# Mounting a TV over a fireplace question.



## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

Hi all,
I've been wanting to do this for a long time but it was going to be a real pain so I've put it off. But I think I've come up with a solution that will be some work but also update the room and get me the result that I want. I've got a 42" LCD HD set in the family room. It's on a stand in the corner of the room which doesn't really work all that well. I want to mount it on the wall above the fireplace. Currently the entire end wall of the family room is brick. It's about fourteen feet long with a raised hearth and the brick runs from wall to wall and floor to ceiling. Mounting a bracket to the brick would be fairly easy but getting power and A/V cables hidden would be a drag. 

The other day I was looking at it and hit upon what I think is a good idea. At this point I'm thinking about just removing the brick all the way across from the ceiling down to a point that's about the center of the current mantle. Then I'd just frame out the area above the brick and drywall it. I'd do it so that the drywall would be flush with the remaining brick. Then I'd build a new mantle that would mount right at the transition. That would help hide the seam when all is done. 

The mantle would be about 16-18" above the top of the fire box opening. Then the TV would mount a few inches above the new mantle. I hate to lose the existing mantle because I built it myself about eight years ago and I like the way it looks. But I figure with new drywall I'd build a new more contemporary mantle instead of the rustic look of the log. 

I have fires fairly regularly in the winter and even when I've got a pretty hot fire in there for five or six hours, the brick stays fairly cool up near the mantle. Yes it's pretty hot right above the fire box but it doesn't get that hot for more than four or five courses of brick. Even the air above the mantle is pretty cool when the fire has been burning for a long evening. Before I do this I'm going to get a good hot fire going and let it burn for a good long time and then put a thermometer up where the TV will be and see what happens. I really think it will be fine but I want to be sure BEFORE I start tearing out brick. :lol:

Anyway, if I proceed with this project I can easily hide all of my speaker wire and cable inside the wall and have a nice clean installation. I can put HDMI terminal plates behind the TV and then over near where the rest of the A/V gear is at. Right now my sub-woofer is just sitting on the hearth and I think I'll just build a small rack to put the cable box, Blu-Ray player, and A/V receiver on. It will be out of the way but still accessible.

I'm thinking that this project will update the room a bit and bring it into the 21st century. The house was built in 1969, well before LCD High-Def flat panels. Most people these days want to have a home theater room and I think this will really work well. 

Do any of you have a TV mounted above a fireplace? If so, have you had any issues? Thanks for any input! 

Oh yeah, here's a before picture....


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## Elk5012 (Mar 27, 2008)

Maybe it's just me but I don't like the look of a tv over the fireplace. The fireplace as a whole is the focal point of the room. More of a shrine of the family with a portrait or as you have wildlife. I think it would be a bit tackey watching tv above a nice fire.


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## tgafish (Jan 19, 2001)

It usually voids any warranty on the set


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

tgafish said:


> It usually voids any warranty on the set


I've never heard of that, but this set is at least two years old so that wouldn't make much difference. At this point I'm just trying to decide if the height issue will bother me or not. It's not really that high but I do prefer it closer to the floor. But as I said originally, I don't really like it on an angle in the corner either. So I just have to decide which one bothers me more. 

John


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## jlcrss (May 17, 2006)

I wouldn't do it if I were you. It looks as if you have a wood burning fireplace. They burn way too dirty to keep a tv above. I have one mounted above my fireplace but its gas. The gas fireplace is sealed and does not give off the particulate that wood does. I think over time your screen would get damaged and quality of your picture would deteriorate. The only way you may be able to pull it off if you have enough clearance from the top of the firebox to the bottom of the tv. You would need quite a bit. Just my two cents.


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## Firemedic (Apr 5, 2005)

John, you were just here a few days ago, I'd have turned my tv on so you could watch it.  I for one love my plasma over my insert, and the tv doesn't get any temp change from the stove. The mantle blocks the heat 100%.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

Yeah Ryan I was thinking about yours when I as creating this thread.

I seriously doubt that heat will be an issue at all. I have a lot of fires and many times I've been thinking about this and placed my hand a few inches above the mantle when I've had a good hot fire burning for a few hours and it's not hot up there at all. If I do end up doing this, I'll build a new mantle that I'm sure will also shield a lot of the heat. I'm not worried about soot or particulate either. You can see by the picture that the brick directly above the opening is very clean and I usually have at least twenty fires per season and have never cleaned the brick. 

One nice thing about it being mounted a little higher is that it will be very comfortable to watch if lying down on the couch or love seat. We won't be sitting very close either so you really won't have to look up at too much of an angle from the normal viewing area. 

I'm just trying to foresee any problems before I start the project. I'm still not sure if I will but I think it would be very nice.

Thanks for all the input folks!

John


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## TwodogsNate (Jul 30, 2009)

Just hung one In my house this weekend. Do you have a accessible attic above that room ? Hope you do, Because this will make it alot easier.


I drilled a 1 Inch hole In my brick (hammer drill), went up In my attic & sent a wire down until my buddy saw It (In the hole) he pulled the wire a couple Inchs out. I attached the cable & 110V wire to the fishing wire & he pulled It threw. I did not install a wall box for the 110V wire. I went to lowes & bought a female plug instead. Make sure you use tapcons when you attach the tv mount to the bricks


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## Jr.BowmanMI (Jun 27, 2005)

how about a corner mount with the wires coming down from the ceiling? or just following the corner up with some raceway molding?


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## Greenbush future (Sep 8, 2005)

I just went through a similar situation, and the final location was above the (brick, floor to ceiling) gas fire place. It actually compliments the rest of the wall including the fireplace which is the center of it all. I love the location and dont have any heat issues that you might with a natural functioning fire place. Mine is gas and is only used on occasion, but Ill tell you I tried the TV everywhere in the room before I took on the project. Had to lower my mantle to accommodate a 52 incher, but still kept enough room to hold some of my other mantle items. Wiring wasnt quite as tough because my FP isnt the entire wall, but it still took some figuring out to make it look right. I dont think you will find a better location than above the mantle and FP. Your welcome to have a look as you stop by my area.


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## huntingmaniac45 (Nov 22, 2005)

Was thinking of doing that in my house, but I think the tv would sit to high, and sitting on the couch I would have to look up a bit to see it. I like a tv at eye level.


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## Greenbush future (Sep 8, 2005)

huntingmaniac45 said:


> Was thinking of doing that in my house, but I think the tv would sit to high, and sitting on the couch I would have to look up a bit to see it. I like a tv at eye level.


On mine, you do need to look up a bit, I would guess the top of the screen is about 8 inches from the top of the wall.


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## Steve (Jan 15, 2000)

Why don't you just pop out one brick behind the TV to run all your cables and fish them through the wall?


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

Actually I've come up with another angle. I realized that with today's HDMI components, there really aren't that many cables to deal with and they're rather small. Right now all I need is one power cable, two HDMI cables, and one audio cable. The audio cable just carries the signal from the TV to my A/V receiver to drive the Bose system. 

I have some wall mount brackets around here somewhere. If I can find them, I may just pick up a mount and then mount it directly to the brick. I just looked at the specs on the TV and it only weighs 63 lbs. I'm sure that a few tapcons will do the job fine. I can mount the TV and it would be very easy to just make a small cover to disguise the wires. They will probably tuck into one of the mortar lines and then I can just cover them up. If I do it this way I can decide whether or not I like it. If I try it for a few months and like it, then I can go ahead and tear out the brick and do it that way. But if it works out that I don't like the way it works, it's quick and simple to go back to the way it was before. 

I'm leaning toward just leaving it the way it is though. It's not so much the height as the angle. Most of our TV viewing is done from the couch and you have to turn your head to the right the whole time watching the TV unless you're laying down on the couch. That's good for lying down and watching movies but not if you've got guests over to watch TV.

John


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## Greenbush future (Sep 8, 2005)

They will probably tuck into one of the mortar lines and then I can just cover them up. If I do it this way I can decide whether or not I like it. 


John,
This is what I did, and it works just fine John.


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

Greenbush future said:


> They will probably tuck into one of the mortar lines and then I can just cover them up. If I do it this way I can decide whether or not I like it.
> 
> 
> John,
> This is what I did, and it works just fine John.


Yeah I'm leaning toward that option and at least giving it a try. One other thing I'm going to do is use a couple pieces of poster board taped together and cut to the size of the TV. Then just tape it to the wall and sit back and look at it for a while and see what it's like. I really don't think it will be too bad. Besides that, this 42" is nice but the mega screens are getting cheaper all the time.  I've already found a mount on line that will handle from a 36" up to a 70" screen. So if a couple years down the road I want to upgrade to a 60" screen it will be as easy as just moving the mount from the old set to the new one. 

John


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## The Nailer (Feb 7, 2000)

John,

A friend of mine mounted his over the fireplace and because he was able to access the space from the beasement he ran a large (maybe 1" or 1-1/4") plastic flexible hose through the wall cavity to run the cables through and make it easy to change or add to his system. Maybe as Steve said you could remove one brick behind the set and install a backless cable box for the cables to exit to the set. Then if you ever sell the house or change your mind you could replace the brick and match the mortar as close as possible.


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## PiercedOne (Sep 7, 2007)

Dont forget to NOT buy you cables from a big box retailer. You can find HDMI online a whole lot cheaper than in stores and its the same stuff. Monoprice.com

A buddy of mine was wanting to do the same but he needed a 20 or 30' HDMI cable and big box places wanted 50 or 60 dollars. He found it there for less than half.


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

I was at Home Depot last night and found a wall mount that will handle a TV from 36 to 70" for only $66. I think I'm just going to pick it up and give it a try. The cabling really isn't a big issue. I've only got four wires that need to go to the TV. One being the power cable and the other three are video/audio cables. I can easily tuck them into a mortar line and just put a cover over them. I'm sure that there's space behind the brick but I've got no access to it. There's a raised hearth and the brick goes from wall to wall and from floor to ceiling. Overall I think I'll just mount the TV and use it that way without removing any brick. Some time down the road I'd like to upgrade the TV to a 55 or 60" model. 

If I do this, I won't need that mantle that I made so I think I'll throw it on craigslist and should be able to get more for it than the cost of moving the TV to the wall so the job will end up costing me nothing! 

John


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

PiercedOne said:


> Dont forget to NOT buy you cables from a big box retailer. You can find HDMI online a whole lot cheaper than in stores and its the same stuff. Monoprice.com
> 
> A buddy of mine was wanting to do the same but he needed a 20 or 30' HDMI cable and big box places wanted 50 or 60 dollars. He found it there for less than half.


Oh I know all about that!

I'm currently using 6' HDMI cables on all of my sets that I bought on line for about $4 each! They work fine and the cheapest I could find them locally was about $30. It's a joke what they sell cables for in stores. I'll never buy a cable in a store again. 

John


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## NittanyDoug (May 30, 2006)

I personally think it can be made to look good. My wife's uncle has his over their fireplace and it looks fantastic. It's trimmed out nicely. It is a gas fireplace, I think.... We're looking at doing something similar up north. Get rid of the TV cabinet and free up some space. Cabling and "remote" issue are considerations but it your stuff is running on RF remotes you should be golden. Have a cabinet somewhere with the origination equipment and a couple of wires to the TV.


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## Greenbush future (Sep 8, 2005)

jpollman said:


> I was at Home Depot last night and found a wall mount that will handle a TV from 36 to 70" for only $66. I think I'm just going to pick it up and give it a try. The cabling really isn't a big issue. I've only got four wires that need to go to the TV. One being the power cable and the other three are video/audio cables. I can easily tuck them into a mortar line and just put a cover over them. I'm sure that there's space behind the brick but I've got no access to it. There's a raised hearth and the brick goes from wall to wall and from floor to ceiling. Overall I think I'll just mount the TV and use it that way without removing any brick. Some time down the road I'd like to upgrade the TV to a 55 or 60" model.
> 
> If I do this, I won't need that mantle that I made so I think I'll throw it on craigslist and should be able to get more for it than the cost of moving the TV to the wall so the job will end up costing me nothing!
> 
> John


John,

One thing to consider on your bracket, is if it is fixed or if it can be adjusted (tilted) based on your set up. For mine I needed to have a slight tilt down because it is higher on the wall. Mine also has 5-6 inches of side to sode adjustment making instalation ez. When I did the project, I mounted and readjusted at least 10 times to get everything just right, 2 man job for the final mounting. There's good adjustments on the back of the TV to raise or lower each side as needed. I discovered my wall is not even close to square, and had to make a decission about true level vs visual look. 
Once it's up and running, you will love the extra space that opens up in the room.


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

Well I'm up to the two person portion of the project. 

I went to HD this morning and picked up the bracket. It was a little more than I thought. They had two stacks of them, one was $99 and the other was $66. But it turns out that the $66 ones were out of stock and the ones stacked in their space were the $99 ones. That's OK, it's only another $30 or so. It's rated for up to a 58" TV and 176 lbs. I'm good to go because mine is a 42" set and only weighs 63 lbs without the base on it. This leaves me room to upgrade the set down the road. 

I've got the bracket all mounted and it was a piece of cake. What I did was to mark the center point on the wall and then I mounted the TV portion of the bracket to the set. Then I mounted the wall portion to those brackets. I then took some measurements on how high above the bottom of the set the wall bracket was at. Then just transferred the height measurement to the wall and marked the first two holes once I had the bracket leveled. I used 2-3/4" Tapcon screws and they go into the solid brick. Once I installed the top two and leveled it I snugged them up and drilled the bottom two holes and installed the other screws and tightened everything down. It's all ready to hand but I have to weight until my neighbor gets home so he can give me a hand. It's too hard to do alone. 

I'm excited, I think it's going to look great! It will be all up and running by this afternoon so I'll be able to watch the Wings tonight. This is going to be nice because it opens up a lot more floor space in the corner. I think I'm going to just mount a shelf to the fireplace off to the left of the set and below it a bit. That will hold all of the gear. Thanks for all of the input guys!

Take care.

John


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## BigDaddy (Feb 16, 2001)

John,
Monoprice sells the mounts as well much cheaper.


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## BigDaddy (Feb 16, 2001)

John,
Monoprice sells the mounts as well much cheaper.


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## Firemedic (Apr 5, 2005)

John, if you need a hand, I can come help you out on Saturday. I will bring my chiansaw too!


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

I went ahead and did it.

Preliminary thoughts are, *I LOVE IT*! 

The down lighting that I installed to highlight the fireplace works really well because the TV is about 6" off of the brick. I've got the screen angled down just slightly so the lights don't hit the front of the screen at all to cause any glare. It just highlights the brick and really looks good IMO. Here's a quick pic I took a few minutes ago.










It really isn't that high and it's fairly comfortable to watch so far. The receivers and such are in a temporary position until I can get some longer HDMI cables and get that part cleaned up. I just wanted to be sure that I liked the TV up there before I invested in any more cables.

John


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## Greenbush future (Sep 8, 2005)

Looks great John, I'll bet you lunch, you will be getting the 50-60 inch up there soon. The wall looks like it could visually, handle a bigger one no problem, and with prices falling, it wont take long. Nice job

Hey have you considered a mantle inbetween the two? Even though mine is gas, I get the feeling it deflects the heat a little, and might help with any heat related concerns you have.


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

That's what I had planned on doing. But Celeste says she's pretty sure that she likes it better without a mantle. I sent my brother a picture of it last night and he asked about the heat issue also but he suggested a solution. It sounds like a pretty good idea to me too. I think I may just make up a heat deflector that I can easily slide into place when having a fire and then just remove it afterward. But to tell you the truth, many times while having a fire I've stuck my hand up just about the fire box and it's just not that hot.

This TV is only about three years old. But when I'm ready to replace it, I'm pretty sure that I'll go with at least a 52 or maybe a 60. The wall can definitely handle it.

John


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## The_Don (Apr 28, 2008)

Looks good John, but who ever sits in that rocker will get a kink in their neck :lol:


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

Well I almost removed that from the room. But I just couldn't, it's the dog's chair.  He has adopted it. He loves to jump up there and curl up, and go to sleep. 

John


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## huntingmaniac45 (Nov 22, 2005)

Looks good John, but I like the mantel with the deer head above it better!


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## jpollman (Jan 14, 2001)

No heat worries!

It's a bit chilly out there today and we're coming close to the end of fireplace season so I decided to build a fire and see what happened. I've got a good electronic digital thermometer so i set it up and placed the probe underneath my center channel speaker. The tip of the probe is about even vertically with the front of the TV and about 5" below it. I've had a decent fire burning now for over three hours and the temp hasn't risen above 78 degrees. I think it's going to be safe.

My longer HDMI cables came in and I built up a custom extension cord for the TV. Now I've just got to get busy designing a rack system for the A/V gear. That should be a fun project.

John


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## TwodogsNate (Jul 30, 2009)

jpollman said:


> I went ahead and did it.
> 
> Preliminary thoughts are, *I LOVE IT*!
> 
> ...


 VERY Nice !! Looks good


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