Hey guys, I need some help. I am moving into a small apt soon and want to save some space by mounting a flat screen TV on the wall above the fireplace. My question is about running the wires throught the wall so I don't have to see them all over the place.

The idea seems simple enough...drill hole, push wires through, drill second hole, pull wires out, connect wires. Is that really all there is to it? I mean, wouldn't it look bad where the wires exit the wall and plug into the cable/electricity? Plus, what would be the best route to guide the wires from the entrace hole to the exit hole?

Am I thinking about this all wrong? Is there some other method that I am just not thinking of?

Thanks all

 

if you dont have fireblocks in the wall, then you should be able to run the wire right through the wall. my walls are fireblocked which ment i had to cut out a section of the wall drill through fireblock to run wires....not fun....

you could always buy one of those custom leviton plates, and hook all the wires to that so it looks professional coming out of the wall to the cable box

 

With putting it over the fireplace doesn't that mean you need to go either left or right with the wires in the walls? Won't studs be a problem?

 

Where in NY are moving? In the city? Also, is this a new or old house or building? Typically, most new houses do not have a full chimney, but a sheet metal flew in the wall. If this is the case, you probably have a couple FEET behind the sheetrock that is all open. If you are thinking of doing this yourself, do yourself a favor and go to home depot and pick up a set of fiberglass glow rods. They will come in a set of three, along with a bullet tip for breaking through insulation and a hook for grabbing wires or another glow stick in a wall. These will be essential for running the wires. You will also have to run some kind of a power wire. You can either run an extension cord, or a 14/2 romex and put a outlet over the mounting plate for the tv bracket. If you have a bunch of wires, best bet is to get a leviton blank nylon plate and some kind of a unibit to drill a nice round hole in the middle and just stick all the wires out one hole and just tie wrap them up. Don't forget to buy at least one LV1 which is a low voltage single gang ring for running the wires through the sheetrock. It is open and easy to work with and you just screw your wallplate right up to it. I do this for a living so let me know if you need any help.

 

here are a couple of plasmas I put over fireplaces:






What size tv do you have also. I would suggest a Sanus VMPL50. It is a very easy bracket to work with, and it works with just about any tv between 30" and 50" I believe. This is a picture of the mount before I put the tv up. You can cut the sheetrock through one of the holes and run the wires out like in this picture. Then the arms of the bracket will go on either side of the hole and you will never see a single wire, even from the side.


same install with the tv up

here is the mount:
http://www.sanus.com/cgi-bin/web_sto...=2839452_28177

 

Thanks a lot man, I may not be getting that apt now it seems, but I really appreciate the info. Now I know who to PM if it comes up again

 

That's some good work with the install.

 

Thanks. If you guys have some questions on installing stuff, feel free to pm me.

 

lemme ask you, is it true if u mount the plasma on top of a fireplace it can void the warranty due to the heat from the fireplace affecting the product? just a rumor i heard...

 

I have never heard of a single case of a warranty being voided due to mounting over a fireplace.

 

the company should never know where it was mounted if you want warrenty coverage. It's not like they are going to come to your house and check.

if you want to run wires externally, I made my own molding witha router, or you can use wiremold.

 

These tv's are MADE to be mounted. Again, I have NEVER heard of a warranty claim being denied because of the location of installation. Furthermore, most warrenty coverage is for in-house repair, so a technician will come to the house for repair.

 

2001AudiS4,

can you post pictures of the finishing plates you use? My aunt recently moved into a house where the plasma was left, but the wires are all dangling from the TV. Frankly it looks like shit. So i would like to put the wires in the wall for her. There is a fairly large hole near the TV mount in the wall (5" x 6") hole that I plan to drop the wire into and figured I could just drop it down towards the floor and cut another hole on the bottom since the wall is hollow. Just need to know what finishings I should look for. (mind you, the cheaper the better since she is old and cheap

 

Actually, we just use a plain white nylon leviton blank plate. I drill a hole with my unibit to the size I need. The wires that come out are then tie wrapped. Once the equipment is in place in a cabinet, it looks very neat and professional.

 

sweet....can't get cheaper than that! if it is good enough for you (with installs that look that awesome) it will be good enough for me.

Thank!

 

I've used modular plates and other premade plates. They sometimes look nice, but I think it looks more cluttered. As long as you keep the wires neat, by tie wrapping, or in some cases even using electrical tape, if you use all black wires, then it looks a lot cleaner. It is nice cause you can also run long wires and hide the excess in the wall, and when need be, you can just pull them out. It works well. And you are right, it doesn't get any cheaper then that

 

I was at work programming a remote before, so I couldn't post a picture. I am home now and found one. The equipment in this picture is off to the side to clean up, so the wiring itself hasn't been cleaned up and hidden. However, you can see the plate and the wires tied. I have black tie wraps in this picture, I was out of white, but I changed them the next time I was at that house. It gives you an idea of how it will look though:



This is the tv on the other side of the wall:


And just cause I like how the room looks, I have a picture after the customers put their furniture in the room (same as system as the first picture I posted):

 

Alright, perhaps I'm missing something from the posts above, but where do the video cables go once they are in the wall and where are the components located in all of the pictures above with the Flat-screens over the fireplaces??

I have a nice fireplace I'd like to put a Flat-screen over, but obviously I can't just run the wires down the backside of the wall, I have to run the wires horizontally somehow like you have in that third to last picture in post #5...how did you get the wires to go from the tv to the corner of the room? Suggestions?
I have an older home with a full brick chimney, but the interior is sheetrock over the mantel, not brick. I don't know how much room there is between the sheetrock and brick.

 

Generally speaking, most fireplaces that have sheetrock over brick is not directly on the brick. This would require liquid nails, and I am not 100% sure, but I think might be against code. If there are studs in there, and there is no gap between the wood and the brick, then you would have to cut a channel across the sheetrock, and drill holes in the studs. You would run the wires across horizontally, and then down. You would probably have to cut another access hole near the bottom of the wall to the side of the fireplace, and drill a hole down to a basement below, or go the opposite and go above to a attic. We have also done a lot of rooms that are over garages, where he just cut holes in the sheetrock in the ceiling and then put in a blowout patch that the customer can tape and paint if they wish. There are different options depending on the house and where you would like to put everything.

Now some of my installs are done in two stages. First when the house is still in framing, we will run the wires. Once the house is complete, we come back and install the connections and equipment. The last picture I posted, that house was already complete when I ran the wires. The basement had not yet been finished, so the wires are run through the basement. The equipment is in the cabinet on the opposite side of the room in the lower left hand corner of this picture: