How to Conceal Electrical Wires with Crown Molding | Ask This Old House
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- Опубликовано: 29 окт 2016
- Ask This Old House master electrician Scott Caron uses crown molding to conceal wiring and bring more electrical outlets to a bedroom.
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How to Conceal Electrical Wires with Crown Molding | Ask This Old House
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As a homeowner with limited time and funds to complete all home improvement projects at top quality, I appreciate seeing this quick solution to a common problem. Yes, Tommy's real crown molding would be more aesthetically pleasing, bit this isn't terrible. It's certainly an improvement over wires laying and hanging everywhere. And you can do the project very easily in the short precious hours of a weekend! Thanks for demonstrating a product like this!
1:36 “you’ll have a bunch of patches” *tom Silva standing nearby ready to jump in*
"She has a lot of appliances"
Okay. Like what ?
She has a fan, a light :D
Right? All low wattage plug in wall warts! Power strips would have sufficed
Lmao ...you made me cry...
...a toaster, microwave, & fridge for those midnight snacks
@@Progrocker70 Literally! A simple wall attachment making 6 or 8 outlets would of sufficed too!
@@Victor-tl4dk Home Owner: I forgot to tell you thats a 20 Amp Dedicated Line and Sike I lied nobody lives here...
Electricians have the best chisels.
my number 2 flat head is the best chisel ive ever owned
His Hammer is pretty good too
Shocking!!!!
If you cut small pieces of the crown and clip them into the track then hold flush against the ceiling when screwing in track., there will be no gap
It's a shame he didn't do that when he installed the track.
His end result just looks terrible.
But that homeowner seemed like he wouldn't try to fix it himself and will either live with it or hire someone to come in and fix it.
yea he was just like... hey this house that is so old it still has plaster and lath must be perfectly level and square, let's just snap a line 3 inches from the uneven ceiling as a reference. Tommy would not be pleased. I mean, at least use a laser level.
It would not be straight since the track is still straight
nicely done. the gap at the top looks cheap. I would have jumped up in the attic and see what I have to work with. those multi tools are wonderful for this kind of work!
Gap between the crown and ceiling looks bad. Maybe caulk it? Interesting product though. The hole in the wirenut is new to me as well and I'm an electrician myself. I'll have to pick up some.
Caulking would definitely give it a cleaner look.
Yeah, definitely has some gap to fill in there, but it'll clean up. I love that through-hole wire nut! No more struggling to squeeze multiple wires onto a single contact!
The joints look really awful too. The corners and keystones should be flush, not popping out. Why the heck would you make parts of crown molding pop out?! I suppose it makes it easier to install, reducing precision cuts, but still- it does not look good.
Overall just a lazy job. I get saving money but this was practically piss poor.
Green wirenuts with the hole in the middle have been around for decades! It really saves a lot of time during trimout.
That is really a pretty cool set up. Nice job
muy buen trabajo
Looks very nice
I really like the solution provided here..! The gap at the ceiling aint that nice, but it has its style to it
Excellent
wow, those crown moldings even include handy dandy gaps for spiders to live in! Ye-Haw!!!
*beautiful*
As an electrician for 40 years the only problem that I saw was one must put a pigtails on your wiring while installing outlets or switch.
Wrong.
I think you need another 40 years because you’re wrong about that
@@electricaf365 I've been pigtailing outlets in daisy chains. Am I a moron wasting six inches of Romex every time and valuable minutes or what? The reasoning for doing it seemed to make sense; one outlet fails the rest do not.
Such overkill, it gave me a good laugh. She has a fan and iPad, requiring 5 outlets! Haha
Wish there was a link to this product.
I don't what to tell if Scotty was sarcastic or not. When the dude said she had a lots of appliances and He asked like what.
A tablet. LOL
THIS IS A GREAT IDEA, I LOVE IT
IF YOU DON'T MIND YOUR INTERIOR LOOKING CHEAP, SUIT YOURSELF
WHO ASKED YOU ANYWAY
HAMRADIOJOE THE GHOSTS OF VICTORIAN ARCHITECTS HAHAHA.
NO DUDE I'M MESSING AROUND, OPINIONS ARE OPINIONS, FORGET I SAID ANYTHING
It's amazing
Very helpful😎🤩👍
nice fix
very good job
@3:33 Inner monologue: "Well this is going great..."
how hard is it to install real crown molding that would leave no gap if done properly and not have those horrible keystones and corner joints... smh
Pretty sure I can make the same kind of L-box for the wall-ceiling corner with some 1 or 2 x 3s & use traditional crown molding, screwed to the sides on top & bottom or even metal-clipped from behind! Thanks!
3:24 - Should've mentioned that a GFCI is required for using grounded outlets on ungrounded circuits. It's a really easy and cheap fix the way he's doing it. That one outlet on the existing box could protect all of the downstream outlets. Though there very well could be a GFCI breaker in the panel.
Oh yea no ground wire
You should've tried to center the cuts a little more. The random bits that stick out look really bad.
hmm, I like the idea of running wire through the crown, but I don't like how the project designed those weird overlapping pieces to join two straight pieces. I would prefer just butting up to pieces, caulking and painting them.
Yes i agree.
The corner pieces looked good, but yeah, butt up and caulk would have been the way to go with the rest..
Hes an Electrician, they are garbage at making designs. They cut holes and run wires, I've never met an Electrician who could come up with decent design looks to hide imperfections or other related things. I would have used actual crown molding cause it takes two guys 45 minutes to put that up and 30 more to paint and caulk it. It also wouldn't have that ugly ass gap and tacky center cover in it.
Yeah, I agree that the overlapping pieces and the corners are ugly, but if you use them it's a piece of cake if you want to add another cable in the crown. And that's the good thing about this product. Great flexibility that way. If it's a "non changing install" it might be better to use actual crown molding instead.
The reason why it is preferable to have those covers and not butt joints is because the moulding can shrink and expand, causing cracks. This is happened in my building and it looks messed up. With this system you don't have to make difficult mitres and it still looks ok.
It looked great just needs to get some led lighting to have that glow effect. Idk why so many people complaining. With the exception to the window joint, should have tried to make it in the middle even if it meant wasting material. But overall great job.
nice
非常专业
Several things amaze me in the comments here: 1) So many experts and pros here, and yet I can’t seem to find any whose work is any better than what’s shown in the video. 2) I have to assume that none of the commenters live in an actual “old house” since the concepts of lumpy plaster walls and ceilings are so impossible in their minds. 3) That crown moulding may not be the prettiest thing in the world, but it sure beats knocking off 500 pounds of lath & plaster, drilling all the holes, and then patching it to match the walls when done. Cheaper labor too.
So many RUclips pros...I’d hazard a guess that approximately 0.0003% of them have ever actually touched a saw or hammer and had it turn out the way they claim it did.
I actually have done this like he said impossible to go but job is got to be done.
I had to be in attic and boss on the room. So difficult to get cable around and fishwire. All because owner don't want to patch or crown molding prices. Yet don't want to do it them selves.
wasnt this made for being easy?? with all that work they could have done a good electrical installation
Sparky doesn’t get festool tools. Hahaha
One 15 amp circuit is fine as long as no-one plugs in a window air conditioner or electric heater. I would have used the shallow flush mount outlets Scott mentioned using a white chase system. Two extra outlets would have been fine - one behind the dresser and one to the right of the closet doors. The chase would go up and over the doors. This way, no holes would have to be made in the walls except for screw holes to mount the outlet boxes. At 0:15 you see what looks like a brown wood baseboard heating cover the length of the room and it's sticking way out behind the home owner. WTF ? And yes, the window opening is twice the size of the window. Talk about a makeshift job. Time to call Tom Silva :)
this is a teenage girl, i am going to guess tv, iphone, ipod, macbook, a/c, blowdryer, curling iron, and heater...
Great product! That grounding wire nut looks cool. But shouldn't that block plate be a lot wider to protect vertical wire? Minimum 2-1/2" wide?
That looks like a 14 gauge wire. I wonder how many devices are on that circuit?
Oh, the joys of hollow walls...... Mine are "engineering" brick, slightly harder than granite.
The gap between the ceiling and crown is an opportunity, fit the support channel 1" lower, run LED strip around the whole room on top of the support channel, connect up and it will be more versatile and cooler than that ugly dome in the middle. Obviously you'll need the strip with an IR controller.
Interesting product, if you don't hate crown molding like many do. And this short term situation does not justify all the work. Extension cords and splitters work fine, especially when the load of all the appliances he named only totals a small fraction of what a single circuit provides. Also, many codes forbid feed-in-feed-out. They insist on wire nuts, and only one wire to the screw.
Can you specify what code says you can not feed-in and out? There are four screws and probably as many quick wire stab-in holes behind the recep. The two neutrals and two hot wires would have their on screw attachment points.
Good job for the options that were available. Electrician did his job.
As an electrician I was pretty interested to see this product until I saw it installed.. I don't think it was the electricians fault, I imagine it always looks horrendous. It would be easier, and cheaper to notch about the kick and replace the base with 4" or 6".
^^ what he said ^^
The problem is that it can't account for non-plumb or square walls and sagging in old houses so you wind up with big gaps everywhere.
Jesus Christ that gap against the ceiling looks horrendous!
it looks to be half an inch away
Ever heard of caulking?
Even with caulking that gap is big and would be noticeable. They should have installed the product properly with the flow of the roof, not 3" straight line from end to end, but 3" down every foot or so.
Catalyph thank you I rest my case!
Mr Ben What does Jesus Christ have to do with it?
Shane Duyvene de Wit Cause Jesus is a carpenter.
Unusually realistic since they ran into something they weren't expecting and previous substandard work. That's reality.
can you put me a link or links to buy the crown molding and clips. I'm gonna use this to kit my flat with cat5 access ports with no access above or below the ground floor flat?! Thanks :)
If there was an adjustable light in the gap of the crown molding that would look really cool
Like an led rope light? I think a lot of them(especially the more expensive ones) are length adjustable and have controls that provide a variety of settings.
Can you add low voltage cables? Like speaker wires?
Put some LED light strips in that gap. It will look super cool.
4:41 the multi-tool almost matches the music.
You could install LED strip under those crown molding thats would give a good idea
Or above in the gap for uplighting.
Can this method be used on load bearing walls? There would be two top plates instead of one.
I thought this was a reasonable workaround to a tough problem but when they installed the keystone off-center with the window I just cringed. :)
Those keystones in general don't belong there. They look so cheesy.
@@ZacharySalman the corners too.
The keystone is centered on the wall, the window is not.
The window isn’t centered in the wall. If he centered the keystone with the window, then the keystone would be off center with the wall
Although only required on a multi wire circuit, is there any particular reason you don't use pigtails on the hots and neutrals at the end of the video? Our city code requires this even on single circuit installs for plugs. I have seen failures of plugs breaking apart after years of continued use and had to replace them, on few occasions removing the device for replacement kills the rest of the circuit if it is hot and could possible put one in between a load farther down on the circuit. Sure its easy to say turn it of at the panel, but even some commercial settings it is difficult to power down if it for example is powering a teller computer at a bank or something. The crown molding was an interesting solution the problem of adding more plugs in the room, I had not seen this product before. Who makes it?
This is what maintenance windows are for. If you have to power down, you do it when business load is not required.
Interesting solution, but does it meet current NEC rules? I find it strange that they would allow NM-B to be run this way but not allowed to be in electrical conduit. (Purely curious)
On ground, with hole in top of wire nut, is it code to twist & wire nut the grounds? Thanks.
4:35 that didnt go to plan
Lol
It did actually
What’s wrong with it? The hole is not perfect round enough for you? It’s not in sight you smartass..
he doesn't know ;) i mean he might now but he didn't when he posted his comment
Typical with plaster work. Would have been better to see him using a hole saw.
should've mounted the crown molding 6 inches below the ceiling to for the uneven ceiling. Bonus, add LED light strip for glowing effect
i love the staged questions....
Haha
Yea. It’s almost like this is for a Tv show
Should add some LED lighting so that gap looks intentional :)
I used the same stuff to run networking lines but I never had that gap
Keystone looks out of place. Corner pieces look odd too. I guess if you arent handy this is a decent work around. The gap at the top could easily be caulked and you really wont notice it with a high ceiling. My ceilings are 8 ft in a 100 yr old house and I did a good job on the compound cuts on the molding, but with imperfect walls I I still had some slight gaps. After caulking it up looks amazing.
Cleaver solution. The one time where crown molding is a good choice.
But that gap it not pretty.
4:40 omg lol
got to caulk those gaps around the crown. looks getto with the gaps. over all good idea as long as your not over loading that one circuit.
The gaps looked way too big to caulk, they should have ran a bead of glue along the top of the crown and nailed it up tight.
I agree, but she was plugging it all in anyways, just through a power strip and several extension cords.
They never put a tape measure on it, they just snapped a chalk line as he said "about" 3 inches. Looks like crap.
Rob T ghetto*
Will this work for adding a light to my closet as well?
Thank you.
It would be easier if done by removing the floor baseboard moulding temporarily and start from there.Crown moulding of course adds beauty and for looks while wires are hidden behind it.
She has a tablet, music player, she has a fan and a light (wow unusual for a room to have those). Hmm... i think he was better off just saying he simply wanted to add more receptacles for convenience.
@@andymerrett i was being sarcastic
i like your way to work Mr.Scott and i always want to be like you
I suppose this is like a UK version of a ring circuit? Curious on what is the amperage on a typical US socket circuit.
Typically 15 Amps.
South Mississippi the company I work at runs 20 amp circuits with 12 gauge wire
Amperage is based off wire gauge. 14awg=15amps
12awg=20amps
10awg=30amps
Thats the tackiest and most horribly installed crown molding I've ever seen
gotta love that uneven gap between the crown molding and the ceiling...
i too admit that that is hideous
He's an electrician not a carpenter or general contractor.
Omg hella
So he should have collaborated with a carpenter or general contractor!
Cool solution but seems to me if he had mounted the internal mounting a 1/4 higher it would have reduced the gap. But.. Assume the owner had little to pay if anything so.. Good for him writing into TOH.
I thought 2016 NEC required pigtails on all Outlets.?
Colin Beirne no such thing as a 2016 NEC. Code books come out every 3 years 2014 and 2017,2020,2023.....
I learned to always pigtai in 1962 when I started and always do, regardless of codes (or what years they are published)
@@dallas5374 good point!
You thought wrong. You won’t find that anywhere in the NEC
Electric AF. Strange. Our local codes here require it
Poor guy was like, looks good to everything lol
Measuring down 3 inch probably would have been better with the out or each ceiling. Just cheat it a little and do a quick calling. Other than that seems like a cool concept.
The crown molding should have clips inside to secure the wire and keep it neat
A multi-outlet extesion on the existing outlet would be a better choice IMO. Doing all of this work and ending up with a hole in a wall and a crown moulding gap is questionable.
"Not too beautiful right now"😂
This is really a DIYer solution, I can’t see a professional ever using something this cheap looking.
i bet if it wasn't installed with a gap from the ceiling it wouldn't look nearly as crappy.
Hi There!
I have a question for you: when adding more outlets to the original circuit, will that circuit be prone to blowing the fuse since more items can be plugged in to it? Thanks.
EdABrass
If you are running a ton of high usage appliances at the same time you will be trying to consume more power than the line can provide and you will trip (not blow) the fuse. All you have to do is turn off these appliances and go to your breaker box and flip back on the switch that is down
At 4:04 you can clearly see a bare ground conductor on existing wire
OK system I guess. I've started to fish the floors where possible from one side to the other. Cut a hole under the baseboard and bottom plate in the wall. Big enough for your hand and fish tape .
Where do you buy it I never saw it
What kind of saw is he using for notches?
I would have just went with the less expensive wire-mold option but only if if the path of least resistance is possible.
when running wires in existing wall there is no way to staple the wires to the studs...is that ok?
There is no way. Yes it’s ok
Are these electrical connections in series or parallel
Series
Real crown would look so much better, be a custom fit, and still hide the wires. I have used crown and baseboards to hide wires. Would have rather been super uncomfortable for a while in an attic drilling down to do it without any cover up. Cut in boxes look hacked too. Anyways... still waaay better than only 1 recep.
you can also hide your weed in there!
That was my first thought lol
Where can I find this product?
Regardless of all the people complaining in the comments section this is a beautiful upgrade.
@3:13 the drill is in reverse, and he corrects it.
nice work-a-round but I would've installed proper crown molding instead
Yea....don't even check the attic to see if you can use it LOL
Dude, @4:35, thats a massive hole. Dang electricians!
Damn house wires. Make a joint and pig tail to the receptacle. So the circuit can continue when that plug goes bad.
...kinda sucks you can't splice. So it's still rough for changes.
What's it rated to carry?
Maybe 3 12/2?
Cuz honestly, everything should be run in these if made better. Easy access for changes
Wait a minute....I saw a 2 wire receptacle pulled out. Where did he get his ground from? Otherwise, great product.
Nice, that moulding is a saviour money wise ,IF its not costly.
Who is the manufacturer of this crown mold wireway
Appliances like tablets and fans and lights never heard of those kinds of appliances
I feel like a conduit and whatever crown molding would be a better idea