Need Help: Fishing wire through the back hole of existing mounted box.

[mannyrock]

Dear Guys,
 
     I have a house where the idiots did not install overhead light fixtures in any of the bedrooms.  Instead, the light switches next to the doors operates to turn on and off the top sockets of the numerous outlets in the rooms.  I guess they thought it would be trendy to force people to use desk lamps to light the rooms.
 
    I am installing an overhead fixture in every bedroom.  There is an incoming hot electric wire coming into the existing boxes of the light switches.   So my plan for each bedroom is to run a wire from the new light fixture, up into the attic (immediately overhead) and down in the wall next to the existing light switch.  If I can get this wire inside of the light switch box, I can use the power in the box to operate the overhead light.
 
   I have no problem in drilling a hole in the top of the plate, in the wall in which the switch is mounted, or with feeding the new wire down into that hole so the it ends up near the switch box.  My problem is that I can't figure out how to get it inside the box.     
 
      How do I punch out the plastic tab in the back of an existing finished box?
 
      Then, how to I fish the new wire, so that it will come through the new hole in the back of the box?

       I am hoping that there is a way to do this without cutting a hole in the drywall around the existing box, because I don't want to have to repair it.     I thought about trying to remove the existing box (plastic) by somehow cutting the side nails that hold it into the stud, thus making all of the wires visible in the square hole in the drywall, and then simply pushing all of these wires by hand into the back of a new box, and then mounting the new box by putting it back in the same hole.   (I guess I would use a remodel box, that has plastic tabs to hold it in the wall, instead of driving nails to hold it in.)  But, I can't quite figure out how to cut the existing nails holding the existing box.
 
     Any and all advice and comments are appreciated.
 
Thanks,  Mannyrock

[blind ear]

mannyrock, it has always POd! me to have to fix someone else's bum jobs due to the idea of a "better idea" or "saveing money". It is always in a place where there is no room to work. good luck. ear

[fatercat]

drill hole top plate.  drop fishing line down hole with a sinker tied to it. coat hanger with a hook bent on the fishing end.  make damn sure power is off. oh, take out then switch to expose box. if ypu can't knock out tab then use a drill and bit at least 1/2 inch. tie wire to fishing line and pull .

[briarpatch]

I used a saws all blade and cut the nails holding the box. Install new box with mason clips.
I have also used a big paddle bit and drilled in top of box and fished a line through it by dropping a weighted line down the wall and using a coat hanger with a hook to reach up through the hole I drilled in the box.

[charles p]

Do you have enough slack wire in the box to pull the switch completely out of the box.  If you can, you can drill or punch out the top of the box without removing it from the stud.  Expect you have already tried this however.

[mannyrock]

Dear Guys,
 
   Thanks for all of this excellent advice.  Now I know how to start.
 
   Now I have another question please.   Since there will be three sets of Romex ending  in the box (one being the incoming power line, one being the outgoing line to the sockets, and one being the outgoing line to my new light fixture), the wiring diagram I am using indicates that on at least two places in this wiring, I am going to have to join the ends of three pieces of no. 14 wire together, twisted together under one wire nut.  Does anybody know if this violates Code or is considered unsafe or a bad practice?  (i.e., three wires under one nut?)
 
     Don't worry.  I know that I absolutely cannot have more than one wire attached to any of the poles of the switch itself.   (I will have to make a couple of pigtails.)  But, I'm just wondering whether it is considered normal to have three wires meet, and be joined together with one wire nut, inside a switch box.
 
    Thanks for any advice or comments.
 
Mannyrock
 
 
 
 

[cudatruck]

if i get what you have said you started with two sets of romex in your switch box, wired white to white with a nut, and the blacks, one to each side of the switch. i assume you do not want this switch controlling the outlet/s anymore because it will be controling the light? if so, abandon the wire going from switch to outlet. pull your outlet and abandon same wire at the outlet. replace the outlet with a new one and both plugs will be hot all the time. I hate houses wired like this. some homeowner (or worse, renter) will DIY a new outlet and then you have hot wires to both sides of the switch! thats fun to figure out when you don't know what they have done! Good luck and be safe.

[Ranger99]

if you don't have one, go buy
one of those little 5.00 circuit
testers to make double sure that
the wires are not hot before you start.
don't trust just the breaker being flipped.
i've ran into that with this rigged-up
wiring here.

[briarpatch]

Yes you can have 3 wires under one nut. You can have more but must use the right size nut.
Yellow will work for 3 #14's.

[mannyrock]

 
   Thanks again guys, you told me exactly what I need to know.
 
    Yes, I have and uses the pen-style circuit tester (gives off a beep and light when line is hot), so I don't just rely on the breaker.
 
    And I had no idea that I could just abandon the hot wire that runs from the switch box down to the top of the outlet.   If I can get this to work, it will certainly simplify the wires in the box.   
 
    I'm not sure, though, why I would have to replace the existing outlet to do this.  Is the outlet on the end of the row of outlets a special type?   Or, will I have to buy a special type for the replacement?
 
Thanks, Mannyrock
 

[briarpatch]

No special outlet needed, 
What sometimes is the case, the switch will control the top part of the outlet and the bottom of the outlet will remain hot all the time.
There are small brass conductors that connect the top and bottom of the outlet, when you break the conductor you now have two seperate outlets. If this is the case you can install jumpers or short wires from top to bottom on each side or buy a new outlet.

[mannyrock]

Briarpatch,
 
     Thanks for the explanation.  I totally get it.  I will go get a new outlet.
 
Best, Mannyrock