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Retrofit - Tough Wiring Run

post #1 of 9
12/10/09 at 2:04pm
Thread Starter 
Hi everyone, I'm about to start the wiring phase of my home theater retrofit.

Here is the problem, the room is roughly 15x16 and the floorplan looks basically like this

Code:
A      -||----------     A
T     |      =|------|    T
T     |o             |    T
I     |o             |    I
C     |o             |    C
        -------------
The || at the top is the door.

The |------| is a closet

The = is the AV rack

The o are seats and the screen is on the opposite wall.

Now that's out of the way. This room has no attic access to the ceiling. It is on the second floor of the home so the attic space is accessible on the left and right sides as shown above via in wall trap doors, but there is no ceiling access. However there is space above the ceiling just no way to get to it.

I plan to run my wire from the closet wall right behind the AV rack. I'll have speakers on the wall with the couch and where the screen is. As well as a ceiling mounted projector. The only cable I need to the projector is power and HDMI

My main question is can I run cable between the first and second floor between the joists? Or would I be better off going up the closet wall and trying to fish it out of the ceiling from the side access space. I should note the side access space only is about 4 ft high on the interior wall then it narrows to about a 5" gap between the wall of the room and the roof of the house so fishing anything is going to be really blind.

My main concern is to not have to cut up the ceiling and do as little damage as possible.

Any tips?

Sorry for the length, I tried to include as much info as I thought would help.
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post #2 of 9
12/10/09 at 2:56pm
Do the joists run parallel to your screen wall or perpendicular? If parallel, easy...if not...hmm..

Also, you should look into the Powerbridge solution for your PJ if you don't already have an outlet wired up there.

Is it carpeted? You could always run the speaker cable behind the baseboard/tucked under where the carpet/baseboard meet then either up the wall in raceways or feed vertically behind the drywall as long as you don't have horizontal blocking/firestops.

With all of that attic space on either side, you shouldn't have too difficult of a time doing some simple runs.
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post #3 of 9
12/10/09 at 7:23pm
Thread Starter 
I got in the attic when I got home tonight and the joist do run parallel to the screen so I do not think running the speaker wire will be a problem. I can drill down into the outer wall closet drywall and into the floor.

I've never seen powerbridge, but I don't quite understand it. If i'm going to install a plate on the outside behind the projector and then run 6' of romex down to the other powerbridge and plug it into an outlet then why wouldn't I just install a gang box and run a 15' power cord down through the wall and plug it into an outlet? I could install it direclty for $10 instead of $99.

I like the idea because i'm sure romex is better for building codes, but 99 is a lot to me.
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post #4 of 9
12/11/09 at 2:50am
The powerbridge is one solution, but all this does is give you the boxes, plates, and romex in one solution. Monoprice has some similar plates:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/su...09&cp_id=10425

If you search this board, you'll find others. The benefit to this setup is that you can power the projector with an uninterpretable power supply or other battery backup. This way, if the power goes out, you won't lose your bulb.
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post #5 of 9
12/11/09 at 4:38am
You can also use crown molding to run wire around the walls. Use to premade corners if you don't want to cut those tricky corners. For in the ceiling if you can install a few old construction can lights you would have a 7 inch hole to pull wire around the attic by drilling a hole next to the wall to hide behind the crown and then pull it over.
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post #6 of 9
12/11/09 at 5:43am
Quote:


I've never seen powerbridge, but I don't quite understand it. If i'm going to install a plate on the outside behind the projector and then run 6' of romex down to the other powerbridge and plug it into an outlet then why wouldn't I just install a gang box and run a 15' power cord down through the wall and plug it into an outlet? I could install it direclty for $10 instead of $99.

Think of the powerbridge as an extension cord. If you plan to use a UPS, power conditioner or surge protector that requires the MALE end of power cord you would just run an extension cord. BUT, by code, you cannot run an extension cord in wall. The powerbridge creates an in wall extension cord.

If you are NOT plannig for any that, than a simple outlet works fine.

Quote:


the joist do run parallel to the screen so I do not think running the speaker wire will be a problem

I hope you mean perpendicular. You should be able to get a couple of those flexible fispoles, drill a hole in the ceiling at your projector location, run one of the pole up through the hole and then with another set of the poles reach up there from the attic access, get a hold of it and pull it toward you. IF the joists are perpendicular. If you go look at the fish poles, you'll see how they work. Pretty straight forward.
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post #7 of 9
12/11/09 at 6:35am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by tlogan6797 View Post

I hope you mean perpendicular. You should be able to get a couple of those flexible fispoles, drill a hole in the ceiling at your projector location, run one of the pole up through the hole and then with another set of the poles reach up there from the attic access, get a hold of it and pull it toward you. IF the joists are perpendicular. If you go look at the fish poles, you'll see how they work. Pretty straight forward.

Oh, yes I do mean perpendicular to the screen and couch.

I'll have to think about running power to the projector. Ideally, i'd like to get power ran all the way back to the av rack so I can plug into a power conditioner. This would mean if I used a solution like the power bridge, i'd need about 25 ft of romex.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
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post #8 of 9
12/11/09 at 10:51am
Quote:
Originally Posted by robirt View Post

Oh, yes I do mean perpendicular to the screen and couch.

I'll have to think about running power to the projector. Ideally, i'd like to get power ran all the way back to the av rack so I can plug into a power conditioner. This would mean if I used a solution like the power bridge, i'd need about 25 ft of romex.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

My run is going to be quite long, too.
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post #9 of 9
12/11/09 at 1:40pm
Thread Starter 
I decided to go with the powerbridge to get power to the ceiling mounted projector. My reason for this is that I want everything to connect back to my AV cabinet because I plan to install a power conditioner/surge protector there. If I added an electrical outlet to the ceiling I would still have to find a way to protect the outlet, and I like the idea of having it all centralized to the conditioner.

Now I think my last concern is going to be dealing with any interference between the romex, the speaker wire, and the hdmi cable. There's always something....
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