Asked on Dec 31, 2017
How can I cover/camouflage electrical wires along exposed ceiling beam
by
Mpa18390824
+4
Following our wildfires in Gatlinburg in Nov 2016, I needed to replace a ceiling in my Florida room. After removing the ceiling, I realized I had beautiful, pristine beams that, although staining them was not an option, could be lovely painted. One drawback was the electrical wires passing through 2 of the 9 beams. Any suggestions for camouflaging or covering them?? No, removing the wires altogether and pulling power for the opposite of the room is not an option.
Thank you.
Related Discussions
Suggested Project Book
Go to the lumberyard and look at the moldings, some are concave and can be used to cover a wire
Painting them the same color as the ceiling wood have them get "lost".
Cord covers. Come in many lengths. Choose ones that are easy to paint. Any hardware or home improvement store will have in stock.
https://www.homedepot.com/b/Electrical-Home-Electronics-Cable-Management/N-5yc1vZc64e
Love Gatlinburg! Was at the Craftsman's Fair last October (again), and was happy to see recovery is progressing. Still, a lot of people could use help. Was happy to aid the local economy to help out in recovery efforts.
I would get some fine wood moulding and place over the wires, or extruded aluminum U-shaped channel, to paint the same color as the beams or ceiling depending where wires are.
If you go the wooden moulding route, you can always use a router to cut a channel on the back to accomodate the wires.
https://www.google.com/search?q=mouldings+to+hire+wires+on+beamed+ceiling&client=opera&hs=vbS&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjA4pWPkLXYAhUN_mMKHXnND5oQ7AkINg&biw=1326&bih=658
They make ceiling/wall wood borders now that you can put up to cover wires. Ask at your local home improvement store or search online for them. You cannot tell they are hollow and have wires behind them.
I would go with the cord covers, we have a number of them in different rooms in our house to disguise the cords from electronics and in the basement where we had to run a new outlet from the box. They are the same color as the walls and you hardly see them unless you know they are there. They come in different lengths and widths for where you have more than one wire and even have ones to make corners (we had to run one around a door frame to the new outlet).
How high or low are the cables through the beams? I have same problem with cable cut through too low possibly. Had electrical box changed and cable pulled across to new split a/c unit. I wasn't present when that happened and don't know if cable is cut through low or high through the beams it went through . I'm just going to paint all white if it's too low. But if your cable or mine is closer to the ceiling consider bead board between the beams hung 2-3" lower than ceiling boards to hide all. It's what I'm doing if my cable is close to ceiling. My beams are 10" so if I lose a couple of inches to hide all with bead board it won't matter much.