Wire Concealment on Brick, Concrete, and Masonry Walls

In-wall cable concealment is the gold standard for hiding TV wires. Except when it is not possible — which happens every time the wall behind your TV is brick, concrete, or stone.

Here is how to get a clean cable hide on any masonry wall, without cutting into the wall at all.

Why you cannot fish cables through masonry

In-wall cable concealment works by taking advantage of the open stud cavities inside drywall construction. You cut a hole, drop a cable down the cavity, cut a second hole lower, and pull the cable out. The cable is hidden inside an air gap that exists because drywall is mounted on a wooden frame.

Masonry walls have no air gap. Brick is brick all the way through. Concrete is concrete. Stone is stone. There is nowhere for the cable to go.

You have three real options: run cables on the surface with a raceway, run them inside an adjacent drywall wall if there is one, or hire an electrician to chase a channel into the masonry (expensive and messy).

Method 1: Paintable surface raceway

Cost: $49–$79 installed Time: 20–30 minutes Works on: Any flat masonry surface

This is what we default to on 90% of masonry installs. A paintable plastic channel runs from the TV down to the outlet or media console, holding the cables inside. After installation, the channel gets painted to match the wall — mortar color on brick, stone texture paint on stone, smooth latex on concrete.

The materials:

• Wiremold CordMate II: The industry standard. Comes in white, paintable primer coat, screws or adhesive mount. About $20 for a 6-foot run.
• Legrand Wiremold: A slightly nicer version with better corners and transitions. $25–$35.

The install:

1. Cut the channel to length with a hacksaw or miter saw
2. Mark the channel position on the wall (use painter’s tape)
3. Apply adhesive strips (for renters) or drill masonry anchors (for owners)
4. Stick or screw the channel to the wall
5. Route the cables inside
6. Snap the cover on
7. Fill any gaps at the edges with paintable caulk
8. Paint to match

Final look: From more than 5 feet away, a properly painted raceway is barely visible. Up close, you can tell it is there, but it looks intentional rather than sloppy.

Method 2: Color-matched raceway on exposed brick

Cost: $60–$100 installed Works on: Exposed brick walls (common in DTLA lofts)

Exposed brick is tricky because you cannot smoothly paint a plastic channel to match brick texture. Instead, we use a brown or dark-red primed channel and paint it to match the average mortar color.

The result is a channel that “reads” as a mortar line to the eye at normal viewing distances. Up close it is obviously an add-on, but the visual impact is minimal in most lofts.

Pro tip: Route the channel down a natural mortar line if one exists. Most brick walls have horizontal mortar joints every 3 inches — running the channel along a joint makes it much less visible than running it across the middle of a brick row.

Method 3: Corner molding

Cost: $30–$60 installed Works on: Walls where the outlet is in a corner

If your outlet is in a corner and the TV is mounted on the adjacent wall, you can run cables up the corner using a small piece of corner trim molding. The corner is already a visual transition point, so the cable run blends in.

Corner molding comes in:

• Plastic (paintable, $10–$20 per 6 feet)
• Wood (stainable or paintable, $30–$50 per 6 feet)
• Metal (industrial look, $40–$60 per 6 feet)

Pick the material that matches your room’s style.

Method 4: Through the adjacent drywall

Cost: $79–$129 installed Works on: Situations where a drywall wall connects to the masonry at the TV mount location

This is the sneaky good option nobody thinks of. If your TV is mounted on a brick wall but the wall directly beside or below the mount is drywall, you can often route the cables through the drywall and into the back of the TV.

How it works:

1. Install the TV mount on the brick wall normally
2. Cut a small hole in the adjacent drywall, close to where the cables will exit the TV
3. Fish the cables through the drywall cavity down to an outlet or lower hole
4. Install a brush plate over the drywall hole
5. The cables emerge from the drywall plate and run 2-3 inches across to the back of the TV

When this works: Fireplaces where the masonry is the focal wall but drywall is on either side. Feature walls where only a center section is masonry. Partial accent walls.

When it does not: Full-wall masonry installations with no nearby drywall.

Method 5: Chase it into the masonry

Cost: $400+ for electrician work, plus patching and finishing Works on: Any masonry, but expensive

If you really want the cables invisible, an electrician or mason can cut a shallow channel into the masonry, lay the cable inside, and patch over it with matching mortar or stone epoxy.

This is a significant job — usually $400–$800 for the labor, plus the cost of restoring the masonry surface. We do not typically do this work ourselves; we refer it to specialists.

When this is worth it: New construction, major remodels, homes where you are already spending $20,000+ on a renovation and the extra $500 for invisible cables is a rounding error.

When it is not: Everyday living-room TV installs. Method 1 or 2 is almost always good enough.

The masonry drilling tricks

Even if you are not cutting cables into the wall, you still have to mount the TV bracket into masonry. Here is what we use.

The right drill

SDS-Plus rotary hammer is the only tool that makes masonry drilling painless. A regular cordless drill with a masonry bit will work on soft brick but struggles with hardened concrete and takes 4x longer. For any serious masonry work, rent or buy an SDS-Plus.

The right bits

SDS-Plus carbide bits sized for the specific anchor you are using. Brand does not matter much — Bosch, DeWalt, and Milwaukee all make good ones.

The right anchors

Concrete sleeve anchors (Red Head Wedge-All or similar) for heavy loads. Rated for 500+ lb pullout in concrete, plenty for any residential TV.

Tapcons for lighter loads or thinner masonry. Rated for 100–200 lb depending on embedment depth.

Lead shield anchors for older brick where you need a lower-force install to avoid cracking. Not as strong as sleeve anchors but gentler on the wall.

The technique

• Start with a small pilot hole (1/4”), then drill the final hole with the correct size bit
• Keep the drill perpendicular to the wall — crooked holes reduce holding power
• Use a shop vac to remove dust from the hole before inserting the anchor (dust prevents proper seating)
• Tighten anchors to spec — over-tightening cracks masonry, under-tightening lets them slip

Book a masonry TV install

mountLA works on brick, concrete, stone, and tile walls every day across LA and Orange County. DTLA lofts are our daily routine. We bring SDS drills, concrete anchors, paintable raceways, and everything else you need for a clean install on any surface. Flat pricing, licensed and insured.