Outlet above fireplace, how did you do it?

[smitty2919]

My wife and I just bought a house. Have been in for about a month now and we are looking to get our TV mounted above our fire place mantle. Issue is that there is no outlet for it or the Apple TV.

There are outlets on either side of the fire place about 4 ft away. It is an exterior wall and our bedroom is above the living room. So there is no open space above the living room ceiling to drop a wire down from.

I would like to avoid cutting out drywall/putting holes through the studs to run wires etc. BUT I feel that is the only real way to do it unless you run wire molding on the outside of the wall and up the fireplace...which as you may know the wife is not happy about. IMO it wouldn't look THAT bad if done cleanly. We are painting this wall so the molding will be painted the same color as the wall to hide it.

From what I have gathered they make a 90* drill that you can use to put holes through the studs in order to run wires horizontal along a wall?

I was just hoping there was something less invasive to get this done...

Thoughts? Opinions?
Thanks guys!

 

[Willie2]

is the fireplace in the corner of the room? You'll have some open space to play with if so. I don't know why anyone would put in a fireplace and mantle without a plug.

 

[ford fanatic]

Had my house built, and had everything wired in...

But I have added things since the house has been built. I pulled off the siding and went in from the outside. Having a gas fireplace with plenty of room behind it helped too.

 

[ford fanatic]

is the fireplace in the corner of the room? You'll have some open space to play with if so. I don't know why anyone would put in a fireplace and mantle without a plug.

A plug is not always the problem, it's the cable wires also.

 

[Willie2]

A plug is not always the problem, it's the cable wires also.

true, I didn't think about the cable wire. OP could always do a wireless system if he has power up there. But if I'm adding a plug I might as well add a cable outlet at the same time.

 

[smitty2919]

Fireplace is on the "long side" of the living room (it is rectangular) right in the middle lol.

This may be one of those things that you "do it right the first time". Cut open the drywall, blow holes through the studs then run power wires to the other outlet Tee-ing off existing circuit.

I guess the other option would be to cut out drywall and then notch the studs like this video and install metal plates:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyBRlTuKrCU

I'll have about triple the length of run horizontally compared to this video.

 

[Ponyracer1]

Yes they make a right angle drill. Why would you have to cut holes in the drywall? Have a separate circuit run from your fuse box into your attic, drill a hole in your top plate and drop the conduit down inside the wall, use a cut in box, done. Instant outlet anywhere u want it. Same with cable wire. Now if you have no attic or are forced to use the outlet you have what about some wanes coat or some additional wood trim for your fireplace that you could hide the wires inside/under? Otherwise, ya your cutting and drywalling.

 

[smitty2919]

Yes they make a right angle drill. Why would you have to cut holes in the drywall? Have a separate circuit run from your fuse box into your attic, drill a hole in your top plate and drop the conduit down inside the wall, use a cut in box, done. Instant outlet anywhere u want it. Same with cable wire. Now if you have no attic or are forced to use the outlet you have what about some wanes coat or some additional wood trim for your fireplace that you could hide the wires inside/under? Otherwise, ya your cutting and drywalling.

I have no attic space above the living room. My bedroom is above it. So it looks like cutting drywall is the answer other than using wire molding to hide them.

 

[wht93gted]

Power is easy, the a\v wiring is the complicated part.

you don't have to punch any holes if you do it right.
Pull power from one of the outlets next to the fireplace. Kill the power, use a hacksaw blade by itself and you should be able to cut the mounting screws holding the box to the stud.
Then slide the box out. This gives you easy access to feed new wire up.

Then, where you want to put the TV box, use a large one which has power and all your low voltage wires, like this:
http://www.galesburgelectric.com/images/D/Carlon-SC300PRB.jpg

After you cut that in, you'll have a large opening in the drywall to maneuver your drill bit. You'll need a long one, depends how far you need to move, maybe 5-6'.

The long ones are flexible, I'm not saying this one exactly, but something like it
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-Flexible-Drill-Bit-Kit-3-Piece-53721/203913339


Then all you have to do is drill across until you're above the box. Then you can use string and something to push a string across.

You can do this same thing for HDMI, just make sure you drill another set of holes and you buy a proper in-wall HDMI cable.

 

[B-O-B'03]

Single story home FTW :rockon:

I can run any kind of wire, to any room and just about any wall, from the attic.

The next best thing would be pier and beam construction.

Not helpful to the OP, but, I am glad I have no second story or stairs to deal with, especially as I get older.

Maybe you could put some crown molding up and run wire behind that?

-Brian

 

[zak88lx]

I assume you don't have a basement, or access below the fireplace?
For our corner fireplace mantle, the outlets, ethernet and coax were all wired from the basement below.

 

[03 KB Sonic Blue]

Can you post a picture of the room? I'm sure I can come up with some ideas once I see it.

Like mentioned earlier you may have to get a av box and cut out so have a bigger opening for getting a drill in and drilling sideways.

Do you have cabinets on the side of fireplace? Or flush with the wall? If flush with the wall and outside wall. You could always go outside the house with wire in a conduit and then run to fireplace. Not sure what outside material your house is made of.

 

[smitty2919]

So here is a pic I can get for now. NOT MY HOUSE but similar.
1) I have no windows
2) The outlets on either side are another 5ft or so away from where the pic shows them
3) Fireplace brick is NOT flush mounted into the drywall.
4) It is an outside wall and the house would be brick venire for lower half then turns into aluminum siding for the top half of the house.

I have a basement but unsure what you mean by "access under the fireplace". The electrical box is on the same wall as the fireplace in the basement. I could run another circuit from the box, but I will still need to worry about running wire horizontal through the studs. Hopefully I don't have any fire blocks to deal with so I can run wire UP easily.

Easy way out would be something like this:

I will be faced with a similar issue as above using the molding not hugging the side of the mantle profile UNLESS they make 45* junctions.

 

[hoamskilet]

I assume you don't have a basement, or access below the fireplace?
For our corner fireplace mantle, the outlets, ethernet and coax were all wired from the basement below.

This is what I did. Used a flex bit to go down the wall next to the fireplace into the basement and then went through one stud to get everything behind the TV. Only had a small hole to patch.

 

[smitty2919]

Ill take a look what I have for access from the basement. Maybe I can sneak up beside the fireplace and only have to run the wire across 1 or 2 studs.

 

[94_Vert]

Just go up from the basement, shouldn't be hard at all. Probably won't even have to go across studs.