Things To Consider When Mounting Your LCD TV Over a Fireplace

For many home theaters, the ideal position to place the high definition LCD TV is above a fireplace.

There are many reasons why this might appear to be a bad idea – not least heat damage. At the same time of course there are a multitude of reasons why you might want to mount your LCD TV over a fireplace.

TVs and fireplaces are both centrepieces – before TV, families gathered around the fire, and in modern times they gather around the device that brings news, sport and movies in to their homes. As a result, many living rooms are organized with the seating facing both the fire and the TV.

By learning how to mount a LCD TV over a fireplace and bringing both of these focal points into alignment, you can make extra space in your home theater.

The question that should be asked before checking whether or not you have the tools to mount an LCD above a fireplace is “should I mount my TV over the fire?” Evaluating how to mount a LCD TV over a fireplace before just going and doing it will save you a lot of time and trouble in the long run.

As long as you can position your TV to be comfortable to view – at eye level from your seating area – without getting in the way of the fire, then the answer should be “yes”. You should perhaps try out by place a large picture or poster above the fireplace to see how comfortable you find viewing pictures above a roaring fire – a flickering orange light might distract from your movie viewing.

Common misconceptions about heat and soot damaging expensive high definition LCD TVs are exactly that – with the TV mounted securely on a solid wall above the fireplace and out of direct heat, with an correctly functioning chimney, your TV will be absolutely fine, just as the portraits, photos and mirrors you had mounted previously were.

The majority of fireplaces are more than likely going to be built with brick surrounds, often on an external wall, with the chimney being the intended position for the LCD TV to be mounted.

Given the weight of an LCD TV and its attached wall mount, it is likely to be trickier to mount a TV to a brick wall than it is an interior stud wall.

As such, some heavy duty hardware is required – namely a hammer drill and suitable masonry bit for your wall mount. The mount must be securely anchored to your brick wall in order for the LCD TV to remain in position, with some calculation done beforehand to ensure that you’re drilling into the centre of the bricks and not the edges, which will result in some cracking, even behind a layer of plaster. Of course, you could opt to remove the plaster, then with the mount successfully anchored to the wall, re-plaster the area behind the TV.

Once the wall mount is successfully attached the wall, it is simply a case of fitting the TV mount and sliding the two sections together above your fireplace. Don’t worry about heat or soot - your display is protected, just as you are.

Just enjoy your LCD TV!