Second floor, no ground

[killavolt]

As an afterthought...

Is there anyone who could explain to me how a electrician could get a new wire through the wall plate, even in an interior wall, without having to do serious damage to the wall? Several people mentioned fishing wire, implying that it wouldn't be too difficult, but how do you fish a wire through a wall plate?

Cut your hole in the wall for a single gang old work box and use a flexible drill bit to drill down through the sill plate into the first floor stud bay. Measure off this hole and drill up from the basement into the same stud bay and fish your wire. Install your old work box, wire up the receptacle and you're done, with no holes to repair.

[Macman]

Thanks for the explanation. I understand the process you describe. You make it sound easy, which it may be for a pro, but I think I'd let someone who has experience do it. It's like a conversation I had with a client of mine, a veterinarian for whom I do computer work. He asked if some work that I was doing was something that he could do himself. I hesitated, knowing that he was a smart guy, but also knowing that he could get into a lot of trouble if he didn't really know what he was doing. He picked up on it immediately, and said that he understood. With a smile, his comment to me was that he could teach me to spay a dog, too, but that it probably wouldn't be a good idea for me to try it.