# Cable behind crown molding?



## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

Hey all,
I'm doing a kitchen/family room remodel and as a part of that, I am building a bump-out into the garage to house a built-in equipment rack / bookshelf. It will be to the left of a brick fireplace that extends to the ceiling.

We have our TV mounted on said brick fireplace. Before we snaked the power, HDMI, and network cable along the mantle and down to a rack. It was fine like that on the mantle, but never looked right dangling there.

So for the remodel, I'd like to hid the wires some. My first thought is high. I can get behind crown molding easily and then have some sort of plinth or keystone block in the middle above the TV and route the cables down. This would work for the signal cables and I'd have to go the mantle route for the power, but that's okay (I can dress up and hide one cable like that).

Anyone done this routing behind crown? Any pitfalls or products that made it easier?

Right now the list of cables is:
HDMI
Cat5e
14AWGx2 (center channel)
2nd HDMI (optional)

Thanks.


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## bambino (Feb 21, 2010)

I've seen and heard of several folks using that type of method, infact i believe it is an exellent route to take to conceal wires.:T


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## phreak (Aug 16, 2010)

I am converting an existing room to a HT, running wire up the wall behind the drywall, into the room near the ceiling, and around the room as needed. When everything is done to my satisfaction, I'll hide it all behind crown. You have the crown in already, so you may have to get access in/out by cutting some holes in the drywall which can easily be repaired afterwards.


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## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

I think we are going this route. We will be using a larger crown style and over the fireplace it can only be secured to the ceiling, so there will be less chance for a puncture during the nailing. Now I just need to design or find a keystone/plinth block for the middle where the signals will come down. I'm going to run 2 Cat5e, 1 HDMI, and 1 speaker pair. If I really need it, I can do HDMI over Cat5 or use the Cat5 to pull something else in the future.


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## KalaniP (Dec 17, 2008)

Anthony said:


> I think we are going this route. We will be using a larger crown style and over the fireplace it can only be secured to the ceiling, so there will be less chance for a puncture during the nailing. Now I just need to design or find a keystone/plinth block for the middle where the signals will come down. I'm going to run 2 Cat5e, 1 HDMI, and 1 speaker pair. If I really need it, I can do HDMI over Cat5 or use the Cat5 to pull something else in the future.


If you're pulling new wire, you'd be well-suited to spend a little money and pull Cat6 instead of Cat5e, to future-proof things to the extent possible.


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## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

I have a huge payout box of Cat5e that I haven't even put a dent in. At work that is usually good enough to support full gigabit at the lengths I'm working with (25 feet or so).


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## Anthony (Oct 5, 2006)

Oh, and another thing about Cat5e -- it is smaller and more flexible than Cat6, making it much better to use as a pull cord for future wires


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## KalaniP (Dec 17, 2008)

Troo dat.

(and yes, I have a big spool of cat5e as well that I wish I could magically transform into cat6 so I don't have to feel guilty about using it! LOL)


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