Painting mini-trunking

[Paul]

Next week sees me reaching one of the those 'significant' birthdays and to celebrate the wife is buying me a home cinema system. I'm sure I don't need to tell everyone that floorstanding speakers are not compatible with wives and small children so we have decided to buy the little Kef egg speakers and wall mount them. Chasing speaker cable into the walls is not an option so I'm hoping to put mini-trunking up the walls (or under the coving) and paint it to match the walls. Has anyone ever done this and do you need to prime the trunking before painting it?

many thanks, Paul.

[Andrew Gabriel]

If you are using gloss paint, use top coat directly with no undercoat, and avoid the water based ones. The solvent slightly dissolves the plastic surface and forms an excellent bond. Just don't ask how to get it off, because you can't...

[Owain]

yes

Not for emulsion paint, but I'd lightly sand the PVC to provide a better key, otherwise the emulsion is liable to chip off rather easily.

You getting one of those screens that go up and down on remote control?

Owain

[John Rumm]

Yup, it emulsions well enough. I find if you give it a light coating with a small roller and let they dry for 20 mins or so, you can then overpaint it nicely.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

PVC takes oil paint well without any primer.

[Christian McArdle]

I find it paints pretty well with any paint at all, solvent or water based vinyl or acrylic.

I normally coat in an acrylic undercoat first and then my choice of top coat, which is usually a vinyl emulsion simply because you want it to match the wall.

Christian.

[Andy Wade]

For gloss the recommended procedure (according to Dulux) is to apply two coats, with the first coat thinned by about 20%.

The D-line mini-trunking from TLC might be of interest to you:

[Paul]

Wow, that's a pretty good price for the clearance stuff, thanks for the tip! And this stuff paints ok? I've got to run cables from the amp which is on one side of the room, to the rear speakers on the other side of the room. We've got wooden floors so no carpets to hide cables under so I was thinking of running the trunking on top of the skirting board or under the cornicing. Does it blend in quite well or does it just look crap?

Paul.

[Paul]

I wish! It would be nice but I can just see my 2 year old swinging on it pretending to be Dora the Explorer. Next 'significant' birthday perhaps.

Paul.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It'll look like what it is, I'm afraid.

[Andy Hall]

One option is to remove the skirting and route a groove in the back to hide the cables. This is OK from the safety perspective as long as they are not mains.

[Paul]

Unfortunately, that's not an option either - going clockwise around the room from the amp I've got a fireplace to negotiate. Going anti-clockwise - which is a long, long way - I've got a door to negotiate. And it's an unusual size skirt (9") so if I damage it I might have trouble getting new ones.

Paul.