Need some help fishing cables.

[maxse]

Hi guys, I really need your help.
I have just bought a a plasma TV and speakers and mounted everything on the wall in the bedroom. What I didn't think about were all the wires! I have an HDMI cable 3 speakercables all running down the nice white wall lol.

So I need some help in how I can just drill some holes on the bottom of the wall and pull the cables out that way... I have never done this before so I really need some help. Which tools am I going to need for this job, and how hard would it be to do this?

Basically I want to drill a hole next to each speaker push the speker wire into the wall; then have another hole in the wall near the floor to pull the speaker wire out and then some kind of molding probably to have along the floor to run to the reciever... And the same for the HDMI cable.

I really appreciate any help you guys can provide because I have really never done this before and am not sure how this can be done. Thanks in advance.

 

[snifferlip]

Hey Max,

I am no expert, but I have done a similar thing that you are talking about. What I did was first, find the studs in the wall using a small hammer or a stud finder. That is to make sure you drill your holes in the "channel" for the wires as opposed to hitting the studs and having to drill multiple holes. Also, you may want to buy or rent a tool that will help you find out if there is any electrical or plumbing in the channel you decide to use. Once you know that all is clear, you should use an electrician's wall fish. It is a flat piece of metal rolled up like a big tape measure with a hook or something like it on the end that you tape your wiring to. I would start at the high point and fish the tape down the bottom hole given that you will probably have a smaller hole on the upper wall than at the bottom of the wall. Also, I highly recommend a second set of hands to make the connection between the top hole and the bottom hole easier. Once you have the tape connected, just attach the wires and pull the tape back to you. Do that for each connection and you are done.

Hope that helped some. I put my speakers in the ceiling and had to go through some of the same issues you are talking about.

Justin

 

[majorloser]

If you need to fish wires in your house...

...here's the place for every imaginable tool:

http://www.lsdinc.com/content/main

If it's open drywall costruction, this will work well:

http://www.lsdinc.com/content/product_details/62

 

[Haoleb]

The easiest way to do it and which usually looks the cleanest is first find the studs as mentioned then go to home depot or lowes and get a single gang retro ring, They are usually orange and are for low voltage and say "old work" you basically just cut out the size of the box in the wall and pop that thing in then you have something to screw your coverplate to. cut one hole either in the holes in the back of the peice that mounts to the wall or below it then another hole directly below. If there is no insulation in the wall you can just drop the wires down from the top and its no problem. If there is insulation you'll have to find something to stick in the wall to pull the wires with. If you are mounting the tv high up there may be fire blocking in the wall which runs sideways between the studs. Check for these before cutting any holes.

Basically after you have the wires run get a cover plate and drill a hole in it big enough for the wires to come through then put it on the bottom where the wires come out. You can do one behind the tv too but I dont bother. The type of coverplate you'll need are the premium vinyl ones as they dont break when you try to drill them vs the regular ones which will always break. I would reccomend drilling just a small enough hole for the wire itself, then from the side cut a straignt cut to the hole so you can bring the wires in from t he side and not have to have a big enough hole to try and get all the plugs through the center.