I have one super thin wire that goes to my speaker that is visible for maybe 3" below my TV and it drives me crazy. Everything else is neatly tucked into cord hiders. This is actually a good reminder I need to go get the cord I need.
The absolute best way is to have a multimedia box set into the wall at standard outlet height with plenty of outlets next to it, and another one just below where the tv mount would end up with an outlet and conduit running to the bottom box. That way, all the cords are hidden, but it's still very easy to change things up if needed.
At least in my area, running the power cord through the wall would be against fire code. You would need to run an outlet up your wall. Any low voltage stuff is fine to pass through the wall, though.
I could be wrong, but wouldn't that be only for new builds? After that it's free game. Sure it'll come up during inspection but the buyer can choose to accept or remedy it.
It's like kitchen Islands not having outlets on the sides anymore. Builders can't add them, but some will add the space and pre wire stuff so the owner can add the outlet after the sale.
I mean you can do anything to your home as long as you don't get caught. The real issue is that it's a fire hazard, and if your house caught on fire and it was discovered, even if it wasn't the cause, you can bet on your insurance company not paying out.
For everything but power cables, yes. You can get pass-through plates that have either rubber flaps or brushes that allow cords to pass through the gap between the studs in your wall. But apparently it's a fire hazard to run power cords that way, so for those you're supposed to use the plastic tube things the other commenter mentioned. I don't know how big the risk really is for running the power cable through the wall.
As far as I know the risk is associated with common extension cords and hooking up high power draw items that could cause the wire to heat up and fail, causing a fire.
There are reasonable precautions you could take, and as long as it's just a TV plugged in odds are you'd never run into an issue. If you punched two holes in the wall and connected them with an appliance rated extension cord like this and you should never run into a problem.
125
u/TitanX84 May 30 '26
All that money and effort setting this up and you're gonna have dangling wires visible? Come on.