Routing wires horizontally in a stud wall

[Brogan]

Hi,

First post so be gentle...

I'm in the process of hiding all the cables related to my AV equipment.
First step is to hide the RF (Sky, TV, FM) cables in the wall cavity and bring them back out behind the equipment rack.

I have to go horizontally across the wall and past 4 vertical studs.
I've removed a small circle of plasterboard (2 sheets thick) from one stud using a hole cutter to see what's what and they're typical metal studs.
With wooden studs it would simply have been a matter of notching out but with these metal ones it's not so easy.

Has anyone got any tips as to how I can easily get cables past the studs?
Ideally I'd like to keep the mess and repairs to a minimum as it's a brand new apartment.

I have considered removing the skirting but that would probably be more problematic as I'd have to lift the carpet, possibly remove the gripper, match the skirting, etc.

Any tips/advice greatfully received.

 

[Brogan]

I think I may have found a solution which could be fairly simple to do.

As there are 2 sheets of plasterboard, I can remove a rectangular section about 15cm wide x 5cm high - this will easily clear the metal studs which are about 7.5cm wide.

Then I can lay the cables against the stud, secure with some expanding foam or such like and replace only the surface layer of plasterboard.
In effect, the cables will be utilising the space that is currently taken up by the back sheet of plasterboard.

That way I don't need to notch any studs, there is minimum damage and it will simply be a matter of filling and painting 4 small rectangular patches.