Should I pay a Builder to mount a TV, and how much?

[Hidekazu Kushima]

nothing wrong with over a fire place, providing there is a shelf in between. the screens are made to endure massive heat so the added of a warmth fire wont affect it.

I hope you're gonna pony up the cash when somebody follows your advice matey. You do realise that fireplaces kick out masses of heat right? And that heat rises? And it'll heat the wall the tv is attached to?

As a professional installer of various A/V gear I can honestly say I'd never install a set over a working fireplace, a feature fireplace? Sure, but a real live working one? If i was going to I'd write up a disclaimer for the customer to sign beforehand, I for one wouldn't want the repair bill when the set melts all over the fireplace, it's far too risky.

That and fireplaces are often far too high to mount a set, it's just a terrible idea all round. The general school of thought is eyelevel at the top of the screen, but most people prefer eyelevel to centre. For routing cables, the aforementioned plastic piping into the walls is the easiest way of doing things as assuming you fit pipe with a decent diameter you can pull cables through all you like essentially future proofing your setup. I usually fit 2x40mm pipes and make sure to put in a couple of draw wires in each for future use.

Brick walls and fitting sets though? Great, that's just what you want. I highly recommend the use of expansion bolts, the wall will break long before the bolts will let go of anything, just make sure you don't overtighten them! Only thing is, if your ceiling/walls are off it can be a bit of a distraction, do you level from your wonky ceiling or from the level? In the pursuit of perfection you may well spend an hour or so shimming the bracket, fitting and re-fitting the set.

Post pictures when you're done!

[joe90]

I did my 42" no probs.. spirt level, drill, some long expansion bolts will do the job

[MikeF]

I've fitted 2 TV's to the wall in my house (exterior wall). First was a 32" Sammy, used rawl bolts into the wall to fix the bracket too (6 in my case)

Replaced the bracket with a different one as it was too small to fit the 42" LG too but used the same rawl bolts after drilling additional holes

All you need is the rawl bolts, spirt level and drill with right bit. I got both my brackets from avrabbit.com

Most brackets don't come with the wall fixings and to be honest I wouldn't use them if they did.

[Bada Bing!]

I'd say if you have to ask, then the answer should be yes. It's not particularly difficult, but if you have no knowledge on the subject then get someone in who does.

[bignige]

nothing wrong with over a fire place, providing there is a shelf in between. the screens are made to endure massive heat so the added of a warmth fire wont affect it.

Madness x100!

[Yoshimax]

I was gonna say - his screen must look like a childs plastercine tray after a few coca-colas

[Hidekazu Kushima]

He may just own a ceramic screen/chassis'd set with LN2 cooling.

[wicky]

i just spent a fortune on a new 50" tv, too nervous to let anyone but a trained professional put it on the wall

[Roddie]

I hope you're gonna pony up the cash when somebody follows your advice matey. You do realise that fireplaces kick out masses of heat right? And that heat rises? And it'll heat the wall the tv is attached to?

I think the guy is trying to set some people for a fall (or their TV anyway (and into a fire, at that)), judging by this and his post on the first page about the TV not being to fall off the wall regardless of how badly you install it..

[Pezley]

I think the guy is trying to set some people for a fall (or their TV anyway (and into a fire, at that)), judging by this and his post on the first page about the TV not being to fall off the wall regardless of how badly you install it..

Or i work for an AV company and happen to have installed plenty of Plasma/lcd's?

i wasnt trying to say do a **** job and your tv will be fine. people are under the impression hanging a bracket is a difficult task, it really isnt.Ive seen the ****tiest jobs been done but the tv is still more than secure.you have to think even 4 solid bolts into solid brick is strong enough when you can happily hang a 50 plasma off plasterboard. any descent bracket will host 8 or more bolt points, providing even some of them are secure you will not any issues.

also regarding the heat. heat rises, aswell as circulates within a room in which case by the theory a few posts above anyone with a tv higher then their heating is screwed......guess that includes anyone with a wall hung screen then ? having a mantle above a fire with a 6 inch gap is sufficient enough to disperse any major heat issues. the mantle to deflect the heat infront of the tv, and as said before the heat will continue to rise and im sure no one has their tv wedged into the cieling.

[Pezley]

I hope you're gonna pony up the cash when somebody follows your advice matey. You do realise that fireplaces kick out masses of heat right? And that heat rises? And it'll heat the wall the tv is attached to?

also, dont get me wrong, having it above a fire place is not ideal. But it really isnt a problem, the panels these days can take alot more then their predecessors.

guess as you also said, depends on the type of fire place.

[Hidekazu Kushima]

you have to think even 4 solid bolts into solid brick is strong enough when you can happily hang a 50 plasma off plasterboard.

You don't actually mean the plasterboard itself, you mean the lovely wooden batons that are behind it and secured to the wall, right?

*edit: On the flipside I've installed a 45kg plasma on a pull wall bracket using 2 bolts into brickwork to take the weight and 4 smaller screws to just hold the bracket in place.

Brick is one hell of a lot stronger than plasterboard though.

[Pezley]

You don't actually mean the plasterboard itself, you mean the lovely wooden batons that are behind it and secured to the wall, right?.

its more than doable, just the plasterboard. wouldnt do it for a customer for liability but we have had a 55 hitachi pd9700 ( if you work in AV you know the 42 is heavier than most 50's ) up on plasterboard in our showroom.as i stated before, the tv is not trying to pull away from the wall, just fall vertical, plasterboard can take the weight providing its distributed across enough screws.pulling away from the wall the tv would just rip the board to pieces, flatscreens ( specially plasmas ) are weighted forward but not enough. all the weight is pretty central

[hexxed]

Just to add, we have a TV above a working fireplace, has been up for well over 2 years, with the fire pumping out heat all winter long. Not a single problem, infact the casing isnt much warmer at the bottom where its nearest the fire, than the top, and both are touchable and not even close to what i consider warm. Anyway back on subject, if you want it done professionally, and you have doubts, I would get someone to do it. I did ours, and yeah its fine, fiddly to mount the TV on the bracket. In my own home, I will be getting someone in to do it. Also is it strange for a wall mount to allow for down tilt? Ours does and its fab, think it was a B-Tech.

[ascender]

I'm wanting to do my Panny 42" plasma myself, can anyone recommend a good maker of brackets for these?