WOW! Has it really been that long since I posted? Man, just goes to show you, when your living room is also your HT, the rate at which time passes really kicks into over drive. I guess that could also be an age thing too, but, I think I'd rather blame it on the HT. Just feels, ...I dunno, ...safer, somehow.
It's been 2 YEARS already?!?! Srsly? wow.
Well, CLEARLY then - it's time for an update.
OK. here it is... wire covers. I know what your thinking, to quote Dom DeLuise, "Nice, nice. ...Not THRILLING, but nice."
But, I'm not just talking 'a few zip ties, some accordion wrap, then stuff the whole bundle behind the couch' kind of covers. No no. I'm talking full blown, wrap around the entire room wire channel. The kind that can be painted and will then hopefully sort of disappear, or at the very least fade into the background enough so as to not draw attention to itself. Since I live in an old apt.building(circa 1950), and since I have poured stone slab walls, I always knew that hiding cables was going to be an issue. So much so, in fact, that the way I chose to deal with the issue when I first made the theater, was to just simply ignore the problem altogether. It was, I must say, by far the most cost effective method there was, but, obviously, it did leave a little to be desired when taking into account the whole 'results' side of the equation.
So, after 2 years of looking at these swooping and dangling wires, I am now finally going to do something about it. The 1st question I usually ask myself before I begin any project is this: "How much am I really willing to spend on this?" Over the years, I've found that knowing the answer to that question 1st, makes all other subsequent decisions much, much easier to make. Especially since the very next question usually seems to be, "Is it, in fact, even possible to do the project for that price?" to which the answer is usually a resounding NO, and there you have it. Project completed in record time, and I didn't even have to leave the couch.
For this project however, the answer was unfortunately YES. So, after surmounting the herculean task of actually getting off my couch - that's a whole 'nother post in itself - I set about researching the issue. The 1st thing I discovered is this... good wire hiders/covers are f@#$%ing expensive! I'm sorry, but 12 to 25 bucks for an 5 to 8(sometimes 10) foot section is wayyyy too much. For me anyway. I'm sure the guy selling them thinks it's just fine, but that's a different issue all together. Anyway, I simply refuse to pay that kind of money for what is essentially a pair of Hot Wheels tracks glued together. BING! Lightbulb over the head!!! Time to hit my old toy chest and find that hot wheels set. I had miles of that track when I was a kid. All I gotta do is take 1 section, flip it over, glue it on top of another section, and WA LA - instant wire channel - for like 30 cents a foot. Now THAT, I can live with. At least, that was the plan anyway.
Ya know, about 500 years ago some guy with a giant beard and a wacky collar said something about plans. And mice. I don't know how the hell he knew 500 years ago what I was going to be doing this weekend, ...but he was right. He musta had stone walls too.
Anyway, I pop over to Mom's and go digging thru the attic to find all my old Hot Wheels stuff. After a (not so) quick stroll down memory lane, I strike gold. The Box O' Hot Wheels as dad called it. Of course, the 27 miles of bright florescent day glo orange track that was in there was still rolled up like a firehose. Actually, since I was pretty hungry at the time it looked more like a gargantuan fruit roll up to me, but you get the general idea. You gotta remember, rolling up a hot wheels track like a firehose was the only acceptable form of storage back in those days. Well, if it were still those days, or even reasonably close to those days, or hell, even not so reasonably close to those days, then the wound up track would've UNwound with no problem. But since it was THESE days, which basically made THOSE days, ancient history, ...well, let's just say there was an 'issue' unrolling the track. So, after sweeping up the chunky pile of bright orange sand in the attic, it was back to the drawing board. This particular drawing board was made of paper. On it I drew some numbers and took it to the bank, where they, in turn, used it to draw money out of my account. With money now in hand, I went home and drew some hot water from the tap to get all the sticky orange crap off me, then drewV (groan) to home depot to buy some real wire covers. They were out. Went to Lowes, but they were out too. So I tried Wallmart. OUT Sears OUT WTF?!?! Who's hoarding all the wire covers? I stopped in at best buy, they weren't out, but it didn't matter anyway, cuz I couldn't buy it there just on principle. The principle being they wanted 35 bucks for a 10ft section.
Time to hit the 'Ol standby - ebay. They were out.
LOL no, just kidding. But they might as well have been, because with the shipping it was gunna cost like 300 bucks. That's too much just to hide some wires. Then as luck would have it, the following day, I see workmen all over the building complex installing new wiring for the fire alarm system. What luck! They have a PALLET of boxes of wire covering. I couldn't believe it. I talked to 1 of the workers, tossed him a 50, and wouldn't ya know it, somehow they accidentally left an entire unopened box of wire covers - 100feet of the stuff, right in front of my door - when they left. Man, I love livin' in New York City!
I'll post some pictures of the work as it progresses over the weekend.
Edited by domz777 - 3/12/13 at 6:12am
