LCD install above fireplace

Hey, I am getting a 52" LCD tv soon, and I was wondering if it would work to install it above my fireplace. The fireplace is a fully enclosed one, with hinged sliding doors that seal completely. also, there is a think wooden mantle between the doors and the television.

I was told this would not work, but the person assumed it was an open-style fireplace.

This location would be the best place by far to install the television, how can I get it to work?

Re: LCD install above fireplace

Also, this fireplace is used infrequently.

Re: LCD install above fireplace

I think fireplace mounting has a "cool" factor for some, but in practice not so good for two reasons. 1) The heat from the fire (assuming you use the fireplace) is a bad thing for anything electronic. Secondly, a TV should be mounted at eye level from your prime seating location. Mounting a TV above the fireplace would usually be much above eye level, which will cause neck strain.

Re: LCD install above fireplace

Mounting TV's above fireplaces is for magazine ads, not real life practical use.

Re: LCD install above fireplace

I agree... its about the worst place you could mount your TV, second to maybe the cealing.

Re: LCD install above fireplace

I don't know, I'd say it depends on usage / seating arrangement / a whole host of other factors. There could be compelling reasons to want to do this.

I have a direct-vent gas fireplace in my house -- i.e. it has a concentric ventilation system, one tube pulling in fresh outside air for combustion, one exhausting back to the outside. The fire itself is sealed off from the room, so its heat is radiant only. For a fireplace like that, I'd say go for it.

It sounds like yours is a bit different, though. If your fire is also sealed off from the room, that should mean radiant heat through the glass only (if the fireplace were open to the room, I'd be concerned about convection sending hot air rolling up the wall and to the TV). So you might be OK in that regard.
But if your fireplace exhausts through a traditional brick chimney, as opposed to a direct vent, I am really not sure how hot things will get in/on the wall above the mantle... that may be cause for concern.

Re: LCD install above fireplace

The fireplace is fully enclosed, the hot air circulates around the house through air ducts not through the front of the fireplace, and the area I would mount the tv barley even gets warm.

Because of the way the room is set up, this is really the only place to put the tv without an akward seating arrangement and traffic flow.

Re: LCD install above fireplace

Understand, sometimes you have no choice. Home designers never consider the real important things when designing a house; home theatre!

A couple other thoughts.

1. Again, I would make sure that you will not have neck strain/pain if the TV is mounted above your fireplace. I know in my house, above the fireplace would be way to high for comfortable viewing unless I was standing.
2. If you are going to have a separate surround audio system, will there be places to mount speakers?
3. I would think that placement of wiring (AC, antenna, speakers, etc.) would be a problem also.

Good luck with your new system!

Re: LCD install above fireplace

I have an electronic fireplace and had the tv mounted just above it. It looks great! I don't know about mounting one above a real fireplace though.

Re: LCD install above fireplace

Heat is not the reason it's not a good idea.


Yes, you do have a choice. Don't buy that home. When we had our home built 4 years ago, that was one of the main features in our evaluations- No fireplace in the middle of the wall.

Besides, home theater has nothing to do with the living room. I've yet to see a builder that puts a fireplace in the home theater.


Yep, they look great. That's why they're always in magazines that way. But there's no way I'm going to watch 2-6 hours of movies with my head angled up like that. Your eyes should be 1/3 - 1/2 way up the screen. Now, if you have recliners and you're ALWAYS reclined, it can reduce that issue, but it doesn't illiminate it.

Re: LCD install above fireplace

Seriously man, forget about that place. Unless you have an unusually short fireplace the TV gets to sit too high. You'll love it at first but then you will not enjoy using it. As Kevin Stewart mentioned, recliners help a lot but it is still not comfortable.

Regarding the heat issue, if you get no hot air flowing up the wall and heating the plasma, if the wall behind the TV doesn't get past warm, then technically there is probably no problem. Of course you should also make sure the wall can sustain the weight. I've read about a case when the mount got pulled from the wall by the weight of a 60" plasma. The wall was of course very thin and anything but sturdy.

Anyway, I would personally think twice about installing a TV there. Maybe you can post a photo of the room. We could try to come up with suggestions/ideas.

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Yes, I agree with your first point, but it is difficult to find non-custom homes that do not really mess-up HT system planning. When we built our house 12 years ago we never could find a house design with the correct floor plan for our HT system. So when we finally did decide on a plan that was close we still had to move the fireplace from one wall to another so we could get a clean 21' of wall space.

I do not agree with your second point though, we (and I assume many folks) do not have a separate HT room. We do not want to go to another room to watch TV so it was important that the living room be designed for HT at least as close as possible.

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Well, you're opening up a big can of worms there and I don't really want to get into it, but I'll just say the following:

Correct, most folks do not have a home theater. I also agree that it's important that the living room be designed well. No matter how well it's designed, however, it's not a home theater. It will still be a living room. It might be better than most home theaters (in terms of equipment) and it might have home theater equipment, but it's not a home theater. A home theater is not just equipment. If you take all of the equipment out of a home theater and ask someone what to call the room, they would still say "it's a home theater". If you take all the equipment out of your living room, would people still call it a home theater? They wouldn't in mine. It also doesn't mean one is better than the other. They just have different purposes. A home theater is solely designed/built for movie/tv watching (and a few other things like listening to music). A living room with nice equipment is intended for many things (conversation, kids playing, communication between other rooms, tv/movies, etc.). Just like a media room is also different (usually multi-functional: bar, pool table, big screen, etc.). They all have different functionality and they can all be great spaces. They're just not the same thing.

As far as going to another room to watch TV, I rarely do that. I watch TV in the living room (70" display, 5.1 sound), but I watch movies in the HT (126" display, 7.1 sound).

Before I built my current house, I had a wonderful living room set-up (still do, actually). But it was never a home theater. It was home theater equipment in my living room (and still is).

If I put a toilet in my kitchen, it's still not a bathroom. it's a kitchen with a toilet.

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Actually, the tv is not that high up. The fireplace is small and the tv is at the exact height that the installers normally place it at. I don't have to strain my neck to watch..it is at eye level.

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I think most fireplaces are higher than that. I just checked mine and my chin is about the same level as the top of the mantle (I am 6'0"). That would place the bottom of a TV at least 6' above the floor. I guess it all depends on each individual's situation.

Re: LCD install above fireplace

[quote=Kevin Stewart]Well, you're opening up a big can of worms there and I don't really want to get into it, but I'll just say the following: [quote]

I understand your point; I wish I had a separate dedicated HT room sometimes, but I could never justify the costs of having two viewing rooms with the electronics to support them. I think the trend is going towards dedicated HT rooms mainly because of the designs of current homes, but I believe it will be a long time before it is typical of most. In our case, the living room is large by most standards (5500-6000 cubic feet) so we have the room for anything we want. (It is a good thing it is a large room; it would look like speaker city otherwise. )

Hello,

I too am considering putting a 52" LCD tv above the fireplace in the home we have just purchased. We have a finished basement now but the new house does not have one. So we decided to put the HT in the family room. The problem is in this room there is really no where else to put the tv unless it goes in the corner of the room. The fireplace is directy in the middle of the only wall where a tv could go. Could a 52" tv be mounted in the corner of a room?

Also, I need a professional service to install the tv and wire the room for surround sound. I have heard bad things about the 'geek squad'. Does anyone have any recommendations? We are in Burlington, Ontario. Thanks.