Could I have improved this brick wall channeling for cables?

Adam

Adam

Adam

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
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This weekend I finished off the channeling to hide the cables for the TV in the conservatory. The wall was solid brick as it was once the exterior wall. I have another one of these to do in the lounge and this one will be more prominent so I want to make sure I get it right. This one was more of a trial run.

I channeled the brick out with an angle grinder and stone cutting disk. I used 2x electrical boxes with the metal cut away using the above angle grinder and also some plastic trunking screwed to the wall using wall plugs. There isn't a lot of room for the cables (3x HDMI, power and network) so I'm not sure what I'm going to do if I need to replace or add any more cables. It was the widest trunking I could find in screwfix. Does anyone else have any advice or suggestions to improve this. I suspect my lounge may have more cables.

The next job is to plaster over the top, something I enjoy doing but am not particularly great at. No doubt it will need some sanding and more plaster applied over the top, not something a pro would do :)

 
not sure i would have done that. especialy not plaster over it.
just small conduit that's con caved does the job for me. then paint over it.
 
Looks a bit drastic! I'd have just put channeling along the skirting and up behind the TV personally.
 
Channeling is always the nicer finish, conduit looks horrible!

Could you have done it better? My only question is depth - is there going to be much plaster over the conduit?
 
Looks fine. Agree with the above and that the finish will be a lot nicer than plastic trunking, and there should be enough depth of plaster over the trunking - 5mm at least I would say.

How are you going to exit the cables out of the bottom back box - brush type face plate?
 
I have always worked in cabling and you can't beat trunking - in this case I would have used something like 38mm waste pipe or rectangular trunking and buried it further in wall and double boxes- You never know what you will need in future and trunking means you can easily get another cable up the hole.

When running cables I always used bigger than needed 12 wire instead of 6 or 8.

I ran a twin coax sat dish cable to my TV - down behind built in cooker -through a unit side then drilled hole in wall behind TV - I now wished I had put pipe in as need some Ethernet cables.

It will be a summer job.

Dave
 
Thanks for the comments, at least I seem to be on the right track so not a complete disaster. I wanted to hide the cables just to give it a go and secondly the conservatory is empty right now so a perfect opportunity without ruining a sofa in brick dust (which got everywhere when using the angle grinder).

I'm going to use brushed faceplates as someone else suggested which will feed in to an ikea besta shelf unit (hence the wooden support). I think I have made a mistake with my measurements as the chanelling should have gone lower as the faceplate might not be lower enough to clear the top of the cabinet.

I'll use something a bit more permanent for the lounge, those media faceplates look decent.
 
Is your TV mount upside down? I have a similar one and the hook loop on the bit you attach to the TV is at the top with the securing bolt at the bottom. Otherwise you run the risk of the TV dropping off the arm before you've secured the bolt.
 
WillyNelson said:
Is your TV mount upside down? I have a similar one and the hook loop on the bit you attach to the TV is at the top with the securing bolt at the bottom. Otherwise you run the risk of the TV dropping off the arm before you've secured the bolt.
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You've got me wondering now, I checked the amazon listing and the 2 prongs sticking out on the middle section (connected to the wall) are shown at the bottom. Will have to double check when I get home.

Missed a question earlier, there is more than 5mm to be plastered on top of. I was actually worried that I may need too much plaster.
 
Depth is the only thing you could have really done for the cabling. But for using a grinder you've done a good job.
 
Adam said:
Missed a question earlier, there is more than 5mm to be plastered on top of. I was actually worried that I may need too much plaster.
Click to expand...

Just remeber that top coat plaster is supposed to be applied approx 3mm thick. As obviously its much deeper than this in some places (at the edge of the capping, etc). You should first fill it upto just below 3mm from teh finished level with bonding coat, but a few light scratches in it as well. Once dry then apply the top coat.

Remember that when you paint it, water it down for the first coat
 
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