I am a wire nazi and like all my A/V cables run neat. However, after my new LCD was mounted I had a power cable and HDMI cable ruining the look. I did not want to rip through drywall, route around fireplace vents, drill through 6 studs, and refinish drywall to make it look nice. Maybe one day I will, but not yet. I posted images of the before and after condition.
Wiremold Cordmate II was an ideal solution:
1) Inexpensive
2) Easy to install
3) Very pratical and funtional
4) Looks good
5) Individual pieces available (elbows, corners, etc.)
Install took maybe 1 hour total to plan, measure, cut, and paint (20 minutes of actual work; 40 for paint drying). I painted before install and found that applying paint with a small brush and then using a small, dry roller gave a very finished look. Also make sure your cables are plenty long enough (with some alpha factor) before installing. Do not plan on running a ton of cables through this version - power, HDMI, and maybe a coaxial would be it.
I was very skeptical about the cordmate's ability to hold in corner with thick cables. I had an inside and outside 90 degree elbow within 3 inches which is a lot of force to hold. But the double sided tape is very strong and holding very good.
Perhaps the only minor downside would be ability to add or change cables. It does open, but it takes some pressure. So make sure to feed all wires needed first before taping to wall.
Overall, this wire nazi is very impressed and would highly recommend. Wiremold C210 White Cordmate II Kit
Got this item to conceal the wires that would hang between my wall mounted 42 inch plasma TV and the entertainment stand below it which holds my cable box and DVD player. There were three wires to conceal in all - cable box wire (regular coaxial cable thickness); HDMI wire from DVD player to TV (slightly thinner than coaxial cable); and cable for TV plug to wall (very thick for some reason). The cableholder just barely held these three cables (but it did hold them. remember you dont have to get the head of the cable through the cordmate - it can open up so you can clip it over the hanging cables (very convenient). The cordmate is also very paintable to match your walls. paint before you stick it on wall and use a roller not a brush. I used a brush at first and it was harder to paint and was leaving brush lines (could have been brush I was using but...). Anyway, good product and inexpensive - I would buy again for such uses. easier to cut as well than I thought it would be.
First, the good: These cable covers are simple to mount and function well. They are easy to open with a screw driver or even a pen, and they are even easier to snap shut. They aren't the roomiest, so you should know that in advance. I was able to run an ethernet cable, a coax RF cable, and two speaker wires without much of an issue. However, it was pretty packed and doubt it would hold more. The adhesive is quite strong, so you won't need to worry much about how hard you tug on the covers while tucking away your wires. The adhesive also brings me to...
The bad: I'm willing to admit that I didn't fully read the instructions that came with the product, so my problems may have been addressed and warned against. However, upon removal, these things are a nightmare. Trying to pull them off would almost always tear the paint and upper layer of drywall right off. When it did manage to come off without a chunk of the wall, it left a sticky residue that was incredibly difficult to clean (I tried warm soapy water, and even Goo Gone). In the end, I used a utility knife to score the edges, and then just ripped off strips of drywall. Then I had to patch each channel, sand, and paint. If I had known I would be moving only 6 months after installation, I would have never used these cable covers.
In the end, I have to give their function more weight than their difficult removal. They work great, and they install super easily. If you are not planning on removing them in any short manner of time, I would recommend them. However, if you are a renter or know you will move in a year or less, you may want to find another product.
I needed to route the TV cable about 20 feet from the source around two walls and a small nook. I ordered 2 of these kits, and could not be happier with the results. I placed the track on the baseboard just above the quarter molding, and it blends right in. You just need to make sure there is enough clearance below the track so that the coupling and corner attachments can snap on. The track sticks very well and I don't think it will ever release without a struggle. When my TV is mounted, I'm going to run a short piece down the wall for the power and cable box cords, and paint it to match. The track is easy to cut with a hack saw.
The amazon page says this is 1.2 inches in length, 2 inches in width, and 48 inches long. WRONG. The channel which will hold 3 cables of average size (e.g. rg-6 or rg-59 video cable, standard a/c power cord, etc) will hold 3 cables snugly across - it's about 1.2 inches wide outside, but inside is what matters if you have ALOT of cables. Unless you use some micro cables you won't get more than 3 standard size cables inside this track. The 2" dimention I argue with - there is nothing about the track that measures 2" wide. It's 1.2 wide, with under 1" of space inside, and about 3/8" off the wall (call it tall?) - yes the lengths are 48" long.
Wiremold has been used to hide ugly cables for a long time - this was perfect for my job - I just wall mounted a 23" HDTV in my dad's kitchen for him to catch the early morning news with coffee etc. (the set was an LG 23" with more inputs than you could imagine for computer use and a tv antenna / cable input as well - we are using it with a rooftop TV antenna on the house that grabs about 88 ATSC channels, of which we delete around 30 that are advertising or specialized language/childrens programming leaving a healthy 58 free tv channels on the tv set)
The cables were ugly though. RG-6 coax for the antenna feed, power and VGA to a small laptop that logs weather data from the usb port on the weather station I bought as a gift for my parents all had to go to the back of the set - it was a cable nightmare.
With the wiremold full, it drops straight down below the set with 3 cables inside (and they are snug) goes into an elbow to follow the baseboard, then goes through a T connector where the power cord comes out and into an outlet next to the T connector - the wiremold continues to the corner of the room where the RG-6 antenna cable enters the channel and from that point it has 10" left for the VGA cable.
NOTES for successful installation.
I made some mistakes so I'll share them with you for your install - best to learn from others mistakes!
The fittings (T, left elbow, right elbow, inside corner, outside corner) are very generous, but they do not adhere to the wiremold channel, they go OVER the channel. Because of this if you stick the channel to the wall directly touching the baseboard, you will not be able to put he fittings over the wiremold afterwards because it needs to go between the stick of wiremold and the baseboard - so the trick is lay a thin piece of plastic above the baseboard (1/16") then tack the channel down with the foam sticky back - that way you'll have room for the fittings to go over it (same rule goes for corners)
When cutting it, I used a hitachi power miter saw instead of a hacksaw Hitachi C10FCE2 10-Inch Compound Miter Saw - don't make real fast cuts even with the fast saw - let the blade come up to full speed then gradually slip it through the channel as if you were cutting a hardwood. If you make fast cuts, the blade teeth (and this goes for sawzalls too) can snag the non-opening edge of the channel and split the thin plastic - now you have a channel with an opening on two sides, one is a crack, the other a j hook mold. I put some clear shipping tape over the crack like amazon uses to ship boxes to you and held the crack together, then make slow milling type cuts with the saw which came out very clean with square edges on both the use piece and waste piece.
Always place the J hook side where you'll be able to open it later if you think you will add a cable at a later date, i.e. don't put the J clasp edge down towards the baseboard or you'll have a hard time getting it open later. Same goes for a corner of a wall going vertical.
When the project was finished it looked 200% better - no cable mess any more, no cables visable at all, and the adhesive is strong enough it will pull the paint off the wall before it comes off by itself, so make sure you have a level handy for vertical runs to give you an edge because once you stick it on the wall its not comming off. Consider it permanent after 5 seconds (I was able to carefully reposition a small 10 inch piece that had not fully adhered yet by slowly pealing it off the paint as soon as I realized I had a problem)
Make sure your cables do not have the RFI filters (those big blobs usually close to the end of the cable) because those won't go into the channel if they are far back from the connector (my monitor came with a cable like this and I had to buy a replacement VGA cable that has the RFI filters up close to the connector instead)
Final install tip, although it seems best to put the T connector for a power plug right under the outlet, I found it was better to
offset the T about 2-4 inches from the power outlet. This way the cable comes out and has room to lay over before going into the outlet and does not put stress on the t cover, which has no adhesive to hold it on. If it is right under the outlet it will tend to force the T joint off of the wiremold strip.
This kit gives you everything you need to go 12 feet, make an inside corner, and outside corner, go up or down the wall, join two pieces together and one T connector to let cables exit near an outlet. Don't expect to put more than 3 normal size (1/4") cables inside it and you won't be disappointed, but it is not 1.2 x 2.0 x 48" as the amazon specifications say. It's more like 1.2 x 3/8 in x 4 feet long strips x 3 + all the parts. Amazon needs to correct the measurements and make it clear what the raceway outside and inside dimentions are. If I expected 1.2x2.0 " as their page says, and could not fit 6 cables into it I would be upset, but my install worked out. - Cable - Wire Organizer - Wire Concealer - Wiremold'
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