WTF? Random cables coming out of walls - how to safely get rid of them?

[shelivesthedream]

We've moved to a new house and every room has some random wires/cables coming out of the walls. My best guess is that they are mostly related to television - which we won't be having. I've attached some pictures. Can anyone shed any light on what they are for and how to safely get rid of them?

[shelivesthedream]

Further pics.

[sokoloff]

The first pic, the white sky box, and most of the other white wires look more like a telephone/ADSL line. The others look mostly like coaxial TV feeds.

All of those can be simply cut and discarded, if you're 100% sure you won't want them and won't wish they were there when selling to the next homeowner. (They don't carry any voltage/current that would be dangerous to a pair of side or diagonal cutters.)

If they were intact and not in your way, I'd encourage you to leave them, but it's your call obviously.

[doublethinkmoney]

Besides the first pic, they are all coax and phone wire that cane be cut. The second to last pic, I can't see the end of that black skinny one... so not sure what that is. I am cable installer. I would use insulated oilers to cut them sometimes satellite companys have power boosters on the wire so you can get a little buzz but mostly you have unplugged anything that was there. Just remember that those 4 coax wires go somewhere so make sure you don't cut off your internet assuming it's fed through the coax to a modem or router!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[doublethinkmoney]

Insulated pliers*


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[lthenderson]

When in doubt, every homeowner should have one of these in their toolbox to detect if wires have voltages present.

https://www.amazon.com/Dr-meter-Non-Contact-Multi-sensor-Electrical-Electrometric/dp/B01D9SOB8G/

[Spork]

Danger: This is my own personal pet peeve.  Don't let it influence you if it doesn't bother you.

I absolutely detest wiring run like that.   I like all my wiring neatly tucked away inside wall cavities.  And I don't want a hole punched in the goddamn wall.  I want a neat install with a flush wall plate whether it is electrical, phone, ethernet, coax, speaker wire, etc.  I have the same issue outside the house.  I just can't stand it when someone runs a line from the demarc up the outside of the house, around the fascia board, back down the wall, and inside.  Poke one neat hole and run that stuff inside, man!

I do understand there is some old construction that may not lend itself well to retrofits... but I would bothered by it every time I saw it.

[sokoloff]

First pic might also be a doorbell chime. That one could probably be tidied up quickly by stapling carefully to the top of the molding.

[BudgetSlasher]

If you do decide to cut them I do have a suggestion. For the phone lines make sure the ends of the individual strands are separated (I like to cut them at various lengths and wrap them back around the exterior insulation such that no ends are near each other). A stray connection between phone wires can be a real pain to track down later, especially if you push it back inside the wall and joint compound over the opening . . . .

Personally I would get a some old work low voltage "boxes" (http://www.homedepot.com/p/1-Gang-Non-Metallic-Low-Voltage-Old-Work-Bracket-SC100RR/100160916) they also make 2-gang, some coaxial faceplates (http://www.homedepot.com/p/CE-TECH-Coaxial-Wall-Plate-White-VIDEO-CABLE-WALL-PLATE-WHITE-1-LN/203717887), and some phone face jacks (http://www.homedepot.com/p/CE-TECH-1-Line-Wall-Jack-Wall-Plate-White-216-WH/203715333) to tidy up and retain at least some of those connection points. They even make combined coaxial and phone faceplates (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Decora-Phone-and-TV-Jack-Insert-White-R02-40659-00W/202051129) that can be coupled with a normal faceplate (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Decora-1-Gang-Midway-Nylon-Wall-Plate-White-R62-0PJ26-00W/100356918).   

[bobechs]

Make very sure none of those are Deadly Poisonous Snakes, especially if you are planning to go after them with cutters-- any kind of cutters-- Deadly Poisonous Snakes hate cutters.

[shelivesthedream]

Thanks all. We've got an engineer coming round to set up our internet and landline in two weeks time, so I'll ask them which bits are important for what we want and chop the rest. I think I'll try to retain one coaxial point and install a face plate. Can anyone explain/point me to any good resources on how to do that? I have rewired a plug once, but other than that have no electrical experience.

[sokoloff]

If you have a low-voltage contractor coming out, I'd just tip the guy a few bucks and ask him to shorten and put a few ends on the wires you want shortened. (Make sure you understand if you're going to be charged [a lot] by the company first.)

The tools to do good coaxial connections can't be justified for a one-time use situation. I think I paid around the better part of $100 for my compression fitting setup. The cheap crimp fittings and tools aren't nearly as good and IMO aren't worth your time or money.

Coax ("TV") connections in the wall are then finished with a connector in the wall and then connected to a female-to-female pass through connector to the part of the house you can see.

Either something like this:

(all the ones below electrically work like this one)

Or this:


Or combined with phone:

[sokoloff]

An "old work" box is an electrical box that can be fitted to a finished wall and secured against the drywall/plaster. For mains electrical, it's a full box (generally blue plastic). You can use those.


For low voltage (coax, phone, ethernet), you can also use the backless (typically orange) old work "boxes" (rings, really), like this:


Those need to be carefully cut into the wall (so that the hole is fairly snug around the box so that the cover plate will cover it). That's a job for you guys (it's just labor).

[former player]

Pic 1 looks like a doorbell, but you should be able to run the cable to its end to find out.  If you are keeping it, you should be able to tack the cable to the top of the architrave around the door - "cable tack" will find the right doohicky for this.

Pic 2 is your standard retrofitted electricity in a Victorian house.  You should be able to find a piece of trunking (probably plastic, hopefully paintable) in a building supplies or DIY store to fix over it if you want.

Pic 3 I think you have two BT boxes here.  The one on the left is the standard telephone box which probably has on its front an adaptor to turn one telephone socket into two.  The one on the right could well be a superfast broadband link, with a Sky adaptor left in it.  You could dispose of both the adaptors.  After that, you need to find out whether these are the first of these boxes which appear inside the house or whether they are extensions to those first boxes.  You should leave the first boxes but can remove any extensions  - from the lines trailing along the ground I suspect that both of these are extensions, but please be sure before removing them.  If they are the first boxes, use cable tacks to tidy up the trailing lines.

Have you checked out what telephone and internet deals are available to you with what is already installed?  I'm surprised to learn that you still need an engineer visit to put in a new line when you've already got what appears to be fibre/broadband cable from openreach.

Other pics: the black cables look like TV cable.   The final pic looks like it might be the original TV aerial cable - if you look on the outside of the window you might see the cable running up to the aerial.  The other black cables look like extensions, and  there is probably a signal booster box somewhere in the house which then supplies all those different black cables - it might very well be in the attic.   Everything except the aerial on the roof and the cable leading from it into the house could be removed without any issues - you could remove the original aerial and its cable too as long as you will never want TV and have to pay to reinstall it.