wires around skirting boards - paint over?

moneylover

am helping my son decorate flat at the moment and we are about to do a bedroom that has telephone (I think) wires/cables around the top of the skirting board and around door frame. Wood floor. They are clipped down very tightly with little tight staples not the bigger sort you sometimes see. Go all around the house -son says they are not wires we can get rid of.... Question is - can I paint over with the gloss paint or must I find some sort of pinchers to get the staples out with, I suppose that would be best but a lot of work.
Any tips very gratefully received!

adandem

We've painted over wire, it will be fine;)

Jonesya

If you want to conceal them you could always put them into some low profile trunking:
http://www.d-line.co.uk/

Mikeyorks

You should be able to track them either from source or to destination? If they're no longer live (they sound more like alarm than telephone) - would be easier to remove than paint.

But you can paint them if that's what you want to do. If they're affixed right to the top edge of the skirting - virtually impossible to trunk them - and they're a real muck trap if you have to wallpaper down and behind them. So it's easier to remove, if they're no longer active.

curlyfairy

What i have done many times is use pollyfiller and fill the gap front and back of the cable,when dry just paint it,it looks good and you don't even notice the cable afterwards as it looks like the skirting board.

Ben.

moneylover

thank you all very much indeed. Cannot trunk as on top of skirting board. One of the wires we have now traced back and got rid of . So far undercoating on other wire that goes all around the flat - I think its because Virgin comes in at the side of the flat and the TV is the other. Stupid really. Maybe it was done that way because not allowed at the front of the block of flats....don't know - it has made me think - maybe it could be changed.

I thought when I was painting about polyfilling around the side of the wire where all around doorframe thats where it shows most because of the gappyness..and have just read above post about but wouldnt the polyfilla just shrink away?

curlyfairy

No mate not at all,ive done it in many an expensive London house/flat when running cables due to marble/wood/tiled floors.I just discussed it with the owners of the property and they are very happy.Just fill the gaps and let it dry (we normally did the filling and went back a week later to check).

HTH.

Ben.