Mounting a TV over a fireplace question.

John Pollman

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Rochester Hills, MI
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....

mantel11.JPG
 
... having to crank yer neck up to watch the TV

John, I want to echo Frank's comment here.
Please be very sure you like having your TV that high before you go to this work.

I was at a cottage a year ago that had one of these big TVs above the fireplace. I found it a literal pain in the neck. It is VERY high compared to what we are used to in a TV.

...art
 
I'm with Frank and Art - too high for my taste, and neck. I know it's becoming very common but I don't think it's because it's a good idea, I think it is because today's "open" floor plans don't have sufficient wall space to place both a fireplace and a TV in the same room. Rather than force buyers to give up one or the other, they compromise, and, like all compromises, you give something up. In this case it is a proper viewing angle which most videophile web sites state is to have the center of the screen on level with your eyes from your normal viewing position.
 
The thermometer will tell you what you need to know about the heat issues.

The pain in the neck issue depends on the seating while watching TV. The TV up high like it will be is good when lying in a recliner, but my trifocals make it difficult to focus when stretched out in the recliner.

Put your seating where it would be in front of the TV and focus on the deer above the mantle. In focus or out? Pain in the neck or not? Playing make believe here will answer a lot of questions for you.
 
If your laying back in a lazy boy...you should be okay looking up at the TV... only way I watch TV in the living room..I mostly watch TV at my desk... the TV is in a closet to my left... I can glance left or watch out of the corner of my eye while I play on the computer....

On the mounting and running the cable... if the brick wall is a veneer, you should be able to drill into the chimney cavity through the brick and fish the cable through the drill hole... the chimney in my last house that had a fireplace had brick in the LR, but in the attic, it was a metal pipe that was encased in a wood frame... there was almost a foot of space around the chimney pipe.
 
When we decided to replace our fireplace (old/broken/dangerous) with a new one that was a decision we had to make.

I know a lot of people do mount their tv's over the fireplace, but from our research, it really wasn't recommended for a couple of reasons.

1) too much heat, and it can potentially void the warranty on a fancy expensive piece of electronics.
2) Too high.
3) potential smoke damage in case someone forgets to open the damper... :eek:

We actually decided to move the fireplace and use the alcove where the old fireplace was as an entertainment alcove...
 
Seen a lot of them mounted that way...Never understood why, for all the reasons everyone else has already stated.

I can totally understand the motivation. Often the fireplace is put at the 'focal point' of a room. Having a TV off to one side and make positioning things difficult. Makes a lot of sense to have the screen right there.

In our modern caves, the TV has replaced the fire for a lot of folks, but not the desire to stare into it's bright, swirling colors....
 
Well one issue is that where the TV is at now I have to close the drapes at certain times of the day just to watch the TV. If it were mounted up on that wall that problem would be eliminated. Also it would be easier to see from the kitchen/breakfast nook. The family room is one step down from the kitchen area. It's not going to be real high, just slightly above where the current mantle is right now. Actually I think that it would be a good viewing angle when lying down on the couch or love seat.

Before I do anything, I'll probably take that deer head down and use some 2" blue painters tape and put it up on the brick about where I think the TV will mount. Then I'll leave it up there for a few days or more and really take a good look at it and see what I think. By getting the TV out of the corner that it's in that frees up some floor space and alleviates some other issues we've had in the past with furniture placement and such. Like the Christmas tree. If the TV wasn't there I'd be able to put the tree in the family room. In the ten years we've been here we've only done that once and it really didn't work very well because of the TV. We end up putting the tree up in the living room which is a room we hardly ever use. So after going through all of the work to set up a tree we don't really get to enjoy it very much.

Thanks for all of the input folks. I'm just brainstorming and trying to foresee problems before starting a project like this. Especially since it involves some pretty major deconstruction. ;)

Take care

John
 
I'm contemplating the same move...TV above the fireplace. I know it isn't the best place for all viewing situations. I placed a thermometer on our mantel this winter and watched with a fire going...about 78 degrees was as hot as it got. Our fireplace has an insert and fan, so most of the heat is thrown out away from the brick. My real thing is I want the speakers for the stereo on that wall, and I'd love to have them be the main sound for the surround sound experience. But I know it will be perfect viewing from the recliners, and bad from the sofa if seated and not in the prone position. Jim.
 
I hear ya Jim,

The surround sound system is another factor. I've got a Bose Accoustimass 6 system. I've got to have the cube speakers on floor stands. I hate that. If I end up doing this, I'll spend some time and run the wires for the rear speakers inn the wall and mount those speakers up on the wall. I've already got a set of wall brackets but never used them.

A few months ago our DVD player died so I decided to upgrade to a Blu-Ray player. I've got to tell you that thing is awesome! My current TV is only 1080i but it still has a very good high def picture. I think that down the road I'll be able to easily upgrade to a 52 or maybe even a 60" screen. Then all I'd have to do is change the mount and hang the new set. With a 60" screen and that Bose system, this would truly be a "home theater".

John
 
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.

4426304064_3d376c500c_o.jpg


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
 
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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