In-wall wiring: is this a DIY job for a newbie?

[DaiTauHa]

I have a two-story house and I want to wall mount some rear surround sound speakers without having to run visible wiring along the baseboard or ceiling to those speakers. Is in-wall wiring a DIY job for a newbie or should I hire a professional to do it? I don't have a basement--my floor is hardwood on top of concrete slab.

Thanks for your help.

 

[JohnA]

Well...

There are a few ways to make this work.

1) Use flat speaker wire that can be painted over and you will never know it is there.

2) Pull off the baseboard, slot the drywall, run the wire to where the speakers will be, cut a small hole (behind where the baseboard covers), cut a hole where the speaker will be located, and then fish your wire up the wall. Shouldn't be too hard, unless you have fire blocking in the walls.

3) Get a friend who knows what he is doing

Hope that helps

Also if you never do it, you will never know if you can. Mistakes can be covered up by drywall patches and paint.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Running wire really depends on your confidence. No A/V skill at all is required to run wire... What you need are some good mechanical skills. Find out which way joists run, figure out what the path to the speaker locations would need to be.

It may not be feasible to get the speakers where you want them without cutting quite a few holes into the drywall. This is something that 'pros' will do as well if there isn't good enough access, but then they have flexible and long drill bits to make the job easier and it may be better to call someone in. But, it really depends on your confidence level, your skill with spackle and a paintbrush comes into play as well.