing drywall. Makes life difficult running cables between the studs.
    – crip659
    May 22, 2022 at 17:26
  • What size hole are we talking about and for what?
    – JACK
    May 22, 2022 at 17:57
  • I am doing this to run two OM4 fiber connections and two additional Cat6a connections for backup from the second floor to the basement. What's interesting is I ran a scope up the wall from the basement where the existing wires come out. Knew from the noise in the wall I was at the top of the second floor wall but then ran into the picture I added at the end of my original post. Looks like some kind of framing and the wires coming down from the hole in the attic are being routed around this and then clear sailing to the basement or close enough. Just not sure what I'm looking at.
    – Joseline Riker
    May 22, 2022 at 18:06
  • Check by the chimney, many times it is framed in and you can go down beside it fairly easily.
    – Gil
    May 22, 2022 at 19:26
  • Thanks for the replies. Forgot about the hole question. Was looking at 3/4 inch hole. Also with the chimney, I can check however there is no basement under the chimney.
    – Joseline Riker
    May 22, 2022 at 19:36

1 Answer 1

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Lay some planks or plywood across the ceiling joists (well, trusses) and wriggle in there with a right angle adapter chucked up to your drill. A spade bit would be ideal, and if it has a 1/4" hex shank, you can progressively add extenders to get the length you need. (Tape the sections together to avoid losing things.) Example, not endorsement: right angle adapter

If the right angle adapter you end up with isn't stellar at holding the spade bit, you could add a 1/4" chuck adapter into the chain, and that won't fall through your fresh hole.

Example, definitely not an endorsement: chuck adapter

Don't forget to wear a good mask up there.

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  • That was my original though, But thinking how many boards I'm going to need to make it that far back and have the boards safely sit still if I'm going to be like lying on my stomach crawling back there vs sitting on them. What you are seeing now is me sitting across a 10" and 4 - 8" wide boards. Most of my boards are 30" wide and barely overlap the joists or trusses. Always afraid they will slide off and hit the drywall ceiling below. Any wider they would compress the insulation onto the below drywall. Double sided tape to keep from moving? Probably like 6 feet of wood I'd need.
    – Joseline Riker
    May 22, 2022 at 21:28
  • You'll certainly be on your stomach. If those trusses are 2' centers, I'd aim for 3' long boards to avoid exactly what you're worried about: slipping off and pushing through. (Wider than 3' isn't going to be a problem compressing insulation.)
    – Aloysius Defenestrate
    May 22, 2022 at 23:01
  • You might consider a screw-feed augur bit (like this, no endorsement). A little pushing to get the screw started, but after that, it'll run on its own. A spade bit will need to be pushed the whole time and, at the angles and spacing available, pushing down looks to be the hardest part.
    – FreeMan
    May 23, 2022 at 11:33
  • Like that small augur bit. I have one like that but 18" so not ideal. :) OK so here's a question. When the insulation was originally installed, the installer didn't want to go to that corner either. Look at the top picture. The insulation went over the electrical conduit, not under it. If I screwed down some more permanent flooring for the future or whatever and when done put the insulation on top of that would that be OK? Technically the back 1/3 of the insulation wasn't touching anyway. Maybe a whole different topic.
    – Joseline Riker
    May 24, 2022 at 0:04
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    @AloysiusDefenestrate If there were videos, they'd charge us!
    – gnicko
    May 28, 2022 at 0:50

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