Mounting TV to the wall

[sdilley14]

I'm curious to see how many people here have mounted their TV to the wall. I'm considering going this route, but I've never done it before.

Was it challenging? Any suggestions for mounting hardware? What did you use to run/hide cables? Any tips on how to do this cleanly and with as little frustration as possible? 🙂

 

[ecopod]

I went this route in our main bedroom but cheated so probably not much help. Cheat was in form of putting in a false chimney breast (room is big so not an issue), this allowed the following:
- place wood batons behind plasterboard exactly where needed to screw into for super secure fixing
- given above went with very low cost bracket
- hid two shelves in chimney to hold Sky TV box / Apple TV / Digisender
- hole in ceiling within chimney to run sky cables and Cat 5e to ATV/Sky TV
- mains into chimney to also hide electrical connections

Has worked perfectly so far, lay in bed with remotes and all is well.

Hope you find suitable solution.

 

[emjaycee18]

I'm curious to see how many people here have mounted their TV to the wall. I'm considering going this route, but I've never done it before.

Was it challenging? Any suggestions for mounting hardware? What did you use to run/hide cables? Any tips on how to do this cleanly and with as little frustration as possible? 🙂

Just recently hung a my living room TV. Before you get heavily invested, find your studs and mark them. After that, if you're thinking about hiding your wires, poke a thin coat hanger through your wall just to make sure there's nothing between the studs.

I went with a Cheetah mount from Amazon (very good quality for under $30), and hid the wires using Datacomm Wall Mount cable organizer (just know that it is against code to hide power cords in a wall).

http://www.amazon.com/Datacomm-50-3323-WH-KIT-Panel-Organizer-Solution/dp/B001PB7UVA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1397662832&sr=8-2&keywords=tv+wall+mount+outlet

If you have dry wall, it should only take an hour doing everything start to finish. I have an old house with horsehair, so it took a lot longer for me to do.

 

[sdilley14]

Thanks for the input!

 

[linds15]

also depends the size of the tv. hanging a 27" in the bedroom was very simple, took almost no effort. the 55" plasma (this was 7 years ago) is a lot heavier, so obviously needed a bigger and much sturdier mount, and we also reenforced the wall.

in the bedroom i love just having a ATV strapped to the back of it, no wires no fuss.

 

[b3av3r]

We hung our new 65" in the living room a few months ago. It took about 1 1/2 hours or so mainly because I measure everything twice plus test fit it all to double check everything is fitting where I want it.

We picked up a basic mount at best buy for around $50, I think. I have a much older house, about 95 years old, so my frame is far from standard. However, I just measured how the TV would sit on the mount and then placed the mount on the wall in the correct location. Marked the holes, drilled, and secured the mount with bolts. Getting the TV up on the mount was challenging and would have been easier with 3 people instead of just 2.

Unfortunately, we haven't decided on a solution to hide the wires just yet.

 

[Lord Hamsa]

If you don't want to run cables through the walls, you can get a cord cover to attach to the wall over the cables - many of these can be painted to match the walls. It won't be as elegant as completely hiding the cords, but it's easier and avoids any code violations regarding power cords inside the walls.

Here's an example one: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Legrand-Wiremold-Flat-Screen-TV-Cord-Cover-Kit-C30/100657476 - you can see from the pictures that it isn't invisible, but it does blend with the backdrop.

 

[QWERTYMac7]

Three flat screens all mounted to the wall.

I detest seeing wires so the install for each was a challenge.

For our large living room TV, the Dish, Apple TV, Blu-ray and receiver are in a custom made TV cabinet (held a 27" CRT for some years) six feet from the new TV - just happened to be on the other side of a passageway... Sooooo, the 25' HDMI cables go through the back wall of the cabinet, through the floor, along the floor joists, up the wall the TV is mounted on the through the wall at an appropriate place. The mount is very hefty 1/2" aluminum and has a very large swing on its dual articulated arms. I did this some years ago and paid $450 +/- for the mount.

About the appropriate place: the TV hangs on a 2x6 wall which has behind it a stairway to a loft. I removed 4" of the 6" of the 2x stock then sheet rocked the inset area and mounted a 'clock' outlet for power on the base of the new area and added several 2 1/2 computer grommets for HDMI cables and speaker wires, etc. When the TV is not being used it fits nicely flush with the wall and the back of the TV is inset into the space I carved out for it. It's an older set and is rather thick, but looks very good as it fits very flush to the wall. When we have guests we display a piece of art on it.

Too much for most folks? Yes. One of my wife's friends saw the installation and said: "how long did that take you to do? An hour or two?"

"Two weeks," came the reply.

Point of the story is not to be a braggart but to emphasize that anything is possible. TV's are thinner and lighter, mounts are more numerous and less expensive. Plastic conduit is available to hide wires and can be painted to match your walls.

Good luck!

 

[Menel]

Corner mount, stud to each side of a corner. 55" LCD.

Didn't run cables in wall. At my fathers we put cables behind the drywall. But 1. my den has ~3 foot oak paneling. 2. I was lazy. Since receiver handles most switching. HDMI up, optical audio return for antenna, and power. 3 cables, put a mesh sleeve around them. Tidy enough.

Make sure you are good with the location and neck strain. I intentionally didn't put ours very high. Barely clears the wood paneling.

 

[sdilley14]

Lots of great input - thanks guys!

 

[foobarbazqux]

I've hung 2 TVs, a projector and have run/hidden tons of wiring throughout my house. It's not hard at all as long as you take your time.

o Make sure you're not drilling into any power lines, ducts, etc.

o Use a stud finder to find/mark the studs. Now check again and maybe a 3rd time 🙂

o Follow the directions that came with your mount. It should specify what size drill bit you should use, exactly where the holes will go, etc. It should come with a template to make it easy.

o Prior to hanging the TV on the wall, I usually test the mount by seeing if it can hold my weight (assuming it's rated to hole that much weight).

o Hanging the TV on the mount is easy. You attach a mounting plate to the back of your TV and then, literally, hang it on the mount and then secure it. This is quite a bit easier these days since TVs a lot lighter than when I first did it.

You have lots of options in regards to hiding the wires. I bought most of my wall plates and whatnot from monoprice.com. For my living room and home theater, I used keystone wall plates and jacks.

When it comes to power, you have 3 options:

1) Just have it hang down the wall or in a cable race-way type thing. In other words, not in wall. This is the easiest option but you'll see the wire/raceway.

2) Run an outlet to behind the TV. You can decide if you're up to this or if you'd want an electrician to do it.

3) Use something like a power bridge, like this company sells: http://www.powerbridgesolution.com. These are basically in-wall power extensions that are legal to use. You have a normal outlet behind the TV, a male outlet on the bottom of the wall and a romex/electrical wire connecting the 2 in-wall. They are very easy to install as long as you're not afraid of cutting holes in your wall and can handle hooking up an electrical outlet. I've used these twice. Another advantage of these is that you don't need to worry about mounting a surge protector behind your TV. They sell versions that can handle not only power but the A/V cables as well.

Don't simply run the TV's power cord in the wall and don't run a normal extension cord in the wall. option 3) is a legal way to do that.

Hope that helps.

 

[Tulani]

I prefer them sitting on the stand as oppssed to hanging on the wall so that I can always play around with my cabling and connections without too much stress.

 

[richwoodrocket]

I prefer them sitting on the stand as oppssed to hanging on the wall so that I can always play around with my cabling and connections without too much stress.

I agree. It's much easier to move the tv if it's on a stand too.

 

[sdilley14]

I think if I do end up mounting my TV, I'll just go with a wall cover for the cords.

That isn't too bad of a look at all.

 

[DaveNinja]

3 tvs all with mounting kits from monoprice.com

 

[fhall1]

I think if I do end up mounting my TV, I'll just go with a wall cover for the cords.

Image

That isn't too bad of a look at all.

I'm using the same cord cover....when painted to match the wall, it looks pretty good, just like the pic you posted.

 

[D.T.]

If you’re reasonably handy, have a few tools and take your time it’s pretty easy. Though keep in mind, an improperly mounted set, especially a large one, could result in wrecked equipment (or even people!) It’s very important to get a proper measure on studs, tap with the proper diameter, etc.

Since we went over the fireplace*, I ran cabling cleaning along the mantel, tapped the corners, ran it through, used white plugs, went to all white cabling, cable conduit. There’s a ton of products out there for cable management, that combined with a little creative drill work, can make things very clean.

Before I ordered I did some research and took some outstanding advice from the couple of posters on the AVS forum and picked up some ultra high grade SS 1/4x3" lags from Home Depot, some additional washers too. Figured a few bucks on high[er] quality fasteners couldn’t hurt (especially since our main set is a Panasonic Plasma, which isn't a lightweight).

*Side note: in the past I haven’t been a fan of this location, but we’re using a product called Mantle Mount, it's a levering/retractable mount system, that also swivels (and it tilts automatically to a perfect viewing angle), very well engineered (great build quality, clean welds), drops the set like 25-26” down.