How to Wall Mount a TV

How to Wall Mount a TV

 

Top Tips from a Jim’s Antennas installer with over nine years of experience.

The first step is to decide on the best mounting solution, I would talk to my customer to find out what they are trying to achieve and the reason for mounting the tv. A common reason is for the safety of young children.

This is important to know as there are a number of different types of mounting solutions. For example, slim line fixed, single arm swivel, twin arm swivel, tilt, full motion and others. Getting the best mounting solution can make a big difference to the end result.

The next thing to establish is the location and mounting height. A common mistake that is made is to mount the tv too high. A good rule of thumb as a starting point is to have the centre of the Tv at eye level when seated plus 10 degrees(when you sit down and lean back you look up about 10 degrees) , this gives a comfortable viewing height. This is for lounge areas, for dining/kitchen areas eye level when standing. For bedrooms it would be a bit higher.

When marking the location of the tv, I mark the location of the wall studs, top and bottom and sides of the tv. I do this with electrical tape or blue masking tape, never pen or pencil. The tape can be moved easily to establish the best location but leaves no marks on the wall when it is removed.

The studs can be located with a good quality stud finder, but in older buildings with lath and plaster walls even with a good stud finder this is difficult, but if there is gyprock plaster over it, stud finders do not work. If there is a power point in the wall this can be removed to measure the distance to the studs on either side. This is dangerous and should only be done if the power is turned off and isolated at the power board. It is also necessary to be able to check that the power is off at the power point.

The studs can also be located by going into the roof space and looking at the top plate of the wall. Once again power should be off and isolated.

Another way is to put a row of holes in the wall until the studs are found. For me this is a sign of someone who is inexperienced, doesn’t have the right equipment or they don’t care about doing a neat job for their customer.

Before putting any holes in the wall, I attach a plastic drop sheet to the base of the wall. I use a UNi-PRO product called Uni-Mask that has blue masking tape already attached to the plastic sheeting, it comes in a dispenser and can be fitted to the wall in seconds and removed just as quickly when the job is done, taking the mess with it. If the TV is mounted to a brick wall you will make a lot of mess drilling the holes, also in my case as I run hidden cabling to most of the TV’s I mount and it requires holes to be cut in the wall. The drop sheet catches all the mess for me.

The next step is to attach the mounting arms to the back of the TV. I will then fit the wall plate to these arms so that I can get a measurement from mounting holes of the wall plate to the top of the TV this then allows me to locate the wall plate height on the wall using the tapes I placed on the wall earlier marking the location of the top of the TV.

Then using an electronic level to ensure that the wall plate is level I mark the mounting holes and pre-drill them into the studs or brickwork. Then all that is needed is to screw the wall mounting plate to the wall (an impact driver makes this easy) and hang the Tv onto It and the job is done.

Mounting a TV to a standard plaster and timber framed wall is usually fairly straight forward with the correct knowledge and the right tools.

But if the building is old, there are brick walls covered with plaster, light weight steel framed walls in an office situation, has lath and plaster walls, a modern precast concrete walled building with plaster lining or hanging a TV from the ceiling. Then the experience and training of a Jim’s Antenna installer is invaluable.

If you’re still unsure on how to wall mount a TV – why not give your local Jim’s Antennas techxpert a call on 131 546 or book online 24/7

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