Right-Angle Boring Bit
A multipurpose drill bit that steers up to 90 degrees inside framing to channel paths for wire and supply lines.
Drill a Second Hole Just for the Flashlight When Fishing Wire
One hole in the top plate gives you somewhere to push wire and nothing to see by. Drill a second one, shine a flashlight through it, and the cavity — including where the box actually is — becomes visible through the first.
look inside a wall without cutting, wire stuck inside the wall, borescope alternative, run cable behind drywall
The Problem
Fishing a wire down a wall is done blind. You drill through the top plate, feed the fish tape or wire into a cavity you can't see, and find out whether it reached the box by whether it stops. When it snags, you don't know what it snagged on — a fire block, a pipe, insulation, the wire's own coil — so the next attempt is another guess.
The Technique
Drill two holes instead of one.
- Drill your access hole through the top plate as usual, positioned over the cavity you're feeding.
- Drill a second hole beside it, into the same cavity.
- Shine a flashlight down the second hole — pointed through it, not dropped into it.
- Look down the first. The cavity lights up: you can see the box you're aiming for, whatever is between you and it, and where your wire actually is.
Both holes are in the top plate, above the ceiling line, so the second one costs nothing visually and gets patched or ignored with the first.
Pro tip: This works because you need light coming from somewhere other than your eye. A light held at the same hole you're looking down mostly illuminates the near face of the framing and dazzles you; separating the two by a few inches puts the light past what you're trying to see.
Pro tip: It needs a clear sightline, so it does less for you in an insulated wall or where fire blocking sits at an angle in the bay. In those, the light still tells you something useful — where the obstruction is and how far down — even when it can't show you the box.
Safety note: Look before you drill the second hole as well as the first. Two holes in a top plate is two chances to hit a cable or a pipe running through it, and the second one gets drilled casually because the first one went fine.
Electrical, plumbing, and structural work may be regulated where you live — check local code before you start, and note that a permit may be required. More in our disclaimer.
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