Hiding speaker wire in the grout between floor tile?

Question

I'm thinking of doing a home theather in our living room that has 12"x12" ceramic tile with 1/4" spacers. For one rear speaker, I can hide the wire under a baseboard, but due to the construction of the room, the other rear speaker "wall" will be between a series of archways.

I was thinking I could cut out the grout, about 20', run a 16 gauge wire and then grout over it. I'd probably cut a 1/4 to 1/2" into the slab just to give it extra room.

This sounds a lot easier than trying to cut wallboard, notch studs, and go above the archways.

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Is there any reason I shouldn't take this approach? If so, what are some alternatives? The wireless speakers I'm seeing (in my price range) don't seem to have the same quality as the wired systems.

Answer 1

Well, coming from a flooring company Interior Specialists (http://www.weloveyourfloors.com) I know for a fact that that grout wont settle correctly. That grout will actually pop right out as it wont adhere correctly to the substrate or slab of your home because the expansion ratio will be a lot different with the wire in there. Chances are that your slab has done all the moving it will ever do (unless your home is less than a year old) So I would not recommend this method. I know that places like Best buy however, offer a gizmo that will turn your surround sound speakers into wireless ones. Supposedly theyv'e been tested up to 150 ft away, with no delay whatsoever. You connect the surround speakers to a transmitter, and connect the other part to your receiver...I think it's about $100. Check it out :) Good luck.

Answer 2

Grout and anything similar is a base, as in the opposite of an acid. The downside is that both acids and bases eat insulation over the long term. Grout, concrete, plaster, etc are also conductive, so you could end up killing your amps. Wire also expands and contracts a lot with heating and cooling, so a thin layer of grout will come right up on you. Doing this right will require a diamond saw.  If you cut at least 1" into the slab itself (assuming that 1/4" lateral gap), you can use a continuous flexible plastic tube as conduit. Use guides to avoid cutting up your tile. Use a clamp or sealant at both ends of your tube to prevent condensation inside the conduit, and run both ends up into the walls to put the actual wire above the level of the new grout. In a perfect world, you'd cut even deeper into the slab and cover the conduit with new concrete, but 3/4" grout should still be thick enough to survive.  Stuff the conduit BEFORE laying it in the groove. Use a vacuum cleaner to suck a pull-string through the conduit first. Then use the string to pull your wire through the tube. A helper pushing the wire from the other end can avert a lot of grief. Leave lots of spare wire at both ends- you don't want to do this twice. If it won't go, try a "pulling" compound, i.e. conduit lubricant.  Don't use a water-based compound, because it'll kill your amps (conductive). A little Vaseline will probably do the trick. Wired is definitely better if you can pull this off. Remember your dust mask and safety glasses, and make sure you can match the existing grout color before you start so you won't have to regrout the whole floor.

Other approach: Cut through a stud from the attic side. Drop a 2" conduit (pvc) into the wall next to a vertical stud that passes near the back of your surround receiver, then carefully cut into the wall near the conduit. Keep the hole small enough to cover with an interface plate, but large enough to insert the mounting box for the interface plate. Mount the box on the stud, drop your cable into it, then connect and install the dual speaker interface plate. Repeat in two places at the wall above your rear speakers, mounting one single speaker interface plate and mount box behind each speaker. Mount speaker holders to the same studs the speaker plate is on. Or, go with ceiling flush-mount surrounds (preferably with aimable tweeters) instead, averting four holes, two boxes, and two single speaker interface plates. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

whoa, sounds like alot of trouble to run speaker wire. I was wondering if you could run it through the ceiling. You wouldn't have to notch the studs, just drill a small hole where the wire is going to be ran.

The only real problem I see is when you put the new grout into the gap of the tiles, It will look different than the rest of the grout. Even if you get the same color, grout slowly changes color over time, so it may be more noticeable if the grout is more than a few years old.

If you go with the grout plan, I would like to know how it turns out if you wouldn't mind e-mailing me and letting me know.

Good luck man

Answer 4

We just crawled under the house and ran all the wires under the floor.

I see no reason why the grout idea wouldn't work though.

Answer 5

I guess you could try that...

My only concerns would be that you'll crack or damage the tiles when you go to cut out the grout, and the new grout may not set-up properly, and crack - especially as the wire will have different expansion and contraction rates than the surrounding tile and grout as the room experiences heat or cold.

Do you access under the floor, like a crawlspace?  It may be better to just run the cable under the house for that part, rather than potentially messing up your tiles and/or grout job.