[dodfaefife]

Afternoon all
Quick question before the football starts. Trying to decide how I'm going to hide the cables going to our bedroom TV. Requires one power cable and a 5-cable component from a Sky box in lounge.

Three options as I see it:

1. D-Line running up wall behind TV. Easy but not pretty.

2. Drop and pull cables through wall. I've checked and the wall's noggin free but full of insulation (fluffy kind) so how can I force my pull line down inside? also, would power cable against insulation be a no-no regs wise?

3. Cut a channel place cables in trunking and plaster over. Stretching my DIY skills to attempt this (actually I'm a lying git, my girlfriend does anything that requires finesse, I'm in charge of banging nails into things and using the circular saw ).

As always any advice welcome

pic for ref: Note. Doesn't show component here.

[alz2605]

Option 1 sound the easiest but ugliest option. Option 2 sounds like it could be a very frustrating job. So option 3 sounds like the best option unless you go for option 4 and build a mini floating wall.

And how about some updates on your last impressive looking thread. Dieing to see the end result there mate.

[dodfaefife]

Damn your eyes alz2605! Why did you go and suggest a FW lol?
To be honest I thought of that but, a combination of the wall being curved (doesn't show in that pic) and the lack of space between the wall and end of the bed meant I ruled it out.

But you're right about my build post – I don't think I posted some 'after' shots of the lounge. Will fix that when I get a mo.
Cheers.

[alz2605]

An idea I've been thinking about with my wall hung bedroom LCD TV was to hang a single roll of funky wallpaper behind the TV floor to ceiling. And then frame the wall paper with D-Line trunking to conceal the cabling. My thinking is the D-line wouldn't stick out so much that way. I might get round to it one day as at present I have a single bit of trunking running horizontally on the wall running into the side of the telly which looks odd.

[dodfaefife]

Interesting. So, make a feature of the D-line rather than hiding it?
Bit like this...?

And have the cables going up one or both sides to the TV?
That's just crazy enough to work mate. Need to think more about this.

[alz2605]

Aye, thats the general idea mate. I'd have the D-Line closer together though. You could use paint instead of my idea of wallpaper. Infact I might just do that as I've not wall papered before.

[dodfaefife]

Watch this space...

[dodfaefife]

I had initially rejected the idea of a floating wall and got an alternate idea from alz2605 for a D-Line solution. However, I've decided on a thin, curved, floating wall to hide the power, component and aerial cables. Got some 3mm board and cut 3 batons from MDF to match the curve of the bedroom wall...

I had planned to use my nail gun to fix the board to the batons (top, middle, bottom). Problem is the board is stiffer than I thought it would be and is pulling the nails free at the ends. I'm leaving it overnight with some weights on it to see if it'll hold the shape better...

Any ideas how else I could fix the board down?
Cheers all.

[kram]

To put cables behind your wall you need a cable access kit, they can be bought on ebay.

they are flexible rods that screw together, you would push these down the wall then attach a cord or your wires to the end and pull it back out. Its easyish

Mark.

[lockdown81]

Originally Posted by dodfaefife

I had initially rejected the idea of a floating wall and got an alternate idea from alz2605 for a D-Line solution. However, I've decided on a thin, curved, floating wall to hide the power, component and aerial cables. Got some 3mm board and cut 3 batons from MDF to match the curve of the bedroom wall...

I had planned to use my nail gun to fix the board to the batons (top, middle, bottom). Problem is the board is stiffer than I thought it would be and is pulling the nails free at the ends. I'm leaving it overnight with some weights on it to see if it'll hold the shape better...

Any ideas how else I could fix the board down?
Cheers all.

what that board , ply or mdf?

[lockdown81]

Originally Posted by kram

To put cables behind your wall you need a cable access kit, they can be bought on ebay.

they are flexible rods that screw together, you would push these down the wall then attach a cord or your wires to the end and pull it back out. Its easyish

Mark.

cable rods are the best things ever got me out of alsorts lol , even when i droped my van keys down inbetween a wall cavity , i had a little screw on magnet , was just the tool for the job

[dodfaefife]

Originally Posted by lockdown81

what that board , ply or mdf?

It's 3mm hardboard - smooth on one side rough and fibrous on the other.

The rods do look good but worried about my ability to pull it off (see what I did there?) and I'll be stuffed if there's a noggin in the way. I've tried running a stud detector and magnet over that bit of wall and I can't figure how it's been constructed possibly due to the curve. Also, are there regs about running powered cables in this way? The wall is full of that fluffy type of insulation.

[lockdown81]

hi mate

hardboard is a awkward matterial to use in my eyes , it tends to bow and bubble , have you seen the bendy mdf , you can get from wicks or b&q its flat one side and sloted the other which allows it to bend easy and you can screw and fill it easy aswel

if you put the cables in the wall just poke em down , drill a hole behind the tv and push something down ie a piece of trunking or somthing long and flexi or rods, if it hits somthing on way down then pull it back out and and hold it in front of the wall from the hole , then mark it and this will be where the noggin is , then drill hole there and pull the cables down to top of noggin and out the wall ,then chop a bit out the noggin and drill hole at the bottom of the noggin and poke the cables back in the wall and push them to where they need to go , simples

srcew the plasterboard back in what you drilled out and fill

[dodfaefife]

Cheers lockdown81.I had seen the bendy MDF before and it would be great but couldn't find it anywhere when I came to doing this. Tried all the usual suspects as well as a couple of material suppliers I had hoped the hardboard was going to be a cheap alternate at only £4.40. Nice tip on the noggin though so now I know. The cable rods are well cheap at only £7.30 on amazon for a 10m toolbox one so I'm having a set.

Update: leaving the weights on overnight has helped it take on a bit of a curve so i'm going to push on seeing as it's already cluttering up my hall. I'm trying a combo of nailgun, no-more-nails, weights on each baton then leaving for a few hours. If it doesn't work then my new cable rods arrive on tuesday so that'll give me something else to break.

[lockdown81]

defo worth haveing these rods in the toolbox mate , let us know how you get on

[Da_Rude_Baboon]

Would scoring the back of the board make it bendier?

[chrissav]

Scoring will help, but not a lot.

You can get very thin ply, something like 1/32 inch which will roll very easily. It's often used for rc aircraft, try Blackburn Models incorporating Balsa Mart, Specialists in radio controlled model aircraft for starters. You could also look for a piece of thin plastic/abs sheet perhaps.

Chris

[dodfaefife]

Originally Posted by chrissav

Scoring will help, but not a lot.

You can get very thin ply, something like 1/32 inch which will roll very easily. It's often used for rc aircraft, try Blackburn Models incorporating Balsa Mart, Specialists in radio controlled model aircraft for starters. You could also look for a piece of thin plastic/abs sheet perhaps.

Chris

That's a bit sneaky chrissav, casually dropping a link to, what looks like, a hell of a place to spend even more money on blokey toys. Like we need another.

Overnight Report: It looks like the addition of no-more-nails and weights have done the trick, it's holding its shape now. Might add a couple more batons but I think it's sorted – until I prime/paint it.