There are tricks like flexible installer bits that allow for short runs through-wall without removing the wallboard but you're going to need an access hole every couple of studs at least... and at that point you're setting yourself up for so much patching it might be faster to just open up the wall entirely. You can also use all kinds of wire-pulling tools, I have a 30' telescoping fiberglass pole that I have used to run cables through inaccessible attics (flat and shallow roofs common here), but once again, you get into situations where running the cable for a single surveillance camera is an 8-hour job! I put up with this for my own house but clients aren't so happy about it...
And all of this is assuming wood-frame walls which are the norm for interior walls but exterior in many areas can be brick, adobe, etc., and blown-in insulation is great for heating bills but can make cable runs in exterior walls a huge headache.
At the same time, cables run "cable-installer style" (stapled to gables and run down exterior to straight-through holes) regularly last for over a decade and are very easy to repair when there are problems and modify when needs change. It's hard to blame them.
It was well worth it to me. I have teenagers and everyone has an Eero in their room, plus hardwire for the home theater and office.
I totally hear you. I’ve done a lot myself, most recently on Saturday.
It’s hours and hours per run. I’ve used many weekends doing this and it sounds like you have too (and it seems you have considerably more sophisticated tools!), but the alternative is looking at cables that run along the walls.
I ran into a new one recently - the nogs (dwangs to some) being angled to give a herringbone pattern. A complete nightmare for retrofitting.
If I ever build or renovate a house, I'll be running it like that though.
In order to actually lay wiring underneath a masonry wall, you need to rent/own a wall chaser, be aware of where existing cable runs are, and be prepared for a lot of work: prepare the room for dirty work (cover the floor and furniture, isolate the affected rooms from the rest of the house), do the actual cutting work, lay the conduit, re-plaster the entire run, re-paint it (sometimes re-paint the entire wall if you don't have a good color match), clean up. You're basically looking at an entire day of work if you're doing this solo, plus prep. And it's pretty much never doable in any rental.
Also, this was always inside, not on the outside walls, plus the cables were laid in tubes fixed to the wall and painted over, so well enough protected, probably.
Did you see issues with decay with this sort of installation even inside an appartment?
I have no idea what you do if there is no basement. Go behind skirting boards?
Fixing the walls after cable runs is nasty. Underfloor is possible but usually involves pulling up a floorboard or two which isn't ideal...
A lack of space above or below and solid brick walls are going to be seriously limiting. Possibly the only upside to New Zealand’s average house quality is that there is space everywhere and most things are hollow.
> you might end up with the switch on the attic
UniFi makes stuff I like and this situation sounds like a great use for their ‘Flex’ switch which is managed and POE powered.
I think it depends on what creatures you have in your area.
In my location, I'll take ceiling creatures (bats, owls) over basement creatures (multiple poisonous arachnids, poisonous snakes, poisonous lizards, etc...)
Every house I have lived in has done it too and it’s the first thing I rip out.
I see contractors (usually ISP installers) doing this inside and outside houses too and it irritates me. UV, animals/insects, wind etc gets at them and water goes in the holes. The fixings that hold the cable rust/degrade and fall out.
Doing it right costs more and takes longer but I’m unsure if the cost is greater when you look back 5-10 years.
Maybe doing this is slightly more repairable if the place is a rental?