Ninja Wiring With WireTracks
By Eric Dykstra
Running network or AV cabling in an older house isn’t hard — passing the “wife test” is another thing entirely. Cables that run across rooms and under the rug are ugly, and you can can only trip over a wire so many times before something gets broken. With WireTracks products, you can install various kinds of electronics wiring behind whatever baseboard or crown molding already exists in a room.
The original WireTracks system consists of a wire channel installed flush with your room’s drywall. You affix standard baseboard to the channel cover, and then you can snap it in and out of place.
With WireTracks CM you can attach crown molding in a similar removable manner. Both versions of WireTracks allow you to add capacity to your home network or AV system, and they take some of the hassle out of updating to the next standard, whenever it comes out.
Five feet of the baseboard channel goes for about $25, and the crown molding version costs about $70 for 48 feet worth of brackets.
WireTracks [Official Site]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
February 1st, 2008 at 12:19 pm
To think, I’ve just been using gaffer tape! Of course I’m a bachelor and the girlfriend gives me disapproving looks whenever I tape down yet another wire…
February 2nd, 2008 at 2:26 pm
This is definitely a good idea, and makes a LOT more sense than putting wiring inside of a wall. $5 a foot, though? Maybe for $1/ft…
February 3rd, 2008 at 10:22 am
Or you could do what Tommy did on an episode of Ask This Old House…
Route out a channel on the back of the existing molding.
February 3rd, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Yes, but the entire point of the product is that it’s _easy_ to take down, run new cables, replace bad cables, etc. and then put the moulding back in place easily.
Sure, you can do it with standard moulding/baseboard a lot more cheaply, but if you need to add/replace then you have to rip off the moulding, replace whatever pieces you damage, and then nail it back in, fill the nail holes, repaint, etc.
I’m sure it doesn’t look as nice as real crown moulding (it probably does a better job as baseboard), but it’s still a pretty nifty product.
February 7th, 2008 at 5:29 am
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February 7th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
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