TV Mounting
A TV on a wall is two decisions and then some careful work. The decisions are how high it sits and where the cables run, and both get expensive to change once there are holes in the drywall. The work is figuring out what the wall is built of and putting the right anchor into it. A 65 inch panel on a full motion arm pulls on the top bolts with several times the force the number on the box suggests, which is why I ask about the wall before I ask about the TV.
$40 an hour, 1 hour minimum. Every visit is billed at least one full hour even if the work takes thirty minutes. Why, and how to get the most out of it.
What the job involves
- Reading the wall comes first. Drywall over wood studs, plaster over lath, a brick or stone chimney breast, or the 25 gauge steel studs used in a lot of newer townhomes. Steel will not hold a lag screw, so that job becomes rated toggles or a strut spanning two studs. Hanging lighting and speakers on show calls taught me to size an anchor to the pull, not to the weight.
- Studs sit sixteen inches apart, and that spacing rarely lines up with the middle of the wall you want to look at. Centering a screen on the wall usually takes a mount with a rail wide enough to span two studs and let the panel slide along it. A narrow plate bolted to one stud decides where the TV ends up for you, and that is often four or five inches off from where you pictured it.
- Signal cable inside a wall has to be CL2 or CL3 rated, with a low voltage bracket at each end. I pull a string or a length of flex conduit through alongside it so the next cable can be swapped without opening the wall. HDMI versions keep moving, and a cable buried behind drywall today is one you will want to replace before the TV dies.
- An extension cord inside a wall is not allowed, and that is the shortcut people get talked into. The two clean options are surface raceway painted to match the wall, or a listed in wall power relocation kit that feeds from the outlet you already have. A new receptacle behind the panel is electrical work, which is an electrician and not me.
- Hanging it is the last twenty minutes. Level to the room rather than to the ceiling, because old ceilings are not straight. Then a service loop so the arm can swing without straining the HDMI ends, and depth planned for the plug ends. On a low profile mount a straight power plug is the difference between a panel sitting flush and one standing off the wall.
- Over a working fireplace is its own decision. Stone or tile facing means masonry anchors and a real chance of cracking a tile, and the space above a firebox gets warm. Most panels are rated to somewhere around 104 degrees ambient. Tape a cheap thermometer where the middle of the screen would sit, burn a normal fire for an evening, and read it before you commit.
What changes the price
Wall type moves it most. Drywall over wood studs is the quick version. Plaster and lath, brick, stone, tile facing or steel studs each add time and different hardware. Then the cable path: surface raceway is fast, an in wall drop is slower, and a drop that crosses a fire block or lands in insulation is slower again. A full motion arm takes longer to set than a fixed plate because the service loop has to be right. Pulling an old mount and patching the holes is its own block of time. A second TV on the same visit costs a good deal less than the first, since the ladder, the bits and the drop cloth are already in the room.
What people usually get wrong
Height. The spot that looks right while you are standing in an empty room holding a pencil is higher than the spot that watches well from a couch. Seated eye level lands near 42 inches off the floor for most people, so on a 65 inch TV the bottom edge belongs around 25 inches, which looks low when you are holding a pencil to the wall. The other one is buying the mount first. The box lists a screen size range, and that says nothing about what your wall can hold or how far a folded arm holds the panel off it.
Send me this and I can quote it without coming out
There is no trip charge either way, but a remote quote is faster for both of us and it costs you nothing to try.
- A photo of the wall straight on, and a second from the side, wide enough to show the nearest outlet and the gear that has to reach the TV.
- A photo of the back of the TV showing the four mounting holes and the model number sticker. That gives me the bolt pattern and the weight.
- If you already bought a mount, the model number off the box, and whether you want it fixed, tilting, or on a full motion arm.
- Floor to where you want the bottom edge of the screen, and how far the couch sits from that wall. Rough numbers are fine.
- The year the building went up and whether it is a house, a condo or a townhome. That usually tells me wood studs from steel before I load the truck.
When I am the wrong call
Size is where I have to say no. Past about 75 inches a panel is a two person lift, and walking one onto hooks at chest height over a stone fireplace by myself is how screens get dropped. If nobody in the house can hold an end for two minutes, hire an outfit with two people on the truck. I also do not add outlets, run circuits or open a panel. If the only wall your TV can go on has no power near it, an electrician comes before I do.