Condo Blues: How to Mount a Big Flat Screen TV in a Small TV Niche

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

How to Mount a Big Flat Screen TV in a Small TV Niche

The thing that has been holding my husband and I back from upgrading to a larger TV is trying to figure out where to put it. We maxed out the TV hole in the wall above our fireplace with a 30 inch flat panel. We honestly don’t have any other place in our small living room for an entertainment center or to hang a TV but in our wall niche.

how to hang big flat panel tv in a small over the fireplace tv nook
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Even so, several factors finally influenced us into recently upgrading to a Jumbotron size television:

  • We finally got tired of Spectrum’s steadily declining service and app uptime that gave us more errors than On Demand streaming (which is what we used most of the time) and ditched cable for Netflix, Hulu, and a free trail of Amazon Prime Channels (you can learn more about it here.) Yeah I know, welcome to the party. It’s about time! (Disclosure: I am including affiliate links in this post for your convenience.)

  • We love movies and it would be nice to stream them on a big screen in our living room


  • Oh that and  it turns out you CAN mount a large flat panel television in a small built in TV niche without framing in the niche and turning the TV nook into a fake wall.

We wanted to avoid that because the niche is a handy place to hang and hide the TV antenna and components (we have this exact beyonne TV antenna and my research is right it is the best bang for your buck.)

How to Hang a 50 inch or Larger Flat Panel Television in a Recessed Over the Fireplace Wall Niche


You will need the following project supplies:

SlydLock Fireplace Nook TV Mount (learn more about it here)


Electric drill and drill bit – I upgraded to a Dewalt electric drill like this one and then my husband gave me 100-piece Impact Screw Driving Bit Set for Christmas because he is the best guy ever!

Socket seta socket set looks like this

Carpenter’s level – a  carpenter’s level looks like this

Tape measure

Pencil

An extra set of hands


Step by Step How to Install it Directions


1. Assemble the TV mount with the carriage bolts to fingertip tight. I found it easiest to attach the TV mounting bracket to the side “wings” face down in my TV niche. This way I could easily make the side wings that attach to each side of my TV niche the correct length. Don’t tighten everything down just yet. You may need to make minor fit adjusts before it is time to heft your TV onto the wall mount.

2. Use the screwdriver and four of the corresponding size screws for your television to attach the mounting arms to the back of your television, with the tilt lever pointing down towards the floor. The mount comes with eleventh billion screws of different lengths and sizes to chose from. It also includes washers and spacers if the corresponding screws for your television aren’t quite the correct size.

how to attach a tv mounting bracket to the back of a flat panel tv


3. Use the tape measure to measure the vertical height of the back of your television and wall niche.

4. Use the pencil to mark the wall where you want to install the TV mount on both side of your TV niche. This is where your helper and carpenter’s level comes in handy. I found it best to have my husband hold the mount while I checked if it was level and marked where on the inside edge of the TV niche I needed to drill the holes to mount the niche bracket.
Tip: Most TV nooks are built with wood studs (and/or have metal framing) on the very edge of the niche to support the weight of heavy old school CRT television sets. It is always best to make sure with a stud finder like this one because just drywall/sheetrock is too weak to support the weight of the TV and mount (per the manufacturer)
how to use a studfinder
My stud finder works!

5. Use the drill and drill bit to drill the six mounting holes you marked into the studs framing the TV nook. You really need to use all six lag bolts (3 on each side per the manufacturer) to bolt the mount into your niche, unless you want your expensive and stupidly heavy Jumbotron crashing to the ground. I can’t speak for you, but I’m guessing that’s a no.

6. Use the socket set, the holes you drilled Step 5, and your second set of hands to hold the winged bracket in place while you securely bolt the winged TV bracket to the inside edge of the TV niche.


how to bolt a tv into a recessed tv nook


7.  Now is the time to double check and make adjustments to mounting bracket on the wings and securely tighten the 8 carriage bolts that hold everything in place with the socket set.


how to hang a fireplace tv mount


8. Swivel the bottom portion of each mounting arm to the side which will help you lock the bottom of the mounting arms to the bottom of the wall mount.

It is much easier to do this before you and your helper are balancing on step stools and struggling to figure out why the bottom of the mounting arms won’t latch on the bottom of the niche mount while trying to to drop an extremely heavy object.

Unless that’s your jam. Then have at.

9. With your assistant, lift the television and hook the top of both mounting arms onto the top of the niche bracket. Then swivel the bottom of the mounting arm into place under the bottom of the niche bracket to lock it into place.


10. Adjust the television’s tilt from the wall using the tilt adjustment levers on side of each mounting arm and level it using the GIAGANTIC Allen wrench included in the kit to adjust the alignment screws on the top of each mounting arm.

how to level and adjust a flat panel tv mount

11. Plug in your television, hook up the components if needed, and have a movie night!



how to hang a flat panel tv over a fireplace

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1 comment :

Teresa B said...

This is really useful. Thank you for sharing the tips at The Really Crafty Link Party this week. Pinned.

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