We’re cruising toward a world where cords and cables are obsolete, even to power our homes, but we’re not quite there yet. No matter how hard you try, there are probably some pesky cables marring the neat, minimalist perfection of your interior design (or obscuring the mass of dust bunnies and lost Doritos under your desk). Even if you’re leaning hard into the wireless lifestyle with keyboards and headphones, there’s likely a cable of some sort bringing Internet into your home, and power cords remain a necessity, even to power your wireless charging devices. If you’re a gamer, you probably avoid wireless peripherals and Internet like the latency-bringing plague they are.
In theory, cleaning up a mess of cables and cords seems like a sure way to greatly increase the aesthetic beauty of your media spaces and achieve peak adulthood. In reality, it is a lot of work and kind of a mysterious process when you’re dealing with finished walls. Here are a few approaches to the problem—as well as a few things you should absolutely never ever do.
Before you fish, have a plan
Before you go drilling into your walls and fishing cable, invest in a stud finder that also detects power lines and pipes. Never assume that the previous homeowner (or the builder or renovating contractor) followed code or did things the right away (like spacing studs conventionally or putting nail plates over electrical wiring, for example). Instead, put in some time to “map” what’s behind the walls where you plan to run cable. This can be a time-consuming and tedious task, but it will save you heartache in the long run.
Good ways to run cables
The best time to run cables through your walls is before there are any walls—during the construction or renovation stage when the walls are open. At this stage, it’s a relatively easy process because you can see everything. If you failed to foresee the day that you’d want to hide your cables (or if you weren’t involved in the building or renovating of your current space), those nice finished walls present a challenge. Here are a few approaches to running cables behind them:
Run them behind the baseboard. The baseboard is the molding or trim that covers the seam where your walls meet your floors. Aside from the aesthetic work it does, it offers a perfect way to run cables: Remove your baseboard, cut the drywall at the bottom of the wall (slightly narrower than the baseboard you’ll put back), and run your cables along the bottom of the wall with the benefit of being able to see everything. When you’re done, replace the drywall, then cover the mess with your new trim and it will be like nothing ever happened.
Cut a beveled patch. If you’ve got to run your cable higher up on the wall, you’ll need to cut a hole or three to accomplish the task. Cutting what’s called an “inspection” hole with a beveled edge will make repairing the hole after you’ve run your cable much easier. This involves cutting your hole at a 45-degree angle, then mudding the edges. The patch will pop right into place and not fall through.
Run cable behind crown molding. If your walls don’t have any crown molding, you can run your cables up along the top of the wall without cutting the drywall at all. Run your cable right at the edge where your wall meets the ceiling, stapling it into place as you go (or using a track cable management system). Then install crown molding over it, ensuring a small gap for your cables. In fact, some crown molding products exist for this specific purpose. What a time to be alive.
Use a raceway. If you don’t want to cut into your walls or deal with trim and molding, a raceway is another option. Raceways are plastic cable management systems that run on the outside of your wall. The cables go inside and a paintable plastic cover fits over the top, hiding them. You can then paint your raceway to match the trim or wall color. It’s not as neat as fishing your cables through the walls, but it looks pretty good once painted.
Use a TV wiring kit/power bridge. Wall-mounted televisions guarantee an unsightly power cord hanging down (and maybe even running a few feet to the poorly-placed outlet in your living room). One solution is to mount a recessed power outlet behind the TV, but this involves electrical work and probably an electrician. A TV wiring kit (aka a power bridge) is a code-compliant solution that lets you hide your TV’s power cord without needing to rewire the room.
Things you should never do with cables
Running your cables inside your walls makes it look like a civilized adult human lurks in your home, but it’s not a job that requires a Ph.D. in construction to do. Anyone with some basic DIY skills can run Ethernet cable through their walls. Still, there are some easy mistakes to make, so here’s what you should never do when running cables in walls:
Don’t run cables through ductwork. Yep, you’re standing there eyeing your home’s AC ductwork and you’re thinking, ‘This is genius! I’ll just run my cable inside here. Problem solved.” Except the problem is not solved; you might be creating a new problem instead. It’s almost certainly not allowed by your local building code, and typical cables won’t handle the temperature extremes well. The cable will also constitute a fire hazard. You can run cables through what are known as plenum spaces, but that will require plenum-rated cable, which costs about twice as much as regular cable.
Never fish power cords. Your TV or game console’s power cord is a tempting target for in-wall runs—but don’t even consider that. It’s one thousand percent against code and an obvious fire hazard. If you burn down your house as a result, the insurance company will laugh at your attempts to collect a settlement. Invest in a power bridge, as noted above, and be happy.
Don’t run coaxial cable near power lines. High-voltage electrical lines can interfere with Cat 5 or Cat 6 cables, or any communication cables, in fact. Keep them about a foot away at a minimum, and if you have to cross a power line try, to do it at a 90-degree angle.
Some additional tips and tricks
When running cables, you can try to use your home’s unfinished spaces to your advantage. If you have an unfinished basement, crawlspace, or attic, consider popping your cable up or down into those unfinished spaces and running them along the exposed beams or walls, then popping back up. You may need to use a lot more cable, but it’s a much faster and easier job because you’ll minimize the “in-wall” work you have to do, and fishing cable vertically is a lot easier than horizontally.
Also, don’t be afraid to “waste” cable—meaning, leave a surplus of cable in the wall or other space where you’ve run it. This will leave you some slack to work with if you ever need to reconfigure your layout or cut the cable to repair or splice it.
Running cable inside your walls will clean up your space—and that comes with definite psychological benefits. Just make sure you do it the right way.