Mounting the Flat Screen

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bevo_daddy

500+ Posts
Screw geek squad, i'm taking this one on.

Going to hang my 40" Samsung on the wall in the bedroom.

Looking for your thoughts on cutting small hole in the wall to run the wires. I'm mounting it about 3-4' directly over the inputs for the directv should be able to get the wires thorugh but never ran anything through the wall.

Any pointers?
 
Biggest thing is getting a power outlet in the wall behind the spot where the TV will hang. You don't want to run a power cord behind the wall.

The rest is pretty easy, assuming you don't have any horizontal fire blocks in your wall.

Check monoprice for single gang wall plates specifically for running wires. Gives it a nice look.

Good luck.
 
A buddy and I mounted my 52" on the wall. I didnt have an outlet elevated so I did exactly what you're suggesting. Cut a small hole in the wall where the tv would hang, ran the cords, hdmi, etc. and then cut another small hole at the bottom. Everything is hidden because even though the tv is on the wall we still have a "media console" table to house the blu-ray, xbox360, satellite ****.

I cant tell you the difference it makes when its on the wall, nice and neat. If you're going to have wires and the like just hanging down, then save yourself the time and dont bother. It will look like ****.
 
Not to be debbie downer, but running a TV power cord behind the wall is a monumentally bad idea. It violates fire code, and should it cause a fire in your home, your insurance will not cover your losses.

There are some interesting solutions out there to make this an easier exercise. Here is one:
The Link

Do what you want, but I sure wouldn't take that kind of risk.
 
Why would you spend $75 on that? Just get a 4 ft piece of Romex a box for the wall, a plug and a face plate. That should run you about $5 and take the same amount of time to install.
 
If you plan on staying in the house for a while and keeping the display where it is, I would have an electrician install an electrical and component video/audio cable jack in the wall. You definately want to do this by the book so your home owners insurance doesn't give you the big finger if something were to happen. They will find any reason they can to not pay you.

Or you can get a cord cover that is paintable and attaches to the wall with double stick tape. This is what I have and it looks good but I live in a condo and plan on moving in another year.
 
Thanks guys, this is exactly the information I was looking for. Was not aware of the fire risk associated with power cord through the wall. I am only renting the house so not worried about insurance losses but I still dont want the house to catch fire.

In reply to:
Click to expand...
 
didn't know running the power thru the wall was a no-no.

what's the Romex solution? would you basically do the same thing? put a plug in where the tv is, put another connection at the bottom next to the outlet already there and connect there? or are you connecting to the outlet somewhere?
 
You can use the Romex to piggy-back power off an existing power outlet, but you need to make sure power to the outlet is off before you start. It's slightly more complicated, but easy if you know what you are doing.

The PowerBridge doesn't have this worry because the outlet is not hot until you connect the extension cord, but it is a touch expensive.

For a rental house, I might just find some of that cord cover material and run the cords behind that. You can paint it to match the color of the walls.
The Link

Enjoy
 
1. Cut a hole behind your TV for an electrical junction box, install a 'clock receptacle' (ie a recessed one) in that box that you can pick up at Lowe's. Connect a length of Romex to it, and run it down to...

2...a second hole (preferably behind a table/component stand, ideally out of sight but not necessary) the same height as your other receptacles. In this one, install a J-box, but instead of a standard female receptacle, install a male one, ie the prongs are sticking out. (More on this in a second). Attach the Romex to this receptacle.

3. Buy/create an extension cord to power your new run. Plug one end into a surge protector and the other into the lower receptacle you just created. This ensures that the only power to your new run is surge-protected (take care of that beast on the wall).

This is what I did, and it's easy; you don't even have to kill any breakers, because you're not tapping into/creating a 'hot' run at all, it's basically a long extension cord that's up to code (due to the Romex), whereas running your TV power cord through the wall isn't.

The reason you want the 'male' receptacle is for safety; when using this setup, if you have a female receptacle on the bottom, this means you'd have to have a male-male extension cord. This means that if someone pulls the end out of the wall and touches it while it's still plugged into the surge protector, you'd shock the piss out of yourself. With the male receptacle, you have a 'covered' end of the extension cord so you're OK there, and there's no danger of having exposed prongs in the receptacle because there's no hot current going through it; the only time it's powered is when there's a cord plugged into it.

The male receptacle is a little hard to find, presumably because Lowe's/Home Depot don't want to get sued by some dumbass putting one of these on a hot circuit. I got mine online through Leviton, you can find them other places.

This is the same idea as the PowerBridge solution, but cheaper...This dude went one step further and created his own male-ended receptacle, but I wasn't that adventurous...
 
Ignatius, thanks for the detail. this is what i figured what going down. think i'm definitely going to recommend my parents do this.
 
I wall mounted a 50" plasma for a girl I was dating a while back. You have to have to have that baby anchored into the studs for sure. It crossed my mind while installing the mount that as long as I'm screwing the mount into the studs, why not just cut out the sheet rock behind the mount so the studs and the mount are flush. This would allow the TV to be even closer to the wall, albeit only by the depth of the sheetrock, but every bit helps, right? I didn't bother taking that step, mostly since it wasn't my TV, or my wall.

Bernard
 
Not to get too far off the main point of the thread, but has anyone found a good mount that is on a swing arm? Im thinking about mounting a 40" LCD in my bedroom and occasionally swing it 45 degrees to a patio door so that I can watch TV on the patio.
 
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