Mounting your TV above your stone fireplace can be a great move since it can look lovely if done right.
However, if you don’t know what you’re doing, there are a ton of things that can go wrong during installation.
Quick summary
In this post, we will go over all the steps you need to take in order to effectively install and mount your TV on a stone fireplace.
We will also list the factors you must consider and take into account before you start the mounting process.
So without further ado, let’s get started.
A Note about Wall Mounts before getting started
If you want to mount your TV on a stone fireplace, you will need a wall mount.
Some TVs come with their own wall mounts but for the most part, you will have to buy them separately.
If you intend to mount your TV over a fireplace of any kind, make sure that it’s specifically designed for that purpose.
If you get a regular TV wall mount, there’s a chance that it may get damaged from the heat of the fireplace below it.
Hence, make sure that you buy one that is specifically suited to your needs and can indeed withstand the heat that your fireplace will produce.
Tools and Supplies Needed
Before we get started with the actual installation process, it’s a good idea to take note of all the tools and supplies you’ll need and gather them all first.
We always like to have our tools and supplies in one accessible place before we get started with the installation. This allows us to have a streamlined flow when it comes to installing the mount.
If you don’t do this, then you would have to pause the installation process to go look for tools needed for the next step. In some cases, you may even have to go out and buy them or order them.
This can add hours or even days to the duration of the installation process.
Hence, always get everything first before you start the installation.
The tools and materials you will need are:
- A fixed or tilting TV wall mount
- A drill
- Masonry drill bits
- A cement anchor kit
- A hammer
- Epoxy masonry
- Assorted screws (from your wall mount)
- A wrench
- A pencil or marker
- A screwdriver
- A thermometer
- Adhesive tape
Once you have all of the tools and supplies gathered, you can start to install the mount and TV onto the stone fireplace.
How to Install a TV Wall Mount and TV on a Stone Fireplace (Step-by-Step Guide)
We already talked about how you should buy a wall mount that can withstand the heat from a fireplace.
But what about your TV?
Well, if you have a flat-screen TV, LED TV, or OLED TV, we highly recommend that the location where you intend to hang it must not go above 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
If the location’s temperature goes above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, then you will have to look for another spot to hang your TV.
To check whether the location above your fireplace is suitable or not:
You can take a thermometer and attach it to the location where you intend to install your TV using adhesive tape.
Let the thermometer hang there and get a fire going in your fireplace. Let the fire burn for at least 2 – 3 hours and keep monitoring the temperature on the hanging thermometer.
As long as the temperature on the thermometer stays below 90 degrees Fahrenheit, you should be good to go.
Once you have confirmed that the spot is safe enough to mount your TV, you can begin the installation process:
Step 1: Ask a friend or family member to hold up the wall bracket against the stone fireplace so that you can mark the holes where the cement anchors need to go.
Use a marker or a pencil. It just has to be anything that can leave a visible and permanent mark on the stone structure.
Make sure to use a level to ensure that your helper is holding up the wall bracket properly as you mark the hole spots.
Step 2: Utilize your masonry drill bits to drill holes into the marks that you made in step 1.
Ensure that the size of the masonry drill bit that you use is the same as the size of the cement anchors you will use.
It’s important that they both be a perfect fit. Otherwise, the TV mount will hang loosely above your fireplace.
Repeat the process until you have drilled all the holes necessary to install the TV mount securely.
Step 3: Take a cement anchor and insert into one of the holes that you have made in step 2.
Hammer it in carefully and then use the epoxy masonry to secure it completely. Make sure that you’re careful when hammering. If you do it with too much force, you can definitely damage the stone structure and the hole itself.
If that happens, the spot you chose for your TV will become unusable.
Repeat this process for all the holes you made and then wait for the epoxy masonry to dry. It usually takes about 12 to 18 hours.
Step 4: For this step, we’re assuming that you have a wall mount that has two components: The mounting bracket and the attachment bracket.
The mounting bracket is what you attach to your wall first on its own. After that, you attach the attachment bracket to the back of your TV.
Finally, the attachment bracket gets attached to the mounting bracket that has already been installed on the wall. Once that happens, the TV has been successfully installed.
So, for this step, you must first attach the mounting bracket to the wall.
You can do this by utilizing an attachment wrench or something similar to attach it to the cement anchors you installed in step 3.
Once you have carefully attached it using all of the cement anchors, make sure that you test out its stability. You can do it by simply holding the mounting bracket and shaking it slightly.
If it wobbles too much, then that means it hasn’t been installed properly. In this case, you should check to see if all cement anchors have been correctly attached to the mounting bracket. Also, make sure that nothing is damaged.
Step 5: Once the mounting bracket is securely installed, you can now attach the second component of the TV mount to it.
Take the assorted screws and bolts that you got with the TV mount and organize them properly.
Important note: The process for attaching the attachment bracket to the mounting bracket may be slightly different depending on the model and manufacturer of your TV mount.
We advise that you read all of the instructions they have provided carefully and follow them to a T.
Use the assorted screws and bolts to attach the attachment bracket securely to the mounting bracket with a screwdriver.
Make sure not to overtighten the screws as that will end up damaging the TV mount itself. It may even be rendered unusable if you put in too much force.
Step 6: Once the two components have been successfully attached, you can go ahead and install your TV on the wall.
Once again, have a helper with you for this step. It can be very dangerous holding up a TV and trying to screw it in on your own.
As your helper holds up the TV, use the rest of the assorted screws to attach the TV to the TV mount.
Important note: The holes you use to attach your TV to the wall mount will be different depending on the size and VESA pattern of your TV.
TV mounts often support a variety of different VESA patterns. Hence, they have a whole bunch of holes in them; Many of which you will never use and don’t have a need for.
Hence, make sure that you know which holes are meant for the specific size of your TV. Don’t screw it into the wrong holes.
When you have it properly installed, check for stability. Again, you can do this just by shaking the TV slightly to see if it’s stable or if it’s wobbling too much.
Depending on how much your flat-screen TV moves, you’ll either be good to go or you’ll have to check if any screws are loose or damaged.
Keep repeating this process until your TV is stable. After that, just sit back and enjoy a warm cozy night of TV watching.
Factors to Consider Before You Use a TV Mount to Install a Flat-Screen TV Above a Fireplace
Whether it be a wood-burning fireplace or a gas fireplace, all of them have certain factors that you must take into account before mounting a TV on them.
It’s important to think about these factors because if you don’t, you will definitely run into issues during installation.
These factors are
The Length of the Anchors You Choose
Most of the time, common sense helps us out a lot. However, in this case, your common sense may mislead you.
Since a TV and a TV mount are heavy objects, it’s only reasonable to think that getting extra-long anchors would be a good idea. After all, you want the anchors to be long so that they can securely support the weight of your flat-screen TV and TV mount, right?
While that definitely makes sense, the truth of the matter is that it can actually be extremely harmful.
Why?
Well, while it can definitely work in some cases; In other cases, it can be disastrous.
This is because if you are not familiar with the inner structure of your fireplace and chimney, then you can cause damage inside it without even knowing it.
We highly advise that you don’t use extra-long anchors if you don’t know the inner workings of your fireplace and chimney.
If you damage something inside, it can be extremely costly as well as difficult to repair. Not only that but it could also be potentially dangerous.
For example, one issue that you may run into if you use extra-long anchors is that you might drill too far inside.
If that happens, you may accidentally puncture your chimney’s smoke chamber or ceramic flue tiles. Both of these contain the smoke from your fireplace that goes outdoors through the chimney.
We don’t think we need to spell out why this could be extremely dangerous but we’ll do so anyway:
An open hole or holes within your chimney will cause smoke to seep out into your home every time you light your fireplace. The smoke can have extremely harmful gases such as carbon monoxide.
Viewing Angle
It’s highly popular and trendy to mount your flat-screen TV above your fireplace. However, a quick question you must ask yourself is do you really want to mount the TV above eye level?
According to the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), any viewing angle above 30 degrees will be uncomfortable for you.
If you don’t have a ton of space in your room and decide to mount your TV above your fireplace, there’s a high chance that your viewing angle will be a lot more than 30 degrees.
Hence, take some time to check whether or not your room actually has enough space for your viewing angle to be comfortable.
Since the TV will be fairly high up if you mount it above your fireplace, you will need to have your couches and sofas at a fairly high distance; That’s the only way your viewing angle will be comfortable to watch TV for extended periods of time.
Furthermore, since you’ll be sitting farther away, it will only be worth it if you have a fairly large flat-screen television (at least 55 inches).
If you have a smaller television, even if you find an appropriate angle by positioning your couches far back, they will just be too far away for you to have a pleasurable viewing experience.
Hence, take all of these factors regarding your eye level into account before you decide to mount your flat-screen TV above your fireplace.
We conducted some tests at different distances to check what the average viewer’s experience would be like. Please note that for all of these tests, the TV was mounted at a height of 84 inches. This means that the length from the floor to the center of the TV was 84 inches.
Here are the results:
- Under 95 inches from the TV: This distance from the TV was extremely uncomfortable for all the members of our team. Our necks started to hurt just after 10 minutes of viewing as we had to bend them significantly to view the TV.
- 120 inches from the TV: At this distance, we didn’t have to bend our necks so we were saved from neck strains. However, our eyes still felt strained as we still had to look up slightly to view the TV properly. While this distance is definitely better, we still wouldn’t call it “pleasurable viewing”.
- 180 inches from the TV: This was the perfect distance for us. Everyone was extremely comfortable as we didn’t have to strain our necks or lookup with our eyes to view the TV properly.
While the last distance is definitely perfect for viewing a TV that is placed above a fireplace, you can clearly see why this might be a problem for many households.
Many households don’t have that much space. There’s a high chance you may not be able to place your couch or sofa that far back from the TV.
Even if you do, if you have a smaller TV or weak eyesight, that will still cause problems.
Mount Type
The market has many different varieties of mounts available that can provide all sorts of motion for your TV.
Full-motion, articulating, and swivel mounts can be great in many cases as they allow you to move your TV all around. They can be great for large spaces that have many different viewing angles.
However, if you want to mount your TV above a fireplace, we highly recommend that you go for either a fixed mount or a tilting mount.
Why?
Well, because you have to consider the amount of weight that the fireplace surround is holding for you. Newer TV models are fairly lightweight (usually between 50 – 65 pounds) but older ones can be fairly heavy (80 – 100 pounds).
Along with the TV, you also have the weight of the TV mount which is usually around 30 pounds.
Considering all of this, in many cases, the mount is bearing a weight of around 100 pounds of torque and constantly trying not to break the wall behind it.
When we take into account factors such as the wall’s material, its age, and its current physical state, cracking can definitely be a heavy concern.
The leverage that mounting arms of full-motion mounts and swivel mounts provide can be very useful to move your TV around. However, that puts a much higher load on the wall itself.
Oftentimes, when that wall is only 4 inches thick and attached to a narrow layer of mortar (as is the case for most fireplaces), this can be too much to bear.
This is why we highly recommend that you don’t use mounts that can move or swivel around.
Wrapping Things Up…
As you can see, fireplace mounting is definitely something you can do on your own as long as you use the right tools and plan things properly.
If you have any further questions, please reach out to us in the comments below.
Adam F.
A/V and Home Theater Expert that focuses on providing clear as well as concise reviews for anything and everything Audio Visual. From TV's, TV Mounts, Soundbars, and Wiring, my focus is to provide expertise in everything Audio Visual focused.
