I am wanting to install a ceiling light in my laundry room, and a light switch. Will I have to cut out the entire ceiling and wall to do this? I thought about using fish tape, but I was curious if I would run into beams. Will I also have to run new wire all the way back to the electrical box and a new breaker?
First find a circuit without much load on it. This is where you will pick up the hot wire feed for the switch. An outlet or switch on an interior wall is best - this way you can probably fish the wire in the wall cavity. Now fish the wire up from your new switch the same way in the hollow wall. Use bx cable which has a metal flexible jacket on it. Run the cable along the top of the wall against the ceiling until you find the center of the room, then fish tape from the proposed light fixture location over to the small hole at the edge of ceiling where you wire along the wall will go up into the ceiling. Tie on cable and pull to the ceiling fixture location. Now simply add crown mold or other molding along the top of wall against the ceiling on the entire room to hide the cable. You need to use a 3+1/2 or larger crown molding to cover the wire.
there is a product called wire molding,. its a metal channel you run wires in and cap it off and its paint able, at most electrical supply
How To Fish Electrical Wire
Have to agree with others that suggest WireMold - it's a laundry room it doesn't have to be pretty. There are actually WireMold box extenders that allow you to make an electric outlet stick out an inch and connect wiremold into the outlet's circuit - then over to a box for the switch, then up and over to the light - no drywall work needed. A few others gave pretty good directions on how to fish through the ceiling, turn the corner, then fish down the wall. The key is to start with a stud finder and figure out which way the ceiling joists run. If you need to fish a wire parallel to them then you have a chance though insulation and mid-span blocking can make you miserable. If you need to fish a wire perpendicular to the ceiling joists then did we mention this cool product called WireMold?
