Is it possible to pull both audio (mostly speaker wires) and video (HDMI, Cat 5 and maybe some Composite type wires) on the outside of the house? I need to get a bunch of wires to an area around the fireplace and we have a finished basement that would make this process difficult and complicated. The cable TV coax cable is already routed this way. The cable would just travel along flower beds and could be buried within a tube. We live in Boston, so the winters are harsh and a lot of snow melt/freeze. Any opinions on whether this can be done, or will it just not work. Thanks for any input.

One other thing, its a brick house if that makes a difference, and the set-up is a standard 5.1 system. Nothing overly fancy.

you can, however the wire would need to be rated for outdoor (UV exposure/moisture, etc). Or, you could run it through metal conduit and and paint the conduit to match the brick.

+1 on what budk said, though I'd be perfectly OK using the PVC conduit. I think either type of conduit would look tons more "finished" and less likely to shout "Hey, I DIY'd something!" I'm not sure I'd even paint it, honestly.

Conduit for sure, you never know what animal is going to gnaw on it...

Not too many animal issues here, except for wild turkeys. Are there any performance issues with outside grade cable?

Nah; it's just a UV inhibitor on the outer cable jacket layer, which is well away from where the "performance" of the cable is. (I'm also no longer a believer in the stupid-expensive exotic cables being any better than a "normal" cable from a quality manufacturer.)

Any suggestions as to where to get quality cable from a good manufacturer w/o paying monster prices? I will probably run it through a conduit, buried underground. The flower beds it will go through get watered, so I might as well not take chances, and put outdoor quality cable, in a conduit? PVC, seems the easiest to work with. Does this seem reasonable?

I think you'll be fine so long as you use a PVC cement at all of the joints and silicon around the holes where it goes in/out of the house.

PVC is totally fine, and for a DIY, is WAY easier to work with (cut, clean up the burrs and glue; anyone can do that).

For quality cable at non-Monster prices, I use monoprice.com for long HDMI, and I buy RG6 and Cat 5e/Cat6 at a variety of places depending on who's cheapest and most convenient. Home Depot (and Lowes) actually sells reasonable quality coax (it's copper-coated-steel, which is fine for RF). Advantage of HD is you can buy just the amount you need by the foot, which might make more sense for your application than a 500' or 1000' reel.

If you're burying it in a sealed conduit, just do a good job on sealing it and you can use the cheapest (in-wall/riser) rated cable. The outdoor cable is mostly rated for UV exposure, not submersion in water/wet soil, so it costs more, is harder to work with, and offers no particular advantage.

When you glue PVC conduit together, the "glue" is actually a solvent that somewhat dissolves the pipe and when it sets, the pipe sections are literally fused together and are as waterproof strong (or stronger as they're doubled up) as the main pipe. Just make sure you get a good dry fit (that the pieces are the right size), that the pipe is clean of dirt/water contamination and that you use plenty of solvent on both parts and you'll have a water-tight conduit. (It will take you longer to read this paragraph than to assemble a good joint. :) )

Unless it was painted with gold leaf, if it were me, I would do it right and go through the basement and get the drywall repaired if possible.

At least evaluate that as an option and get the cost vs stringing wires externally.

Unless it was painted with gold leaf, if it were me, I would do it right and go through the basement and get the drywall repaired if possible.

At least evaluate that as an option and get the cost vs stringing wires externally.

Staffy, do you get to your conclusion b/c you think inside stringing performs better, or is it that it will cause less problems down the road. I will get a bunch of quotes to see how both options costs. My big fear is that nothing goes as planned with this old house, especially behind the walls. I also am no where hear as handy as you are, judging by your awesome project.

Nah it is that I would rather deal with a crappy looking drywall repaair, rather than water damage coming in from the outside :)

I guess it would help if we saw pics of the area you want to work on as well as the floor below it.

Plus, what is above the room you wish to move wires? Attic or another floor?