How To Hide TV Power Cord And Cables _ Easy Way To Move An Outlet

How's it going ?

You guys , it's Scott with everyday home repairs and today I want to show you how to correct an annoying issue like this .

You have your smart TV hanging on the wall .

It looks great .

You don't really need to run any H D M I cables to it because you can get all your different streaming services now .

But you still have the power cable that's kind of dangling down or running across your floor .

So how do we correct that ?

I'm gonna quickly show you how you can do this , move an outlet behind the TV without having to do any drywall repair or painting .

So that's the key and we're not going to be going down in the basement or cross face or jumping up in the attic .

So we're going to do this all from within the room .

So you get the power cable tucked out of the way and get that nice fit and finish .

Look that you're going for .

So let's jump into it first up .

I'm just going to unscrew a few of these mounting screws so I can remove the flat screen , get it out of our way .

So we can start the work and make sure we don't damage it , then we'll go down and score the top of the trim , making sure we break free any of the cack at that top surface before using what's called a zenith trim puller , which is awesome for removing trim and minimizing the amount of damage .

So you just work that trim polar in and you can move it actually side to side to start pulling that away from the wall surface .

And again , minimizing the damage to the wall and also to the trim because we want to make this just an electrical project .

Then we can work that trim piece in one whole piece away from the wall without breaking it in half .

Once it's off , then I'll use some side cutters to go ahead and cut flush the 18 gauge brad nails .

So the trim piece will be ready to go back in at the end of our project .

Now , the trick is we are going to cut dry wall , we're going to remove some drywall , but that is gonna actually be below the edge of the trim .

Now , this trim measures at about 3.5 inches above the sub floor .

So my cut line is gonna be right around about three and a quarter inches .

So the cut line will be hidden once everything goes back in by the trim that we'll put back into place .

And then it's good to know where your studs are located one to know what you're gonna have to go through with the Rox and two to know how far to cut that drywall piece off so you can re secure it back on the wall after you're done .

Now , I just use a stud buddy , which is a magnetic stud finder .

It actually does not find the studs .

It finds the fasteners that are holding the drywall to the studs .

Ok .

So I found one right here makes sense .

It's located right on the left hand side of this electrical box .

And then if your home is newer , most likely you have spacing that is 16 inches on center .

So 16 inches from that stud , you should find another stud , which we do .

So between those two studs , you're going to find 16 inches and that's going to give you , ok .

How many studs am I going through specifically for this project ?

I will need to drill through two studs .

Then I'm going to be in the middle of the wall cavity , which is gonna give me the route right up to my old work box that we're going to install , which is in the center of that mounting bracket .

Now to cut the drywall , we're just going to use an oscillating tool with a standard wood blade .

You don't really need a fancy drywall blade , but if you have one , you can go ahead and use it .

And then specifically , I like to have some type of guide .

So here I'm just using a cheap grout trawl , which is three and a quarter inches , which is right at that cut line that I want , which will be below the 3.5 inches , which is the height of the trim .

So that'll help me guide through and make a consistent cut .

And then I want to end my cuts right in the middle of a stud .

So it's easy to re secure that at the end of the project .

Now , just go back through and do a second pass , making sure no drywall is still attached .

And then once we have that , we'll cut that corner out , remove any of the screws or nails that are holding in that piece .

And then once those are removed , I'll just use a painter's tool or some flat bar and pry that out trying to get it out all in one piece without damage .

Now , this is up to you .

I do like to clean up a little bit here , just clean up some of the dry wall , making sure everything goes back in easily at the end of the project .

So I'm gonna go ahead and drill through these two studs .

Those are the two studs I need to take Rox from my here down over to the wall cavity that we need .

Now , I'm gonna be using an inch and 1/8 spade bit , which might seem a little large , but I'll show you here in one second .

Why I am doing that .

Now , the why behind using such a large spade bit a one in 18 that's well over a half inch or a three quarters of an inch that you'd usually use .

And that's because specifically I use these things called easy guards to insert in the hole .

What these are , it's kind of a better nail plate .

So a nail plate usually you'd see on studs protecting Rox behind it .

So you can't nail or screw past that nail plate into the stud and then pierce a piece of Rox .

Well , an easy guard is basically that but 360 degrees of protection .

So all I need to do is insert these into the one in 1/8 of an inch hole and then tap those in with a hammer .

And now I have a complete protection all the way around that piece of Rome that will be running through for both of the holes we drilled in the studs .

Now , if you need a reference for easy guards or Wagga lever nuts or that Xus trim puller or the stud buddy , you can look right below the video in the description .

You'll see a link to our Amazon store .

The Amazon store is organized in different list such as electrical or general tools or general supplies and that's where you'll find all these different tools and supplies .

We use specifically the easy guards in the electrical list .

You'll scroll down and you'll see there is a pack of easy guards if you want to try them out on your own projects .

Now , let's jump into the last part of the project before we actually run wire and that's installing the old work electrical box in the new location for our outlet .

We'll start off with the old work box and the torpedo level , making sure the box is level and then trace the outside .

Once you have your lines traced out , take the same oscillating tool or a jab saw would work as well and cut out the small piece of dry wall .

When you're finished , you want to do a dry fit just to make sure that old work box fits and then pull that back out because we want to run our 12 , 2 row max down the wall .

And once you know , you have the right length , you can cut it and pull it through the old work box , then we'll go ahead and tighten everything up , making sure the tabs are pulling to the back of the drywall and the box is secure .

Then we'll take a utility knife cut off the sheathing , exposing our two conductors and the bare ground , cut that extra off .

And now you want to make sure you have six inches from the end of the sheathing or three inches also from the end of the box and then we'll strip off the black hot and white neutral making AJ hook in the ground , starting off the ground .

I'll tighten things up with E C X Milwaukee screwdriver and then go straight in the back because this is a commercial grade or what's called a spec grade outlet .

So it has a feature called back wiring .

So I don't have to make AJ hook on the hot or neutral .

Once everything is secured for three wires , then we'll break off those tabs because remember with an old work box , you break those tabs off and then that will help everything pull flush to the wall surface .

So your face plate sets flush , then go ahead and tighten up the face plate .

And now we have our new outlet location .

Everything looks great .

But now we got to get power to this location .

So now to get power , I have this extra role max , I'm gonna pull it through those easy guards getting past these two studs and then I'll pull all the slack out to this side because we're going to route the Rox up into this outlet box .

And I do notice that the outlet is sunken in a little bit .

So it's pulling this face plate in .

I'll show you at the end how to crack that easily .

It's not a big issue , but now we can open things up and then get this tied into the circuit .

So you'll remove the face plate and you want to make sure your power is off .

So confirm that with an outlet tester on both of your outlets .

No E D .

So we're good to go .

Then we'll start to remove the two mounting screws and pull the outlet out of the box .

Now , each of us are going to have a little different scenario here .

Some of us are gonna have one Rox coming in and then others are gonna have sets like this where you have two sets of Rox coming in .

Now , I just want to clean things up because I have another set coming in .

So I have three neutrals , three hots and three grounds coming into this box .

So I clean up the old wires .

Now , remember you want six inches coming from the end of the Roma sheeting cut in the back of the box and at least three inches from the edge , the surface , the wall surface of the box .

So I pulled that Rox up from the bottom through and I'll cut off the sheeting and cut everything to length , making sure nothing's too short .

Then I'll strip everything off and I'm stripping off according to , to what I need for what are called wa 221 lever nuts .

So what I'm gonna do with so many sets coming in , I'm actually gonna pull together three pigtails to do that .

I'm using the wa 221415 , that's five wire lever nuts .

Now , there is no four wire .

So I'm only using four of those slots that's perfectly fine .

And then I'll use a section of wire here and that is the pigtail .

So this one being the bare ground already has my J hook on it .

Then I'll do the same thing for neutrals pulling all the neutrals together .

But then this time I will not need AJ Hook because that's gonna go into that commercial grade outlet and that has back wiring .

So it just go straight in and then we'll finish things off with our hot side , our black wires pulling all those in .

The nice thing about the Waga is it has that translucent housing .

So you can actually see that the copper is making contact to the bust bars in the actual connector .

We'll tuck everything in .

I'm favoring the neutrals and grounds on one side and then the hots on the other side , on the right side , then we'll put that J hook in a clockwise direction around the ground screw connecting up or neutral and are hot .

Now , remember this was sunken in .

So I'm gonna use these spacers just one .

So that's gonna space me out between about 1/16 and an eighth of an inch so that the face plate is not sunken in and the outlet is not sunken in .

So you just put those on the screws between the , the junction box and what's called the yolk of the outlet .

And then that will space that out from the wall surface .

OK .

So now my power is back on and we should have the wiring all completed before I bun back up the dry wall and the trim on the bottom .

We're gonna want to go ahead and confirm that this is working .

So , plug that outlet tester in and I have the two amber lights which equal that we have a correctly wired and powered circuit .

So wiring is good to go .

Now , it's splitting up our drywall and our base trim .

Now here is where taking your time at the start pays off .

So if you have one piece of drywall , it should fit right back into place .

You should be able to use those drywall screws that you removed , securing either to the bottom plate or to the studs that I have marked with the blue painter's tape .

And then once that is secured , you'll bring that piece of trim in .

Again , if it's one piece , it's not damaged , you'll be able to set it right into place .

You already took off the old brand nails , then you'll put in new brand nails , two at each stud location to hold that against the wall , take off the blue painter's tape and then here is the finished product .

Overall , it looks fantastic and you really can't even tell that we just ran some wire behind it .

Now , hopefully , that helps you guys out .

Jump down in the comments , let me know what you think .

And also let me know if you have any questions , this is a much better look fit and finish and looks great .

Now , if you do have a little bit more equipment , you have something you do need to plug in some H D M I cables .

You can't get these cable access wall plates .

You could install one right beside the outlet that actually do not have junction boxes .

So you cut a hole in the drywall , but you're just going to pass those cables in the drywall and you do not need to enclose that with a junction box .

So you could put one up behind the TV .

And then one lower , maybe you have a small piece of furniture with a little bit more equipment and you need to pass some wires .

So just know that is available out there and you could do it at the same time as you're passing the Roma to get power .

Now , one last item you might need to do is lay a small bead of cack at the top of that trim that we removed and also maybe some at the brand holes to cover those up .

And I'm kind of an amateur when it comes to this .

And the guy I go to is Ryan over at the funny carpenter youtube channel .

Ryan has a ton of videos that can really help you up your game and trim work and especially tips and tricks to talking to make it .

So it's not such a burden and you get the results you're looking for .

So thanks for joining me on this video and we'll catch you on the next one .

Take care .