Mounting a TV above a fireplace

[LibrarIan]

I plan to mount a 55 inch (~30 pound) flat screen television above my living room fireplace. The fireplace is inoperable. The house was built in 1925.

Here's a full view of the spot: https://i.imgur.com/4ILVz9t.jpg

Here's a closeup of the wall: https://i.imgur.com/WlxtqH0.jpg

Has anyone done this sort of thing before? The paneling is staying on the wall, so I have to go through that, then through what I presume to be plaster behind it, and then into the brick of the fireplace behind that. The TV will be mounted on a full-motion mount so it can extend, swivel, etc. I just want to be sure this thing will not fall, but it makes me nervous not being able to see what exactly is behind the paneling.

I assume I need a masonry drill bit. Then I guess some kind of sleeve to insert into the brick so the screws will go in?

[BudgetSlasher]

We mounted a TV over our fireplace (working and converted to pellet stove insert). Our house was built in 1991 (so may be built different than your house).

Code at the time our house was built was that combustibles (framing and paneling) must be kept 2 inches clear of the chimney inside the wall. Our house has a traditionally framed 2x4 wall with drywall that is spaced off the the chimney. When we installed the TV we installed the mount like you would on any regular wall.

If I were you, I would do a little more investigating to ensure the assumption of no framing is correct and that the wall is in fact applied directly to the chimney. (though I do doubt this is the case). With panel board, plaster, lathe, and framing this might be hard to do without making an actual hole in the wall.

I think I would pick a spot behind the tv go ahead and cut a hole behind the TV where you would install an electrical/cable/ethernet/hdmi/whatever connections you are going to want for the TV. It doesn't have to be the full size of the box, just enough to get through the wall and determine how it is built.

If you do have to anchor into brick/concrete/stone, there plenty of anchor systems that would work, from the sleeve fasteners you mentioned to tapcon screws.

Assuming the wall is not framed, how do you intend on supplying power (and whatever other connections you need) without running an extension cord up the wall?

[LibrarIan]

If the wall is indeed applied directly against the brick (knowing the previous owners, this wouldn't surprise me), then we'd just leave the cabling exposed because I am not a fan of drilling pathways through masonry. If it's not, then I can run the cables through the wall.

I'll do more investigating this evening, but cutting a hole in the wall won't make my wife happy. :-/

[BudgetSlasher]

If the wall is indeed applied directly against the brick (knowing the previous owners, this wouldn't surprise me), then we'd just leave the cabling exposed because I am not a fan of drilling pathways through masonry. If it's not, then I can run the cables through the wall.

I'll do more investigating this evening, but cutting a hole in the wall won't make my wife happy. :-/

perhaps another user can chime in with a suggestions of how to determine the framing around the fireplace. Most of my experience is with a single layer of drywall; anything much thicker than that and I have a hard time with knocking to tell if it is hollow or not (usually to find stud placement). I wouldn't think the use of a magnetic stud finder would work if the plaster is done with a metal lathe. If it is wood lath you a stud finder might work (?)

The house was built in 1925, I doubt the last owner framed the walls around the chimney. The last owner of my home was, shall we say, not handy. But, that doesn't negate the fact that it was framed correctly by the original owner/builder.

Perhaps do a little google work on how to determine a wall is framed before punching a whole it if will cause marital strife.

[GuitarStv]

I mounted our 52" TV above our non-functioning fireplace.  We have a brick wall behind the fireplace (with nothing in front of it) that I drilled tapcon anchors into, and it has been living there quite happily for the past seven years.

Best case scenario, you're lucky and they framed the wall in front of the brick with 2x4s, you should be able to find the studs and then just drill into them.  If they're framed with 2x2s or similar I'd be leery about trying to hold all the weight of the TV on them without first ensuring that this wood is well secured to the wall or whatever is behind it.

If you have to drill through brick as well, make your life a lot easier and rent a rotary hammer (not a hammer drill!) with the correct sized bit for an afternoon.  A rotary hammer slams the bit into the wall, then does a small turn, then slams the bit into the wall, etc.  A hammer drill is basically a heavy duty vibrator with a drill bit at the end.  It's the difference between 2-3 minutes per hole and 30-40 minutes per hole.  Brick is really hard.

That said, how sturdy/wide is your mantle?  I can't really tell from the photo.  Could you just put the TV on it's stand on the mantle?

[LibrarIan]

That said, how sturdy/wide is your mantle?  I can't really tell from the photo.  Could you just put the TV on it's stand on the mantle?

It's not deep enough to put a TV onto. Even if it was, our living room is laid out in an inconvenient way such that the viewpoint you see the wall from is me standing where my front door is. The couch is on the side of the room, hence why we got the full-motion mount. People in 1925 just weren't thinking ahead to what TV couch potatoes would be like in 100 years.

[SunnyDays]

I've never understood the TV over the fireplace deal.  Aren't you always looking up at it?  Doesn't sound comfortable to me.  I've "heard" that TVs should be at or below eye level.

[GuitarStv]

I've never understood the TV over the fireplace deal.  Aren't you always looking up at it?  Doesn't sound comfortable to me.  I've "heard" that TVs should be at or below eye level.

We toyed around with the idea of putting the TV in the fireplace, but it looked weird.  :P



In all honesty, we don't watch enough TV for the physical pain of pointing our heads up an inch or two to be a problem.

[LibrarIan]

I've never understood the TV over the fireplace deal.  Aren't you always looking up at it?  Doesn't sound comfortable to me.  I've "heard" that TVs should be at or below eye level.

It's really the only spot in the room that we can put it. Our living room is not living room friendly.

But with a full-motion mount, you swivel, extend, tilt, etc. to your heart's content.

[Papa bear]

Tapcons really should be installed into the mortar between the brick, not the brick itself. 

You’re probably going to have to take some material out to investigate what is actually behind there.

2x2’s or even furring strips should hold up a tv with no issues.  It holds up the drywall or plaster and lathe with no issues and that weighs quite a bit more than 30 lbs


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[GuitarStv]

Tapcons really should be installed into the mortar between the brick, not the brick itself.

The guys who make Tapcon screws say otherwise.  https://www.confast.com/articles-tapcon-screws-in-brick

YMMV but I tried installing into the mortar first (it's super easy to drill into), and the screws didn't hold much weight at all.  You could pull them out with your little finger since the mortar was very crumbly.

[Jon Bon]

Yeah when drilling into brick it depends......

Ive done both but bricks are made out of relatively soft clay, they also often are not solid. So your tapcon is really not threading into anything if you hit the brick in the wrong place.

Really you kind of need to do it by feel. If the motor is falling apart, dont use it obviously. I have had some success with a plastic anchor into a hole in a brick. You would be surprised how much weight they cant hold. The tapcons sometimes can pull free of the soft  clay/mortar so an anchor sometimes is a good middle ground.

TV's dont weight that much, you should probably be fine. Given the choice I would much prefer to mount it on a 2x4 or 2x2 that is tapconned to the brick wall in many places rather then mounting the TV directly to the brick itself.

[meatgrinder]

Have you thought about putting it on the mantel and using it's stand?  Our house has the same setup with bricks but an operable fireplace and it's worked out well.

[lthenderson]

If you do drill into the mortar or masonry and find a Tapcon won't hold or pulls out easily, I have successfully remedied the situation using a anchor epoxy like what Quikrete makes that comes in a caulk-like tube to fix the problem. I just squirt some in the hole and run the tapcon back in snug.

[nburns]

Pray that the paneling is on some 2x4s and find the studs.  LOL

In all seriousness though you should really just be able to get some tapcons to get through the paneling and right into the brick for the most secure mounting if the paneling is right on the brick.  Which is very possible for a 1925 house.

The engineering nerd in me says you can take some measurements inside and out of the fireplace to find the likely distance between the paneling and the brick. But that is probably difficult to do given the angle of the throat and other factors.

[JLee]

How deep is that shelf? It really looks like it should fit a TV just sitting on it.

[BlueHouse]

I've never understood the TV over the fireplace deal.  Aren't you always looking up at it?  Doesn't sound comfortable to me.  I've "heard" that TVs should be at or below eye level.

I would consider hanging it from your mantle.  My TV is mounted at seated eye-level.  It took a lot of getting used to when walking into the room, but now anything higher looks really wrong to me. 
Keep in mind that if you hang it above, you'll have to tilt it down (and it will always be tilted because you set a tilt setting and keep it there) and then the top of the TV will be at least 6 inches away from the wall and you'll see everything behind the TV (wires, mounting hardware, etc).  It's not attractive if that wall is visible from the entry to the room. 

[JLee]

I've never understood the TV over the fireplace deal.  Aren't you always looking up at it?  Doesn't sound comfortable to me.  I've "heard" that TVs should be at or below eye level.

I would consider hanging it from your mantle.  My TV is mounted at seated eye-level.  It took a lot of getting used to when walking into the room, but now anything higher looks really wrong to me. 
Keep in mind that if you hang it above, you'll have to tilt it down (and it will always be tilted because you set a tilt setting and keep it there) and then the top of the TV will be at least 6 inches away from the wall and you'll see everything behind the TV (wires, mounting hardware, etc).  It's not attractive if that wall is visible from the entry to the room.

I never considered that for mine  -- I recently learned that my chimney is in unsafe condition, and as I am not interested in spending $3500 to re-line it to have a functional fireplace, I might as well put the TV in front of it instead of on top! I also have an unfortunately designed living room so there's no other place for it to go.

[BlueHouse]

While a fireplace surround and mantle may be aesthetically appealing, an unused firebox is not.  There's nothing pretty about it, so hide it or cover it or put something in front of it.

[AMandM]

I do not understand why you think you have to mount the TV support into the brick of the chimney. If there were no fireplace, you'd mount it through the paneling to the wall behind, right? Can you do the same--just ignore the chimney?

[norajean]

Unless you plan to sit on bar stools to watch it, the tv will be way too high for viewing.  I would place it in front of the fireplace.

[GoodFollow]

Aren't you afraid that the high temperature will cause damage to your 55" TV?

[JLee]

Aren't you afraid that the high temperature will cause damage to your 55" TV?

Did you stop reading after the first sentence? :P