Cables hidden TV install.....?
Discussion
Hi Guys
I'm planning an AV setup for when I get my first house later on this year.
My plan is TV to go on the wall, being fed by an AV receiver to a 2-channel setup (speakers also to be wall mounted either side of the TV) which may be upgraded to a 5 or 7 channel system in the future.
Being very OCD about jobs being done properly and carefully, I'll be getting someone professional to do the TV and speaker wall mounting, as I want a proper tidy job, with all cables hidden in the wall, etc.
Question for those who have had this done/done it themselves....how big a job is it, in terms of labour? I have no idea what sort of cost I might be looking at. I'm presuming they cut out sections of the wall to make some sort of pathway from top to bottom for the cables? I'm going to have a media unit at the bottom of the wall, holding the receiver, sky box, console etc, then I want no cables visible between that and the TV, and same with the speakers.
Also from a practical point of view....we will probably want to decorate the living room when we move in....is it best to do any decoration BEFORE this wall mounting job is done, or would it be best to have this done first and then decorate/paint? I'm guessing decorate first, otherwise the TV and bracket and everything has to come off the wall after it goes up....but in that case how do they go about making good any damage to the wall? Or would any damage be hidden behind the TV/unit at the bottom?
Cheers
I'm planning an AV setup for when I get my first house later on this year.
My plan is TV to go on the wall, being fed by an AV receiver to a 2-channel setup (speakers also to be wall mounted either side of the TV) which may be upgraded to a 5 or 7 channel system in the future.
Being very OCD about jobs being done properly and carefully, I'll be getting someone professional to do the TV and speaker wall mounting, as I want a proper tidy job, with all cables hidden in the wall, etc.
Question for those who have had this done/done it themselves....how big a job is it, in terms of labour? I have no idea what sort of cost I might be looking at. I'm presuming they cut out sections of the wall to make some sort of pathway from top to bottom for the cables? I'm going to have a media unit at the bottom of the wall, holding the receiver, sky box, console etc, then I want no cables visible between that and the TV, and same with the speakers.
Also from a practical point of view....we will probably want to decorate the living room when we move in....is it best to do any decoration BEFORE this wall mounting job is done, or would it be best to have this done first and then decorate/paint? I'm guessing decorate first, otherwise the TV and bracket and everything has to come off the wall after it goes up....but in that case how do they go about making good any damage to the wall? Or would any damage be hidden behind the TV/unit at the bottom?
Cheers
I would suggest getting all your cables chased in and leave them hanging out of the wall where required, make good to the plastering, then decorate, then fit the TV to the wall. Hold a vacuum under the drill when fitting the brackets as well so you don't get brick dust all down your newly decorated walls!
wolfracesonic said:
I would suggest getting all your cables chased in and leave them hanging out of the wall where required, make good to the plastering, then decorate, then fit the TV to the wall. Hold a vacuum under the drill when fitting the brackets as well so you don't get brick dust all down your newly decorated walls!
Go one step further than that if you like - drill the fixings, put screws into them, put masking tape over the screws, and then paint. But definitely decorate afterwards if you want a professional job. Whatever cables you are running, consider putting an extra network cable in too; you never know what else you might want to plug in later on, and that should give you the most options.Thanks guys.
Any idea what it would cost to get the cabling sorted out in the wall and the plastering made good, as well as the actual mounting of the TV and speakers?
It's definitely not the sort of thing I can do myself and I'd rather pay a professional. But who even does that kind of thing? Are there companies that specialise in AV setup? Do they use tradesman to do any cutting/plastering required or do you get firms that do it all, from the actual mounting of the AV equipment to any plastering required etc?
Bit of a novice in this area as have always rented and not even considered mounting the TV.
Any idea what it would cost to get the cabling sorted out in the wall and the plastering made good, as well as the actual mounting of the TV and speakers?
It's definitely not the sort of thing I can do myself and I'd rather pay a professional. But who even does that kind of thing? Are there companies that specialise in AV setup? Do they use tradesman to do any cutting/plastering required or do you get firms that do it all, from the actual mounting of the AV equipment to any plastering required etc?
Bit of a novice in this area as have always rented and not even considered mounting the TV.
No idea cost wise, I always bodge my own AV set ups professionally install my own AV gear. I suspect if you do get an AV company in they can sort the making good out even if they have to bring an external contractor in. Even if they can't and you use a decorator I'm sure I'm sure they can make good a few chases.
wolfracesonic said:
No idea cost wise, I always bodge my own AV set ups professionally install my own AV gear. I suspect if you do get an AV company in they can sort the making good out even if they have to bring an external contractor in. Even if they can't and you use a decorator I'm sure I'm sure they can make good a few chases.
Is it a pretty simple job then, putting the required holes/chases/cavity or whatever it's called in the wall? For someone that knows what they're doing of course, not me 
BRISTOL86 said:
Is it a pretty simple job then, putting the required holes/chases/cavity or whatever it's called in the wall? For someone that knows what they're doing of course, not me
So long as you know there aren't any wires or pipes where you want to make holes, it's a piece of piss. Either buy a chase cutter or an angle grinder and you can make the channels really quickly. Similarly with the holes - drills are very easy to use.The big bonus is that you are going to plaster afterwards anyway, so it doesn't really matter how much you butcher the walls. And even then, plastering isn't that difficult - once you get the consistency right it goes on really easily.
A lot of it depends on how the house is constructed and what kit you have.
For example, my brother has his TV on the wall and a low level media unit under it. As it's a modern house (flimsy walls but with a gap behind them), it was literally a case of cutting a hole behind where the TV was going, one behind where the media cabinet was going and just running a few cables between (Power, Aerial, HDMI etc).
His system is a typical 'out the box' Panasonic set up, so nothing too complicated. Because he has think floor standing front speakers, they are positioned either side of the cabinet so the cables just run behind there. On the wall to the right of this, he has large French doors leading to the garden. These doors have a wooden step the whole length and provides a perfect route to hide some thin speaker cable under in the small gap, so has the cable for his rear left and rear right speakers going round this way. As there's a huge corner sofa just past the doors, the cable just runs behind there. He's required minimum effort and has absolutely no cables on display.
My set up is different. I have an old house, really thick walls and limited positions where I could put the TV. The TV is wall mounted and I've chased cables in to the wall. Not a problem, the house was being plastered anyway. Like you, I'm not a pro, but did this work myself. I used a Bolster Chisel and hammer as it's not a long run so not too bad a job to do. I used some conduit but on the understanding it was to keep the cables 'safe' and that they would be stuck in there forever as they aren't coming out nor would you get anything else in there. I had to cut the conduit down the side to get the hdmi in there as the connector was too big to fit through.
The rest of the job was easy. As it's an old house, it has suspended floors so have about 18" under it to run cables. The cables are fed to exactly where the speakers are positioned (I have floor standers for front and rear channels) so just come through the floor (fiddly job) and connect up. When the rear speakers were Book case speakers on stands, the cable came straight up in to the stand so you didn't see them at all.
It's a long winded way of saying that the install depends a bit on the type of home you have and the type of kit you've got determine how much of a pain it is to do.
For example, my brother has his TV on the wall and a low level media unit under it. As it's a modern house (flimsy walls but with a gap behind them), it was literally a case of cutting a hole behind where the TV was going, one behind where the media cabinet was going and just running a few cables between (Power, Aerial, HDMI etc).
His system is a typical 'out the box' Panasonic set up, so nothing too complicated. Because he has think floor standing front speakers, they are positioned either side of the cabinet so the cables just run behind there. On the wall to the right of this, he has large French doors leading to the garden. These doors have a wooden step the whole length and provides a perfect route to hide some thin speaker cable under in the small gap, so has the cable for his rear left and rear right speakers going round this way. As there's a huge corner sofa just past the doors, the cable just runs behind there. He's required minimum effort and has absolutely no cables on display.
My set up is different. I have an old house, really thick walls and limited positions where I could put the TV. The TV is wall mounted and I've chased cables in to the wall. Not a problem, the house was being plastered anyway. Like you, I'm not a pro, but did this work myself. I used a Bolster Chisel and hammer as it's not a long run so not too bad a job to do. I used some conduit but on the understanding it was to keep the cables 'safe' and that they would be stuck in there forever as they aren't coming out nor would you get anything else in there. I had to cut the conduit down the side to get the hdmi in there as the connector was too big to fit through.
The rest of the job was easy. As it's an old house, it has suspended floors so have about 18" under it to run cables. The cables are fed to exactly where the speakers are positioned (I have floor standers for front and rear channels) so just come through the floor (fiddly job) and connect up. When the rear speakers were Book case speakers on stands, the cable came straight up in to the stand so you didn't see them at all.
It's a long winded way of saying that the install depends a bit on the type of home you have and the type of kit you've got determine how much of a pain it is to do.
In three of our rooms I've run plumbing pipe in the wall, first i measure out and draw on the wall as to what goes where. I cut the plasterboard with a multi cutter clearing as i go, i then switch blades to a blunt one then i cut the sides out to the required depth. I then use a drill with an old spade bit to drill out most of the block work, i then get two deep single metal back boxes and cut most of the back off,this then gets cut into the wall, after all the gap has been cleared i place the pipe in the wall complete with 90 degree turns at both ends. Now its filling and plastering time, after this process has been done ill repaint the wall then ill fit brush plates. Im sure theres not a more professional way to do it. This way all your cables that you need or don't need can be dragged through no problem.
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