Cable trunking

[Crafty]

Hey every one.
I'm nearly set to start my living room revamp. I have one question though. What do you guys use to hide wires?
I have a lot and I mean A LOT of wires and cables in the front of my living room. To illustrate.
This is the list:

Power
Wall mountable Media Center PC (built in screen)
Wireless Router
DSTV
Samsung TV
DVD Player
Powersuply for CCTV camera
MVIX (Almost obsulute in my setup seeing as I'm going with DLNA)
(to be added)
Marantz Tuner
Yamaha amp


Other cables:
Network cable from TV to router
Network cable from MVIX to router
Network cable from Media PC to wireless router.
Video cable from CCTV camera to Media PC
vga cable from media pc to tv
audio cable from media pc to tuner
rca cables between dstv to tv
rca cable from mvix to tv


and of course, most of these cable are too long. and all the devices that use external powersuplies..., it just causes a mess :-(

Attached image is my planned layout. (As you can see I'm no architec)
I do not want to see a single cable. Tought order, but This is what I want.
So what do you guys use for trunking.
I can use that PVC trunking, but do not think that will look very good.


In the image:
1.) glass door to the outside.
2.) Enclosure to hide the power plugs and gazillion power supplies. This will be built to look like an extension of the wall almost.
3.) Is actually the speakers on shelf (7)
4.) Samsung 40" 550C
5.) Media PC, mounted on wall.
6.) Shelf for amp, dstv, tuner, wireless router, dvd player, mvix.
7.) Shelf for speakers and 1 or 2 decoratice items.

Now the majoroty of the cables will run between 5, 6, and 4
All power cables will run from 6 straight down.

So any advice on products I can look at, or some minor changes to this layout are welcome.
Oh, and another thing. The center speaker... Do I place that at top on 7? I do not really want to put it on 2, since I have a 2 year old girl in the house. She is the master of destruction. Trust me, that is not going to work.

I will post some before pics, and pics of where I'm at now.

[Crafty]

Mods, Can we please move this thread to DIY?

I would also like to find out if any of the handy people have advice on how to mount floating shelves?
Shelf 7 should look something like this, just longer. How do I do that without visable mounting brackets, yet keep it sturdy?

http://www.woodgatedesign.net/USERIMAGES/Floating%20walnut%20shelves%202006.jpg

[Byrd]

Generaly involves some way of getting long bolts protruding from the wall. The bolts are usually either welded onto brackets which are screwed onto the wall - or are on long threaded rods.

The shelf is then slotted in over the rods, hiding them

These kinds of shelves don't have the weight carrying capacity of the standard support bracketed shelves.

[Crafty]

Perhaps I should get some one to do it for me.
I do not think they will carry too much weight though.
Shelf 7 will carry 2 speakers, and a photo and ornament or 2, and shelf 6 will carry avr, blueray, tuner, and wifi router.

Will shop around for handy man today.
Any sugestions?

[MorneDJ]

Heya. I just did something similar in my lounge, and I actually used the 50 mm PVC pipes (those drain pipes) with elbow bends. Since we replaced the ceiling, I just asked the contractor to cut a slot into the wall in which I fitted 2 pipes. I use the one for the power and the other for signal and speaker cabling.

This allows far more space than what you will get out of normal trunking. One of the pipes run into the ceiling area to hide the 5 aerial cables as well as the proposed speaker cabling (to be installed at some day).

[MorneDJ]

Crafty: You can get from Builders Warehouse and a few shops bolts that are specifically made for that purpose, although I have seen people make use of threaded rods. But I have tried it, and while the one I installed did carry a full hifi and speakers, I used 4 rods/bolts. Things I have learned,
- Go to a place that have a stand drill so that they can drill the holes into the piece of wood. If these holes are not close to perfectly 90 degrees it is a mission to get it into the wall.
- Make sure that wall is double brick wall.
- Place shelf against wall and mark the holes onto the wall (while shelf is perfectly level),
- Drill small 6 mm holes into wall, put in thin wood dowels and dryfit the shelf. Dowels as long as the bolts you intent to use. MAKE SURE IT FITS 100%. See below.
- drill holes to size in wall. I used 10 mm rods (12 mm hole). Total weight was about 15 kg .. shelf and hifi.
- dryfit
- try and remove dust from hole
- put in liquid cement (cannot remember the product I used, looked like these big silicon tubes). Do not try to fill hole.
- knock in rods.
- put minimum amount of sealant into holes in wood. It is there just to keep it into place.
- Fit.
- Stand back and admire your work.

Do not follow this process.
- Drill holes in wall.
- Drill holes into wooden shelf.
- Dryfit rods. Try and fit wooden shelf. Realize it does not want to go in as the holes relatively to each other is straight.
- Swear, and drill new holes into shelf. Holes do not line up. Swear more.
- seal holes in wall and drill new holes. More careful this time.
- test fit. Holes line up. Do not use correct length rods for test.
- add cement into wall. Add silicon into shelf.
- Put in correct length rods. Put in shelf. Use piece of wood and mallet to gently tap into place.
- Realize correct length rods longer than test pieces of rods to see if holes are lining up.
- Get bigger hammer. Knock into hole. Cement splatter everywhere. Hear hell of commotion.
- Goto next-door room and admite the large piece of plaster that fell off due to wall being only 1 brick thick, and holes were too deep, rods too long, resulting in 4 gaping holes in wall on other side. Swear some more.
- Get angle grinder to cut of pieces of rod sticking out on other side (about 5 mm).
- Go find guy that can do plastering work. Get plaster mix ....
etc etc.

On second thoughts, get a handy man

[Crafty]

haha,
Thanks Morne,
I can DIY most things in my home, but do not trust my skills with this.
I just sent out a service request to 2 handy man contract houses. Lets see what comes back to me :-)

[egd]

I can DIY most things in my home, but do not trust my skills with this.
I just sent out a service request to 2 handy man contract houses. Lets see what comes back to me :-)

  It's really not that hard to do - I put 5 shelves into what was previously a fireplace recess.  The only things I'd add to what Morne has suggested are:
- use thicker and more rods than you think you need - 10mm or even 12mm rods and a rod every 30-40cm adds a lot of strength.
- use rawl bolts with the rods replacing the bolts
- using a spirit level mark and then drill holes in wall, fit rawl bolts and rods
- rest shelving on top of installed rods (with side to be drilled resting on top of rods.  Mark center point of rods on shelf
- drill holes into shelves using drill press.

For shelving I'd recommend 50mm raw pine board from a timber yard (not builders warehouse or timber city etc - they'll rob you) and have them plane front, back , top and bottom so you end up with 40 or 45mm thick shelving.  If you need depth of say 450-500mm you will need to combine pine boards using a biscuit. Works a treat and join is invisible.

[Crafty]

Thanks Edg,
Well I've got 2 carpenters/handymen comming on saturday to do quotes. so will see what they quote. If it is say more that R750 for labour, (trunking included) they can hit the road and I will do DIY.
To get an idea of the whole setup, I have posted some pics at:
http://www.avforums.co.za/index.php/topic,367.msg66270.html#msg66270