Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater suggestions for concealing speaker wires

I've run speaker cables along the corner where the baseboard meets the carpet. I used a screwdriver to jam the wire as far as it could go. Most of the time the wire can be nudged into the available space.

Alternatively, you could pry off your baseboards, staple the wire to the underlying wall as tight to the ground as possible, re-mount the baseboard right above it, and nail in in shoe-rail or quarter-round so nobody can tell the difference.

Amen, brother. Cheers!

You don't necessarily need to remove your baseboard to run wires behind it...most quarter-round has a flat clearance on the back of it, cut on a 45* so you could cover your wires with it in front of the baseboard. I ran my wiring UNDER the floor by drilling some holes in the floor near the wall where my TV/reciever is, then running the wires thru the joists from the basement, then back up into the family room(theatre).

The secret to making drywall jobs easy, is to use a wide taping knife to feather the joint compound out and minimize the sanding. Most people make the mistake of using a small putty knife and create all kinds of bumps and crevices in the compound that need to be sanded out and reworked. You should have almost NO sanding if you use the right knife.

I'll second this, adding that the compound should be applied very lightly. Most first-timers throw on gobs of the stuff.

Also using a screen sander helps a lot.

Cut the drywall out, run wires as required, put up new drywall and then hire someone to come in and do the mudding, then finally paint as required; seems simple enough and probably costs the same as having the wires fished through as required.

I used this and it worked very well.

That looks like what I used that causes you to repair the walls after removing them.

If you have never done drywall removal/repair before, I don't think this is the best time to start. I doubt you'll get a satisfying result first time out. It's not expensive for a good painter to come do it. It is expensive to pay someone to fish wires.

And remember, if you do it yourself and it comes out crappy, it's going to cost more to have a pro first rip out your handiwork, before he/she even can begin his/hers.

Too many of us here, evidently, have tons of time and experience with this and have blocked from memories our first few attempts.

Note to members of "Team Destructo":

If you live in a dwelling with hardwood floors that are original to the structure, you CANNOT tear out the baseboards. They went down before the hardwood floor did. Their bottoms are sitting on the underlayment and would need to be flush cut to be removed.

Very good to know.