Can we talk about round wiring?

[stickyfingers 745]

So, I need to add at least two lights to the current build. One will be an outdoor light that goes on the wall over the center of the door, and the other will be a wall sconce in the bathroom.

I hate to sound dense, but other than using a false wall on the interiors, how do I hide the wire? Both lights will have a hole drilled in the wall, with the wire fed through to the other side of the wall. I may use LED/battery powered lights for the rest of the rooms, so I'm not sure that I need to wire the whole house. Planning to use small battery packs (hidden in furniture) for the two lights in question.  

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

[rbytsdy 548]

I've dremeled channels into exterior walls to seat round wire:

 

[KathieB 5522]

Are you using siding on the house? The wire for the light over the door might go behind the siding and then follow down along the door frame. Where it comes through on the inside depends on how/where you hide the battery pack. It might run along behind a baseboard to reach the battery pack.

Might the bathroom wall sconce go directly over a mirror, which could hide the wire? Or beside a picture that is placed so that the wire could run horizontally toward a window and then drop down hidden by the curtain to a laundry basket or something that would hide the battery pack?

If you don't want to cut channels, I think you need to settle on the contents of the room, figuring out how to place them strategically.

[stickyfingers 745]

The house is made of MDF with the siding already milled. I'm planning to do planked walls for most/all of the interior. Planks would cover the wiring, but do I really want to glue planks over the wires?

For the bathroom, the setup will be sconce/mirror/vanity, but there will be exposed wall in between. For the exterior light, I could run the wire along the door frame, or run it up into the second floor and hide it behind the baseboard, but again, there will be a section of wall that the wire will cross. I did think of adding hollow beams, like Brae did for her barn build, but I think for it to look "right" I'd need to add beams to the whole thing, and I'm not sure I want to do that, either.

If someone would just make all of the lights that I want in LED it would solve all of these issues!   

[havanaholly 10555]

Why not make templates of your walls and plank/ paint/ paper those?  You can attach the templates with poster putty or some other removable adhesive to the edges so they can be removed, if necessary, for troubleshooting wiring later or to redecorate..

[Rosie Rabbit 3]

Someone told me that a light will fail at the power source or at the bulb, but not at the wire, so it's OK to glue the wire down, paper over it, etc. That said, it seems so irrevocable. Could you make your own frankenlight by putting a LED into an existing fixture? Maybe a less expensive, non-working fixture?

[aggiemae 149]

The wire will not fail as long as it isn't cut. I hide mine under the baseboards.

If you put in a wood floor and leave 1/16" around the edges and then  slightly sand the bottom back of the baseboard it the electrical wire will tuck right in the slot.

Yes you can put an LED light set into an existing light, but it's easier to make the light, especially table lamps, from scratch.  

[smjsome 889]

I sometimes dremel a line for the wires, and run my wire thru a small straw, and tuck in extra wire, that way I can pull out the light, to change bulbs, and tuck it back in.  I usually paint card stock and glue that to the wall,and no glue gets onto my wires

tucking that wire back in is not fun though.

my last house I expermint end with snot gluing down ten floors,a no my wires are under the floors.  But I just noticed today one floor is warping up.  Grr

[KathieB 5522]

47 minutes ago, smjsome said:

my last house I expermint end with snot gluing down ten floors,a no my wires are under the floors. 

There has to be a couple typos in the sentence, yes?  

[smjsome 889]

Auto correct - it's not my friend.

i experimented with not gluing down the floors, running the wires under, and one of my floors is warping.  Dang iPhones.  

[Tesla12 145]

But.... snot glue..... I know that works great!  I'm a pediatrician and work with it all day long.   :-p

[havanaholly 10555]

Kathy, I was an elementary school nurse for several years and that is a substance with which I am all too familiar...