# Running cable under/around laminate floor



## greenjelly

I am peeved to find that my beautiful living room does not have a cable outlet. But every other room, including the kitchen, has one. I would really like to have my TV in the living room, and it will take a fair length of wire to run it from the cable outlet in the kitchen. However, I don't want the ugly wires to be exposed in the living room.

Also, I am in the process of laying laminate floors in the living room. It looks like I will be able to stuff the cable along the edge of the wall, just under the trim, running around the edge of the laminate flooring. It would get covered nicely when installing the quarter round. As it is, the laminate floor lies just below the trim, and it looks like there will be enough expansion room even with the cable stuffed in.

Is this a safe thing to do? I will have to leave a gap in the quarter round at some point to expose one end of the cable for the TV - is it ok to do this? Is there a high risk of damaging the flooring and/or wiring?

The cable would have to be bent 7-8 times when running along the wall from the kitchen to the location in the living room where I want the TV. Any tips/guides on how to install it safely and securely? Any comments/tips/advice will be much appreciated!


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## Basementgeek

As long as you have enough expansion room I see no problems.

BG


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## SABL

Are you on a slab.....or crawlspace/basement?? If possible, the best way is to route the cable from underneath. Overhead is possible but takes some "fishing" which may not be easy for the inexperienced.

When you nail the shoemold (or quarter-round), you're bound to hit the cable at some point.


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## kjms1

you said the cable is in every room and it is most likely running thru the attic and supplying it to each room ... go up there and find a splicer you can connect too, and then run it down the wall where you want it .... less headaches and probable less time


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## jquisgard

If you are't over a crawl space like sabl said and If you haven't laid any floor down yet, you still have time to cut a neat path in the subfloor, route the cables neatly through holes in the joists and then replace the pieces you had to cut out. Hopefully the subfloor isn't glued down and it will come up easy. Now that I think about it, If it isn't glued down should think about glueing it down anyway, It can prevent problems down the road


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## kendallt

If you have access to a router, routing a groove deep enough for the cable to lay in would work very well, no need to fasten afterwards as the laminate will cover the groove and wire. (don't do it for power though)

Remember you will have to deduct the wire size from the expansion space you have.


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