The problem isn’t a new one, and you have probably been here before:

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　　Visible cables.

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　　Having Ethernet/telephone/speaker cables on can make even the most well thought out interior look cumbersome and cluttered. Not to mention that these can present a trip hazard or become an impromptu toy for curious babies and toddlers!

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　　Popular cable management solutions:

　　1.?Trunking

　　By quite some distance, the most widely used method for hiding cables is plastic trunking. You may have used it or have some around your home at the moment. Trunking is a thin length of plastic that forms a casing for wires, which runs either vertically or horizontally across the face of your wall.

　　Being cheap, easy to work with and widely available makes plastic trunking a popular method of cable management. However, they aren’t particularly aesthetically pleasing and are generally considered ‘the best of a bad bunch’ given the quality of other available options. Whilst trunking can be painted to match the colour of your walls, it is impossible to truly disguise because it’s bulky nature tends to draw the eye straight to it.

　　Cable trunking is a square plastic channel which houses cables and stops them from being on show in your room.

　　? ?2. ? ? ? Cable Clips

　　Cable clips don’t hide cables from but pin the cable to the wall to keep them tidy. These are mainly used when the cable is required to run around the outside of a doorway, and the clips pin the cable to the top of the skirting and the exterior edge of the architrave to allow for this.

　　Cable clips are used at regular intervals to pin visible cables in place, to keep them tidy.

　　? ?3. ? ? ? Skirting Boards with a Cable Rebate

　　At Skirting 4 U, we manufacture our full range of skirting boards with the option to add a cable rebate. A cable rebate is a small recessed channel that we cut into the back of the board that houses the cables in a similar way to trunking but without the unsightly plastic!

　　The cable rebate is 20mm high, and the depth of the rebate varies depending on the overall thickness of the skirting board.

　　To ensure the skirting board remains durable, we always leave 6mm of MDF to form the face of the channel. The depth of the cable rebate is the overall board thickness minus six. For example:

　　Overall thickness=15mm, rebate size is 20mm x 9mm

　　Overall thickness=18mm, rebate size is 20mm x 13mm

　　Overall thickness=25mm, rebate size is 20mm x 19mm

　　This picture demonstrates how your cables run along the wall in the channel created by the cable rebate. The board shown is a standard 18mm Marlie profile with a 20mm x 13mm rebate.

　　? ? 4. ? ? ? Skirting Board Covers

　　Skirting board covers are manufactured to fit over your existing skirting board so that they can be updated without the need to remove them. These covers can be machined in a way that will accommodate both the existing skirting board AND any cables you wish to hide.

　　This Bullnose skirting cover has been machined to allow extra space to house both the existing skirting and cables.

　　When ordering skirting covers, we ask that you give us the height of the skirting you wish to cover, and we make sure that the recess is 10mm taller than the skirting to ensure it fits over comfortably. If you wish to place a cable behind the cover, it will need to run along the top of the skirting as in the picture above. In this instance, measure the height of your existing skirting starting from the floor and going all the way up to the top of the cable to ensure your cover arrives at the correct size.

　　This can be quite a confusing subject, so if you require any further information don’t hesitate to contact our sales team who will be happy to discuss your options with you and find the correct solution. You can call us on 01922 451 689 or email enquiries@skirting4u.co.uk.

　　About the Author

　　Kieron Miller?is the Managing Director of Skirting 4 U and has been working in the skirting board and online retail industry since 2012. Kieron has been using his extensive product knowledge and problem-solving experience to help both trade and private consumers all over the country find the perfect skirting board products for their projects. He continues to innovate new solutions and product ideas as the market continues to grow.