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Broke -- Help running wire cheaply

post #1 of 4
2/12/09 at 12:22pm
Thread Starter 
My basement was finished before I moved into my house but they did it as cheap as they could. All the walls are a smooth paneling that has been painted with trim at the top and bottom. It looks pretty nice but since it is not dry wall cutting and patching holes is damn near impossible.

The room is a perfect rectangle and one wall does not have power on it. I am in the process of running wire by taking off the bottom trip and drilling out the studs to get power around to that area.

I will start with the fact that I do not have enough money to strip all the paneling at this time and put up drywall.

Questions:
Does anyone know of a better way to do this or am I heading in the correct direction?

Since I am going from one wall to another I have a 90 degree turn and I am not sure how to get the wire around it. I have a wire puller but it won't make a 90. Suggestions?

I would like to run my speaker wire around the walls behind the trim as well. Do you recommend any particular speaker wire type or size.

Thanks for any and all help.
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post #2 of 4
2/16/09 at 9:53pm

Re: Broke -- Help running wire cheaply

I don't have any direct experience with this, but i'd say you are heading in the best direction possible if you don't have enough money to take down the panels and put up drywall.

Is there any particular reason you're avoiding running the wires through the ceiling? Running through the walls and around turns is probably the most difficult part of setting up speakers, so i avoided the turns alltogether by running it through the ceiling. Is there something thats keeping you from running it through the walls but then avoiding the turns by going up into the ceiling and then back down into the walls?

As for the particular wire, you will need anyway from 16 gauge to 12 gauge, i think 12 would be best. I made the mistake of extending my [temporary!] HTiB wires with 22ga and now when i upgrade i will have to rewire everything with some sturdier 12ga.
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post #3 of 4
2/18/09 at 10:04am
Thread Starter 

Re: Broke -- Help running wire cheaply

Chris,
I avoided going through the ceiling because it seemed like it would be more difficult. The ceiling has been drywalled and in the middle of the room is the heating/air vent. It seems like money always gets in my way of upgrading.
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post #4 of 4
2/20/09 at 6:40pm

Re: Broke -- Help running wire cheaply

Yes, it sure does seem like money always gets in the way. It's just up to you whether you are willing to run around corners or run through the ceiling. You could take off a foot or so of paneling around the corners, and see if you can get the wiring around that way. Personally, in your situation, this is the route i would go. Drywall on the ceiling is a major pain in the ass when it comes to wiring, i was lucky because there was no ceiling in my basement, just exposed beams (for now).
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