Expert: James Ball - 6/7/2009

Question
"I am going to hang a LCD over the mantle of my fireplace and have removed the entire front wall above the mantel exposing the cavity above the fireplace. The fireplace itself is a pre-built with a double walled exhaust about 14 inches thick.

Currently there are two lights, one on each side above the mantel so there are already electrical wires running inside the cavity. I had an electrician take those out and leave an outlet in the middle so there is an exposed wire in the cavity. what I want to do is run grey PVC conduit next to this outlet, horizontally along the inside, and then down the side of the fireplace so that I can run the HDMI and others cables to the TV, hidding all the cables. Do you think this will be safe?  The metal exhaust duct currently runs up and then out of the house and at the point where it reaches the ceiling above the fireplace is touching the 2x4 studs so if this is fine then I believe I should be OK but just wanted an expert opinion.

Answer
Hello Carlos, I am not a big fan of TV's over fireplace's. and the metal pipe SHOULD NEVER TOUCH a 2x4. I would check with your local building dept about the wiring you want to do and I would have a local Certified Chimney Sweep (www.csia.org, there you can look up by zip code to find one near you) take a first hand look at what you have with that pipe touching they should be able to help.
Hope this helps
James