Running cable through cement walls?

I had the issue last May when I moved into my coop. What i wanted to do was hang lcd tv's on the wall but theres no way i would do it if the cables hung under.

What needs to be done is run cable along baseboards and then channel through the cemen wall staright up wherever you want the outlet. Then have an outlet installed. For example, I had the guy channel up behind the hanging tv and then have the outlets hidden behind. The channels are then plastered up. Buy VERY HIGH QUALITY CABLES meant to behind walls. And hope they don't go out anytime soon!

The walls probably aren't concrete. If it's a newer high-rise, there might be concrete shear walls, but they'd be behind a layer of furring and sheetrock. The other walls would be steel studs and sheetrock.

If a prewar, the outside walls would be brick with an airspace and plaster on the inside. Inside walls would be plastered terra-cotta or gypsum block.

The plaster can be channeled into to run flexible plastic conduit, through which you run the cable. That's for low-voltage stuff like coax, phone, CAT-5, etc. Don't bury those wires without conduit, or you'll eventually have a mess when standards change. For power I think the code calls for metal conduit.

We just did it in our prewar apt--everything is fully wired and neat as a pin. Takes a lot of channeling and mess but not terribly difficult for a skilled contractor (don't attempt yourself!). Might be a bit of a nuisance if you're living there while the work is being done but not undoable.

But then just try to rearrange the furniture after one year ...

I think life was easier when we had these:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3594/3294075829_b38b38076f.jpg

I'm getting ready to get estimates now and was wondering if some of you above who have had the work done can make recommendations on who you have used.

Fishermb

Two ways you can do it

1. Chop the walls and then patch and paint. The patching has to be done by a very skilled person as you do not wan tho see the repairs when finished. It should look like nothing was done at all

2. Remove all base molding and put all cables behind the molding and install new.