How to wire this room for rears?

[monroe]

Hi all. Just got all my equipment in for my home theatre. I need to run wire for the 2 rears for my HT setup, and I've run into some predicaments. My room is in the lower level of a split level. That means no basement/crawlspace to use for going under the room, and no attic for going over. My first plan was to run behind the baseboards, but this seems like it's not going to work either. the original floor in the room was hardwood, and there is now carpet over it (don't get me started on that). The baseboards are original, and thus sink below the level of the carpet. As such, I can't get the nails in the baseboards out to get the baseboards removed. Also, since the baseboard goes below the level of the carpet, I can't get the wire under the baseboard either.

So, any suggestions here? I've done some office drops of Ethernet cable, so I'm comfortable with running the wire up the wall to the speaker ... but I'm running out of ideas for going down the length of the wall to get to my components. I'm no carpenter by any means, but I'm not afraid to tackle new home improvement projects and learn something.

[Mike P.]

Hi Brad and welcome to the Shack! An option would be to run flat speaker wire underneath the carpet.

http://www.21st-century-goods.com/pa...t/CTGY/FWAUDIO

It comes in 18, 16, and 14 guage size.

[Prof.]

Firstly, welcome to The Shack..

I had a similar problem to yours at my previous place..only I had to run video cables as well..
I looked at mounting a raceway above the skirting boards,so as to be just an extension of the height of the boards, but that meant drilling into a plaster/brick wall, which the Landlord would not have been very happy about..

I finished up fixing a thin narrow strip of MDF to the face of the boards, so that it protruded about 2" above the top, which then formed a channel to place the cables in..
The width of the channel was about an inch, so I just fitted a piece of 1"x1" pine in the top of the run to close it off..
The whole thing was then painted white to match the boards...
It just looked like a slightly higher skirting board than you would normally see..and it did the job perfectly..

[salvasol]

Welcome to the forum

I used some crown molding I got at Lowes but it was only for the speaker wire if you need to hide more than a pair of wires, you need a channel ...

[jt1]

If the room has sheetrock walls you could use some chair rail moldings. Cut a groove in the sheetrock lay the cable and place chair rail molding over it. This is much easier to cut joints as opposed to crown.

[brent_s]

Sounds like a fine time to rip out the carpet to expose the hardwoods. Pull the moldings, lay your wire, reinstall the same or new moldings.

Assuming drywall and not plaster and a typical one piece baseboard or base+shoe, just pulling up the necessary molding and reinstalling shouldn't be that difficult. You're going to pry against the wall and molding, not the nails, so it doesn't really matter that the nails themselves are currently below the carpet line. Use a utility knife or the point of a 5-in-1 tool to score the paint line between the wall and baseboard first. Then, use a hammer to gently tap the 5-in-1 between the wall and the baseboard. Work your way along the wall to create a gap. Once the gap gets wide enough, you may be able to pull it loose by hand, otherwise use a small pry bar. Finish nails don't really have that much holding power and will either stay in the baseboad and pull out of the wall or pull cleanly through the baseboard as you pry. Lay your cable and reinstall.

Plaster walls should use the same technique, but are probalby more prone to cracking and then are harder to patch properly based on what I've seen on "This Old House". No personal experience.

Alternative, I've seen speaker "tape" that is essentially solid core copper flattenened with and adhesive applied to one side. Supposedly thin enough that once stuck to the wall and painted over, it's "invisible". Fairly pricey, IIRC relative to traditional wire of the same gauge. PE's got a page full of this stuff.

Good luck & welcome to the Shack!

-Brent

[MatrixDweller]

You can buy thin plastic channels (raceways) that attach to the wall/baseboards with either screws or double sided tape. They have a back that gets put in to place and a front that snaps on top of it. Home Depot sells the stuff but it can get pricey if you use a lot of it. I think it's pretty close to a buck a foot. It also has different shapes to go around corners, take a bend up or down, etc. I can't remember than manufacturer, but it's similar to this http://www.genovaproducts.com/wiremanagement.htm (only thinner).

[monroe]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. In my family room, 1 of the walls is entirely brick, and that's the wall that the TV is mounted on (over a fireplace). I've used some of the raceways to run the wiring from the TV to my component rack.

For the rear surrounds, I ended up just laying the wire on the floor and using a ruler to press it down between the baseboards and the carpet. Then it goes up and into the wall just above the baseboard and out again behind the speaker mount. The wire on the floor isn't completely hidden, but you can't see it unless you know it's there and look for it. Pluse, by the time chairs and couches are placed along the walls, it'll be even less visible. So, the only noticeable part is a 3inch section where it comes up off the floor and goes into a wall plate just above the baseboard on it's way up to the speakers, and even one of those spots is partially covered by an end table.

Has anyone tried spray painting those plastic raceways? Since it's mounted on a brick wall, I'm going to try to get some spray paint to match the brick color and paint it, to hopefully make it blend in a little bit.

[MatrixDweller]

Krylon or another paint specifically for plastic would work best. Regular enamel paint would require a primer in order to stick properly without peeling off. Some of the raceways state they are paintable, but probably with latex or other form of wall paint. It would still probably scrape off easy with fingernails or normal regular abuse. Krylon will actually bond to the plastic.

[Prof.]

I've sprayed plastic channel with ordinary spray can paint..
Depending on the type of plastic used, on some plastics the paint etches right into the surface, but on others, it's very easy to scrape it off with a finger nail..
Best to try a small piece first and see how it takes..