Hanging TV Above Fireplace

[Trevytrev11]

Anyone done it? Any tips?

We are building a new house and in the center of our family room is our fireplace with the expectation that our TV will be hung directly above.

On each side of the fireplace will be built in cabinets (about 6' wide each).
The bottom cabinets with doors will be about 2' deep and above that will be open shelving.

I am having the builder run power, cable and Ethernet to the location where the tv will be hung.

I was going to have some tubes run from that same location to the cabinets on both sides. I can use this to feed HDMI cables to/from the TV and my components (DVR box, receiver and blue ray player).

I have installed or helped install several wall mounted TV's before and am not worried about the basic installation, but was hoping to get some tips or unique ideas from those that have done this in terms of setup, etc.

Any way I can keep the components in s cabinet or do they need to breath?

[55]

Re: Hanging TV Above Fireplace

There isn't a more cliched place to mount a television.

Plus, it is just way too high.

For optimum viewing, you want the center of your screen to be directly at eye level when you're seated.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: Hanging TV Above Fireplace

Skinny fireplace near the ground with low mantel...tv will be somewhat close to optimal viewing height, but thanks for the criticism. Not what I was asking for, but thanks, I guess.

[aukevin]

Re: Hanging TV Above Fireplace

I was against mounting my TV over a fireplace until I moved into my new house. It was just the best location for it. I bought a full motion mount that lets it swivel good. I also bought new couches for the house that recline so that my head is comfortably looking at the TV instead of my eyes looking up. It's growing on me. I've been to some houses where they have a high mantle and I would get a headache from my eyes looking up the whole time. That's not happening at my new house, but I don't have a high mantle either. I have a 58" plasma, so that sucker was heavy. I tried a few different ways to get that thing on the mount, but eventually just had to go by a scaffold to go between two ladders so me and another person could just stand on it and easily hang the TV.

I have my equipment in a closet that I hope will be ventilated enough. I get nervous about them in small cabinets. If you're not going to invest in a IR remote like the Harmony 900, you might want to go ahead and get one of those IR repeaters and run it's cable from where the eye will be to your cabinet.

[AUChase]

Re: Hanging TV Above Fireplace

Our downstairs entertainment room has a TV above the fireplace, but it has gas long inserts.

It's not mounted to the wall, though. We built a small "compartment" into the wall the size of the TV ( 46 I believe ) so the TV is even with the wall and doesn't just hang out over it.

The equipment is stored in a hidden closet on the right side of the TV, so it's no problem.

Are you using gas logs or burning regular logs in it ?

[Trevytrev11]

Re: Hanging TV Above Fireplace

I was against mounting my TV over a fireplace until I moved into my new house. It was just the best location for it. I bought a full motion mount that lets it swivel good. I also bought new couches for the house that recline so that my head is comfortably looking at the TV instead of my eyes looking up. It's growing on me. I've been to some houses where they have a high mantle and I would get a headache from my eyes looking up the whole time. That's not happening at my new house, but I don't have a high mantle either. I have a 58" plasma, so that sucker was heavy. I tried a few different ways to get that thing on the mount, but eventually just had to go by a scaffold to go between two ladders so me and another person could just stand on it and easily hang the TV.

I have my equipment in a closet that I hope will be ventilated enough. I get nervous about them in small cabinets. If you're not going to invest in a IR remote like the Harmony 900, you might want to go ahead and get one of those IR repeaters and run it's cable from where the eye will be to your cabinet.

Thanks a lot. I saw your pictures of your new house and the TV above the fireplace and almost asked this in that discussion.

How high is the bottom of your TV from the floor?

I'm worried about having everything confined in a cabinet, so I imagine at min, the dvr and receiver will be out, probably sitting on top of the bottom section. Not ideal, but there is a lot of space there.

[Splitter77]

Re: Hanging TV Above Fireplace

the components should be fine in there. unless you have a ps3 or xbox in there.
If you do, just make sure you keep the cabinets open when using them.

i just ran all my connections behind the walls. bought some hdmi plates at home depot.
If you cant find any studs to mount the tv, i recommend using the ziptie toggle bolts. They work wonders and are easy to install. I only hit one stud mounting my plasma, but used those ziptie toggles on a couple other holes.

these are the ziptie bolts

[Trevytrev11]

Re: Hanging TV Above Fireplace

Our downstairs entertainment room has a TV above the fireplace, but it has gas long inserts.

It's not mounted to the wall, though. We built a small "compartment" into the wall the size of the TV ( 46 I believe ) so the TV is even with the wall and doesn't just hang out over it.

The equipment is stored in a hidden closet on the right side of the TV, so it's no problem.

Are you using gas logs or burning regular logs in it ?

We're going with wood burning. I'm a bit old fashioned when it comes to fires.

We live in Houston, so litterally there are a handful of days a year that we'd build a fire. Gas probably made more since due to the low usage, but I'm fond of throwing wood on the fire.

[mgoblue]

Re: Hanging TV Above Fireplace

Cool tips everyone...don't have a fireplace but thinking of wall mounting a tv or two just to get them off a entertainment center (or dresser in the bedroom) so other things can go there.

Getting the mount on the wall is pretty simple? Just find a stud or two that you can tap into and it'll hold most LCD tv's? Mine aren't the super heavy plasmas, so I think it'd be ok.

[aukevin]

Thanks a lot. I saw your pictures of your new house and the TV above the fireplace and almost asked this in that discussion.

How high is the bottom of your TV from the floor?

5.5 feet from the floor to the bottom of the TV.

[AUChase]

Re: Hanging TV Above Fireplace

We're going with wood burning. I'm a bit old fashioned when it comes to fires.

We live in Houston, so litterally there are a handful of days a year that we'd build a fire. Gas probably made more since due to the low usage, but I'm fond of throwing wood on the fire.

I hear you on that. We have another fireplace in the house for wood burning.

Fireplaces can save you money on your power bill, if you're smart and know how to maintain one. We put a rug in front of the living room fire place and it paid off. I was watching TV one night with my Dad and somehow a log rolled out and into the floor. Without a rug, it would have burned the laminent flooring.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: Hanging TV Above Fireplace

Cool tips everyone...don't have a fireplace but thinking of wall mounting a tv or two just to get them off a entertainment center (or dresser in the bedroom) so other things can go there.

Getting the mount on the wall is pretty simple? Just find a stud or two that you can tap into and it'll hold most LCD tv's? Mine aren't the super heavy plasmas, so I think it'd be ok.

That's pretty much it...find the stud, make sure your mount is level and screw in the screws. Hook up the other piece to the back of the tv and then hook it/connect it to the wall mount.

[Burns11]

Re: Hanging TV Above Fireplace

You should really drill pilot holes, it's easy to shear the head off of a lag bolt. Installing a TV mount really is very easy to do.

BTW, lag bolts in studs are very sturdy, when I put mine up, 4 lag bolts and it was able to support me.

[Trevytrev11]

Re: Hanging TV Above Fireplace

You should really drill pilot holes, it's easy to shear the head off of a lag bolt. Installing a TV mount really is very easy to do.

BTW, lag bolts in studs are very sturdy, when I put mine up, 4 lag bolts and it was able to support me.

Yeah, those things are monsters.

Also, buy your mounts online from monoprice.com. The same mount you pay $100+ for at Bestbuy or other stores will be $20 or so at monoprice.

[AUChase]

Re: Hanging TV Above Fireplace

I haven't had any problem with the TV mount in my bedroom. When I worked for Home Depot, I won a $200 gift card and used it to buy one that swivels. I also bought some white wire shelving and brackets to put stuff on. It turned out looking pretty nice for a bedroom.

I did the same thing, by drilling pilot holes. It didn't come with everything, but I took a small bit and drilled pilot holes, then hammered in an anchor to help the bolt out. I picked up a bunch of different tricks working for HD and helping my dad build things.

It's been there for four years.. so far so good.