Greygit Posted November 6, 2014 Posted November 6, 2014 Hi folks, I am looking for options on how to hide the various cables I have visible from a wall mounted TV. Unfortunately the TV is hanging off a brick wall so an 'in-wall' solution isn't really viable! I'm wondering if anyone has come up with a cosmetically appealing solution (you just know my better half is going to be critical of anything that could be considered 'dodgy'). Cheers, James
Tony M Posted November 7, 2014 Posted November 7, 2014 I've always drilled holes in brick walls to run the cables through the cavity. If you don't want to do this, then the neatest solution I can think of offhand is to use some of that plastic chanelling sold by electrical suppliers and paint it as close to the colour of the brick as you can. Should virtually disappear. 1
Greygit Posted November 7, 2014 Author Posted November 7, 2014 Hi Tony, thanks for the suggestion - I was starting to think down that track. Me and a hammer drill = not a good combination! Cheers, James
Tony M Posted November 7, 2014 Posted November 7, 2014 I guess it depends a lot on the style of brickwork. Our last house had rough clinker brick walls with reasonably wide mortar joints. Most of the time I could find a spot between 3 bricks to drill through just the mortar join. Because the bricks were so rough and irregular, patching was easy, eg if the TV was moved. I gather you're talking about exposed brick? If the wall is plastered and painted, I think the plastic channel stuff is even easier to hide as it can be painted to exactly match the wall. But, the "best" solution is still to drill a couple of holes through brick. This really isn't a big deal and surely you've got mates that would be happy to do it - might take 5 minutes per hole, so it'd be quicker than the channel solution. You could hold a vacuum cleaner nozzle close to the drill bit to stop dust being an issue - helps the WAF too. If you use this method, I've found the best way to get a line through between the two holes is to be careful to make sure they're exactly perpendicular to each other. You then drop a weighted string from the top one through the cavity and fish it out through the lower hole using a hook made from a wire coat-hanger. Of course, if it's a single brick wall without a cavity, just go with the plastic channel.
Chewbacker Posted November 8, 2014 Posted November 8, 2014 hi take a photo of the problem and post it !
Greygit Posted November 8, 2014 Author Posted November 8, 2014 Hi guys - a photo will be on its way. Tony, the brick is painted a cream colour and the wall is double brick in construction so there certainly will be space behind the inside ones. The TV is a Sony 60" and has the power lead dropping from the right hand side while the various HDMI etc are on the opposite side. I'm going to have to play around with the length of the cables to see if I can get away with one set of holes. Could be that I may need longer cables. One thing for certain, the lady of the house will insist on an outlet wall plate to cover the holes! Cheers, James
Saxon Hall Posted November 8, 2014 Posted November 8, 2014 Hi guys - a photo will be on its way. Tony, the brick is painted a cream colour and the wall is double brick in construction so there certainly will be space behind the inside ones. The TV is a Sony 60" and has the power lead dropping from the right hand side while the various HDMI etc are on the opposite side. I'm going to have to play around with the length of the cables to see if I can get away with one set of holes. Could be that I may need longer cables. One thing for certain, the lady of the house will insist on an outlet wall plate to cover the holes! Cheers, James Try to keep the HDMI cable as short as possible. The Power Lead is less of an issue
Luc Posted November 8, 2014 Posted November 8, 2014 Just saw this exact problem presented at a job I was working on and the guy putting the TV mounting plate and wiring in just simply used a diamond blade on his anglegrinder attached to a vacuum and actually cut the whole brick out and then drilled a heap of holes in it once removed to make a middle finger sized horizontal slot which he put a plastic sleeve in(from jaycar apparently) that took HDMI/ethernet/rca/aerial and one more that slips my memory. Dummy jointed the brick back in and tried to match the scratch coat on it. Never saw the finished result though.
Greygit Posted November 10, 2014 Author Posted November 10, 2014 Hi guys, sorry for the delay in getting back with some pics. As you can see - not a lot of gap between the TV and gear but its enough to warrant action to hide the leads. Thanks for the tip Angelo on the HDMI cable length - 2.5 should be sufficient but I will play with some string to get a good estimate. So looks like I'll be making some mess this weekend and visiting Bunnings tomorrow for some bull nosed wall plates (I think that's what they are called). You may have noticed a bare spot on top of the entertainment unit. Santa is coming early this year with a couple of goodies and I can't wait 'till they arrive in the next few days. Some more pics to follow! James
Tony M Posted November 10, 2014 Posted November 10, 2014 Well, James, that's a lovely room and set-up. No question about it, I'd be routing the cables through the wall cavity as per my previous posts. It can be done and I think the room warrants that level of finesse.
Greygit Posted November 10, 2014 Author Posted November 10, 2014 Hi Tony, Many thanks for your kind words. Even though the gear is going to be on HT and stereo duties, l think the rooms layout is very much audio friendly. And yes, l definitely want to do it justice. Cheers, James
blybo Posted November 11, 2014 Posted November 11, 2014 You can just use a blank light switch plate for channeling the cables, we cut a thin line from the hole where the switch would usually be to an outside edge. This allowed us to pry it open to slot the HDMI cable through as the plugs won't fit through the switch opening. The plate will be down out of site anyway so shouldn't be an issue.
Ugly Posted November 11, 2014 Posted November 11, 2014 A piece of square conduit painted the same colour as the brick would be easy and would blend right in. 1
Greygit Posted November 12, 2014 Author Posted November 12, 2014 Hi Blybo & Ugly, Thanks for your suggestions but I've settled on a couple of bull nosed faceplates - they will give me more cable room on the plate as well as passing the lady of the house's 'tick of approval' factor. With Saturday looking like rain its a good opportunity to stay inside and get this little job out of the way. And with fingers crossed, my early Xmas presents will hopefully be here by the weekend for setting up as well - new floorstanders and two channel amp. With luck, the Gods of speedy freight dispatch smile upon me. Cheers, James
Malcolm Posted November 12, 2014 Posted November 12, 2014 (edited) I used recessed wall plates in brick . Drill out the motor and remove half a brick . Then its easy to run the cables down the wall . You can drill a 20mm hole in the motor brick use flat plastic strips tap the cables to it and run the cables down the wall . Just mounted 4 TV's to internal and external brick walls . Tiled brick wall Cheers Edited November 12, 2014 by Malcolm 1
Juicester Posted November 13, 2014 Posted November 13, 2014 gotta be a pain having the tv cover the light switch...
Guest Posted November 13, 2014 Posted November 13, 2014 If it is not a cavity wall, this is pretty neat: http://www.vogels.com/mounting-accessories/cable-covers/cable-8-white-cable-cover-94-cm.html#!prettyPhoto Also http://www.ikea.com/au/en/catalog/products/60227369/ And flexible wrap: http://techflex.com.au/techflex-braided-sleeving-products/flexo-wrap-pet-/available-colours
Malcolm Posted November 13, 2014 Posted November 13, 2014 gotta be a pain having the tv cover the light switch... Its not a problem ,because the wall bracket tilt's theres @ 80mm between the light switch and back of screen . plus I didn't want the light switch seen . Just the screen on the wall . Ived used 4 wall brackets all Aussie Taurus brand http://www.tauris.com.au/ Cheers
jamesg11 Posted November 19, 2014 Posted November 19, 2014 Hi guys, sorry for the delay in getting back with some pics. As you can see - not a lot of gap between the TV and gear but its enough to warrant action to hide the leads. Thanks for the tip Angelo on the HDMI cable length - 2.5 should be sufficient but I will play with some string to get a good estimate. So looks like I'll be making some mess this weekend and visiting Bunnings tomorrow for some bull nosed wall plates (I think that's what they are called). You may have noticed a bare spot on top of the entertainment unit. Santa is coming early this year with a couple of goodies and I can't wait 'till they arrive in the next few days. Some more pics to follow! James I've been wrestling with pretty much the identical issue/ set-up. What's decided here, not done yet!, but with said approval of missus, is a dummy mdf wall flush with the front of the tv base, down to floor & extending all the way to L & R side walls. Same as back wall colour, able to be easily dismantled & so with all cables in behind. Design will no doubt be tinkered with as it comes together. Builder across the road is doing it. Ours is a bit more of a cables showing problem with the entertainment unit being open where your doors are. The speakers here are out into the room, sub in corner, but same arrangement really.
LogicprObe Posted November 19, 2014 Posted November 19, 2014 A piece of square conduit painted the same colour as the brick would be easy and would blend right in. That's the easiest way. Especially if she wants to change the room around later.
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