[Stealth1]

I recently purchased my first home, it's a 1950's home and I just found out the exterior walls are double brick construction with plaster directly on the brick wall. I only found this out recently after having planned and purchased a few items to get ready for the installation. I was planning to run all the wiring for power, speakers (5.1) and A/V in the wall. This is now not possible since there is no gap between the plaster and the brick. I am somewhat at a loss at how I am going to accomplish my goal of having a clean look with little to no wiring showing.


The TV is being mounted above a stone fireplace/mantel directly onto the wall. This doesn't pose much of a problem but I don't have any power source for the TV or motorized wall mount above the mantel. I was initially planning to run a 5.1 setup but now with the walls being as they are I don't know how possible this will be. I believe the interior walls are single brick construction but have to confirm. I am thinking of drilling a hole through to the exterior and running conduit to a point behind the TV and making another hole there and running the wiring that way. The only issue with this is the power situation.


Has anyone ran into this situation before and what solution did you have?


Should I abandon my hopes for 5.1 and consider selling my receiver in favor of one of these soundbars? Or should I just look at doing a 3.1 setup with the current receiver I purchased already.


Hope someone can help!

 

[BIGmouthinDC]

You may want to consider wireless speaker connections for the rears. The cabling to the TV is going to be a challenge. If it is a double brick wall does that mean there is a gap and if so can you run some cabling in there?

 

[Neurorad]

How are the 110v outlets wired on the exterior wall?


You can 'channel' the plaster, run cables, and plaster over. Get a quote from a local plaster guy on the repair, before you start.


Maybe some stones can be removed from the fireplace, wire run, and stones then replaced. I bet a good mason will make it look perfect. I don't know how power is usually supplied in this situation, might require conduit built into the stone fireplace. I doubt this would be a big issue. Find a good mason for a quote.


Anything is possible - just might cost a lot for top-notch work.


Edit - if the plaster was recently painted, will be easy to match the paint.

 

[Stealth1]



Quote:
Originally Posted by BIGmouthinDC /forum/post/20879747


You may want to consider wireless speaker connections for the rears. The cabling to the TV is going to be a challenge. If it is a double brick wall does that mean there is a gap and if so can you run some cabling in there?

Yeah was thinking wireless rears would be ideal, who makes a decent set of wireless rears that won't break the bank?


The easy route would be to use a WireMold product and just try and keep it as "invisible" as possible with paint and where it's installed.


As far as i'm aware there is no gap, it is exterior brick then interior brick then plaster. I only drilled through the plaster, haven't drilled further as I don't want to do any work that isn't necessary.

 

[Stealth1]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Neurorad /forum/post/20880463


How are the 110v outlets wired on the exterior wall?


You can 'channel' the plaster, run cables, and plaster over. Get a quote from a local plaster guy on the repair, before you start.


Maybe some stones can be removed from the fireplace, wire run, and stones then replaced. I bet a good mason will make it look perfect. I don't know how power is usually supplied in this situation, might require conduit built into the stone fireplace. I doubt this would be a big issue. Find a good mason for a quote.


Anything is possible - just might cost a lot for top-notch work.


Edit - if the plaster was recently painted, will be easy to match the paint.

I pulled one of the outlet covers and it appears that a cavity was made for the outlet and from research I believe all of the wiring for electrical is pre-installed before the bricks are mortared together. I could be wrong but I don't want to rip much more apart until I have a solid plan.


I was thinking of doing that with the plaster, the wall was previously painted in some UGLY sponge effect by the previous owners so the whole wall will need to be smoothed out and repainted anyways. The only downside with channeling the plaster is that it isn't at all future proof and everything needs to be laid out one time and done in one shot.

 

[Neurorad]

If you're going to paint anyway, I don't see any drawback to cutting channels in the plaster, wherever you want. If you wire correctly now, you will never need to re-wire.

 

[zwodubber]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Neurorad /forum/post/0


If you're going to paint anyway, I don't see any drawback to cutting channels in the plaster, wherever you want. If you wire correctly now, you will never need to re-wire.

I had the same problem, I used my milwaukee m12 rotary tool and went in about half the thickness of the Sheetrock since I was painting anyway. Added spackle, sanded and painted. Unfortunately I got lazy and figure I'll finish when I have time. I have plenty of paint left.

 

[Stealth1]



Quote:
Originally Posted by zwodubber /forum/post/20907138


I had the same problem, I used my milwaukee m12 rotary tool and went in about half the thickness of the Sheetrock since I was painting anyway. Added spackle, sanded and painted. Unfortunately I got lazy and figure I'll finish when I have time. I have plenty of paint left.

Thanks for the reply, what type of wire did you use for the speaker wire? I think this is likely the only route for me to go if I want to have a 5.1 system, otherwise it's next to impossible to get the wire from the Receiver to where I want to mount the rear speakers.

 

[Neurorad]



Quote:
Originally Posted by Stealth1 /forum/post/20883492


I pulled one of the outlet covers and it appears that a cavity was made for the outlet and from research I believe all of the wiring for electrical is pre-installed before the bricks are mortared together. I could be wrong but I don't want to rip much more apart until I have a solid plan.

Before the bricks are mortared? Not sure I understand how that would be done.


Channeling the plaster and lathe wall behind the baseboard, for horizontal runs, would be pretty easy to do. Run the cables in metal U-channel to protect it from nails. I saw a pic of this in the current Popular Mechanics, but can't find the pic online currently.

 

[Stealth1]

Just an update, I cut out a piece of the wall and found that there is a gap between the wall and the exterior brick. It appears to go plaster, some concrete like product, drywall and then the gap.