Hiding Cables for Wall Mounted TV Over Fireplace
There are few ways of hiding cables for a TV wall mounted over fireplace.
In-Wall Wire Concealment Over Fireplace
Concealing wires in the wall over fireplace is far different than In-Wall Vertical wire concealment. Hiding cables in the wall over fireplace can be a tough task even for someone who considers himself to be a handy person. It requires careful planning, precise measurements & certain tools that average Joe wouldn’t normally have sitting around in the garage. Tackling a project like this can also be time consuming so you need to dedicate at least few hours of your time to make sure things are done properly the first time.
First of all, you need to know whether or not the wires can be fished through the wall by knowing the structure of your fireplace and surrounding wall.
Gas Fireplace
Usually, in a newer house or a town home (1980’s and newer), your wall should be drywall and wooden studs around the Gas Fireplace. In this case, you can fish wires though the wall.
Wood Burning Fireplace
If you got a Wood burning fireplace which is usually found in older homes, then the wall is most likely built with bricks around the fireplace so you won’t be able to fish the wires through the wall. In this case, consider hiding wires with wire raceway instead.
Fishing Cables in the Wall Over Fireplace & Through Unfinished Basement
If you live in a newer house or townhouse and plan to mount your TV over gas fireplace on the main floor and if your basement is unfinished, then wires can be fished from the wall above the fireplace, down to the basement and then fish the wires back up to the main floor through a wall and come out where your components are going to be placed.
If your basement is finished then fishing wires horizontally across the wall will require cutting drywall to drill through every single stud to feed wires through the studs horizontally across the wall and then fish cables vertically down to somewhere near the baseboard where your components will be placed.
List of Things Required for in-wall Wire Concealment over Fireplace
- Wall structure that has cavity behind the wall where cables can be fished through such as drywall with wooden studs or drywall with metal studs.
- Electrical outlet or Bridge-Style Power kit above the fireplace where it would end up behind the TV
- Electrical outlet by where the components will be placed
- If you have cable or satellite box then Coax cable jack is necessary where the cable box or satellite box will be placed (if you have wireless Bell Fibe TV Box or Rogers Ignite Box then this is not necessary)
- In-Wall Fire-Rated cables such as FT4/FT6/CL2/CL3/CMG/CMR/CMP rated HDMI cable long enough to reach from the TV to your components.
- Tools: Drill, Auger bit, Electrician’s Fishing Tape & Fishing Rod, electrical tape, measuring tape & holesaw
Take a look at raw examples below. This installation required 25ft cables to run cables from above the fireplace, down through the unfinished basement and then back up to the adjacent wall where custom wall plate was installed for 4 x HDMI cables, Toslink Optical cable & Cat5e Ethernet cable.
Here’s another example where the wires were concealed in the wall over fireplace and through the unfinished basement. This installation required hiding cable box inside the cabinet behind closed doors next to the fireplace, so an IR repeater was installed to control the box out of sight.
In the picture below, notice that there’s an existing electrical outlet for components & coax jack for the cable box inside the cabinet.
More examples of in-wall wire concealment for TV above fireplace.
