Routing cables through insulated plasterboard

[Iain741]

Hi,

I'm in the midst of wall mounting my TV, and putting up some power sockets and the AV cables neatly on the wall behind the TV. It's a solid brick wall with insulated plasterboard on top, the insulation is hard against the brick without any gap.

I was planning on running some trunking/conduit through the insulation to route the cables through, about half way up the wall down to the skirting board. I read that this is needed to protect the cables.

Any advice on how to run in the trunking? Should i cut a full length vertical channel in the plasterboard & insulation (seems a bit severe). Or can i just try to force the trunking through the insulation from the holes i've cut for sockets?

Any suggestions welcome...the less intrusive the better!!
Cheers

 

[rsgaz]

Or can i just try to force the trunking through the insulation

Absolutely zero chance of that working!!

 

[Iain741]

Thought that might be the case guess I'll need to cut a channel and cover it up properly then!

 

[EFLImpudence]

I was planning on running some trunking/conduit through the insulation to route the cables through, about half way up the wall down to the skirting board. I read that this is needed to protect the cables.

Not true - although a channel would be good for adding/removing/changing the audio/visual cables.

 

[SUNRAY]

Thought that might be the case guess I'll need to cut a channel and cover it up properly then!

If you go down this route, I'll suggest fitting the largest possible trunking you can to allow the cables to be changed/added to in the future.

 

[RandomGrinch]

I read that this is needed to protect the cables.

It can depend on the insulation material.
If your insulated plasterboard has the cheapest expanded polystyrene insulation, then yes, the cables could need protection to help avoid a damaging chemical reaction with the PVC.
If you have PIR boards, the cables will be fine - but as above, conduits can be useful

 

[Taylortwocities]

If you go down this route, I'll suggest fitting the largest possible trunking you can to allow the cables to be changed/added to in the future.

Indeed

Remember that AV cables come with connectors moulded on both ends, so you’ll need trunking big enough to get all the cables in plus extra space to be able to push an HDMI, etc plug through as well.

 

[Tigercubrider]

Probably impossible/impractical in your case but….

I was struck when watching a YouTube video on SIPS buildings, that the builders used a blow lamp to heat a bloody huge ball bearing and dropped it into the panel. This basically sank through the insulation and dropped out the bottom.
I thought it was a brilliant on site solution.

 

[SUNRAY]

Probably impossible/impractical in your case but….

I was struck when watching a YouTube video on SIPS buildings, that the builders used a blow lamp to heat a bloody huge ball bearing and dropped it into the panel. This basically sank through the insulation and dropped out the bottom.
I thought it was a brilliant on site solution.

Remember grenfell

Seriously though I've used a hot air gun to create a channel a few times, I've also seen metal EDIT: condiut heated and pushed into place.

 

[Tigercubrider]

 

[Iain741]

The heated ball method looks pretty interesting...dunno if i fancy trying to catch it before it lands on my living room carpet right enough haha

 

[sparkwright]

I'm no expert when it comes to building insulation, but to remove such a large trunking, and not be able to replace it, does sound like a bad idea.

Personally I'd be thinking about either using some attractive D-line trunking; or building a false wall.