# Plasterer has ruined my HDMI cables....



## tomlister (Dec 31, 2012)

As title, me and the other half have just bought our fist home together, a 50's house which had a little lady live in it for donkeys of years. Nothing in the house has been done for a minimum of 20-30 years so we are fully stripping the house back and bringing it up to modern standards.

Because we all like our tech and tv's i really wanted the tv over the fireplace with no cables showing... for this we have ended up boxing the chimney breast out to fix sockets and cables up into the ceiling, run 4xHDMI cables up over the ceiling and down a channel to the side of the fireplace. initially we plasterboard the edges of the wall leaving a central channel for the HDMI cables. this would then have a full sheet of plasterboard over the whole lot allowing a small cavity for the cables to move freely in. first thing is that it appears where the full sheet has been placed, the plasterer has put dot and dap right over the cables meaning they are stuck in one position... second thing is that he's managed to get plaster inside the HDMI male connector.... fuming isn't the word however I'm a little stuck to say something as the plasterer is my father inlaws cousin....

any ideas how i can clean the plaster from the inside of the male connector? i was thinking a lot of persistence with a tooth brush???








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Heres some images of where we are and what direction its going in...


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## shane_ctr (Dec 17, 2006)

Picking it out sounds the only way , but why did you not tape all the end up


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## tomlister (Dec 31, 2012)

shane_ctr said:


> Picking it out sounds the only way , but why did you not tape all the end up


Wasn't there at the time buddy - i work away from home and left instructions with him which he didn't follow...


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## DJ X-Ray (Sep 2, 2012)

Yeah,or even the geezer who dabbed it out should have should have taped it up

His name ain't Pete is it


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## Clancy (Jul 21, 2013)

tomlister said:


> Wasn't there at the time buddy - i work away from home and left instructions with him which he didn't follow...


That's plasterers for you mate lol, pain in the ass

I would let it completely dry and pick it out with a toothpick. There are acids etc that can dissolve it but no idea what that would do to the hdmi so probably best not too

You said the cable on the wall can't move cus he dot and dabbed over them? But if the wall is studded what did he dot and dab? Should of just screwed into it, unless I'm getting the wrong end of the stick


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## tomlister (Dec 31, 2012)

Clancy said:


> That's plasterers for you mate lol, pain in the ass
> 
> I would let it completely dry and pick it out with a toothpick. There are acids etc that can dissolve it but no idea what that would do to the hdmi so probably best not too
> 
> You said the cable on the wall can't move cus he dot and dabbed over them? But if the wall is studded what did he dot and dab? Should of just screwed into it, unless I'm getting the wrong end of the stick


So we put two pieces of plaster board either side of the wall with a clear channel in the centre. (wall between the chimney breast and the corner of the wall) then put a full sheet over all of it - he should of dot and dabbed it either side of the channel but appears he's put it straight onto the cables....


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## Darlofan (Nov 24, 2010)

What's he dot and dabbed, should just be screwed to the batons.


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## DJ X-Ray (Sep 2, 2012)

I think he is on about the wall to the right of the breast.


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## LeadFarmer (Feb 23, 2011)

tomlister said:


>


Can I ask a couple of questions about your timber mantel piece, as I want to do similar...

How did you attached it to the wall, did you screw it to the batons?

Did you fix it prior to plastering?

Cheers


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## Estoril-5 (Mar 8, 2007)

Plasterers, they'll just plaster.

Mine screwed up the cables for my surround sound. Had to relocate the cable and then do a patch repair myself.

If I ever need plastering done again I'll be doing it myself.


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## PWOOD (Apr 30, 2007)

Given the room is still being decorated I would start again and replace the cables. Cleaning the end out will require something harsh and you could have a failure over time. Not what you want to hear I know. There are kits and instructions on how to re terminate an HDMI cable but you require expert skills with a soldering iron or risk damaging your gear.
http://www.blueechosolutions.com/info/hd-ez-lock/repairing-damaged-hdmi-cable/


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## brinks (Jun 21, 2006)

Quite easy really, if you're not happy with the work you've paid for - get him back to do it properly.


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

You should really have stuck the ends in a bag and taped it. Regardless of direct paster contamination there's will be a lot of dust floating around, this takes 20 seconds, anyway what's done is done.

Picking it out gently would be the best bet.

Did you run a spare cable? I did something similar with my chimney breast and I put in more cables than I could ever need (up to that technology point obviously). 

If you can still run an HDMI cable without major disruption I would do it, if a cable fails in a few years time you don't want to be ripping the wall to bits. I've had a couple fail and ended up pulling in a new one.........which failed straight away due to the forces pulling it in, then pulled in another with a flat cable design this time. It was a big pain but at least I didn't have to rip the wall to bits.


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## leehob (Jul 9, 2014)

This is why nowadays installers are running cat5 cables everywhere, you can then use hdmi over cat 5 baluns, if these fail they are easily replaced.:thumb:


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## ardandy (Aug 18, 2006)

leehob said:


> This is why nowadays installers are running cat5 cables everywhere, you can then use hdmi over cat 5 baluns, if these fail they are easily replaced.:thumb:


Cat 5 fails too.


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## Xploit (Nov 16, 2011)

They use Cat5 because its cheap and can be boosted easily to increase effective range, HDMI is only so good up to a certain difference.

If you go to the trouble of boxing the wall why not just run a conduit to run cables in, in case you wanted to change in the future.


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## willvo84 (Apr 28, 2015)

Just replace the cable, even if you think you've got all the plaster out, they're very intricately designed and you'll likely knacker the HDMI port on your TV/Source.

Can you not just pull another HDMI lead through using the knackered cable as a guide?

Will


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## martin.breslin (Apr 23, 2015)

Xploit said:


> They use Cat5 because its cheap and can be boosted easily to increase effective range, HDMI is only so good up to a certain difference.
> 
> If you go to the trouble of boxing the wall why not just run a conduit to run cables in, in case you wanted to change in the future.


Conduit is the best bet, when I do rewires, I use flat 20mm plastic conduit. You can squeeze the end round so it sits just inside the back box, you don't have to chase any further into the wall and changing cables in the future is a doddle. Sorry to hear about your predicament. At least your plasterer didn't ruin £400 worth of tools washing down 😒


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## tommyboy40 (Feb 28, 2012)

I'd also run a couple of cat 6's to ensure future connectivity


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## Dannbodge (Sep 26, 2010)

I've been running cables in my walls recently and have been putting them inside oval trunking.
To me it was just good practice to do so


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