Stone Fireplace TV Mounting

So,

I just bought a house! I now want to mount the TV on the wall. However, there happens to be some obstacles with doing this.

I want to mount the TV above the fireplace (its pretty much the only option, don't worry guys, we are not going to use it and melt the precious TV). The fireplace is all stone and what is making this difficult is a flat surface to place the mount. Cable management seems to be an entirely different monster all together.

Not that the folks at Home Depot are a wealth of knowledge, but I had inquired about mounting a piece of plywood first and then mounting the mounting bracket through the plywood and into the stone. The Home Depot guy said that he's not sure if the concrete screws would hold in that situation and may over time work themselves out.

Has anyone done something like this with their TV.

A couple particulars:

1. It's a 46" Sony (about 63 lbs I think)
2. I bought a Sanus Systems VMAA18 mounting bracket (I may take it back if it's not going to work)
3. The stone is about 5" thick
4. The mantle too small to put the TV on.

Thanks for any ideas, suggestions, etc.. My next option would be to bring in Best Buy (ugh) to come in and tell me that I'm going to need to put the TV on a different wall and charge me $400 for that. Which would suck.

Thanks for any input

Uni

Quote:
The mantle too small to put the TV on.

Perhaps you could have a carpenter install a wider mantle and use the TV pedestal base. I've seen this done and it looks pretty good. The only problem with over fireplace mounting is that the tv is usually too high which drives me nuts.

Quote:
Perhaps you could have a carpenter install a wider mantle and use the TV pedestal base. I've seen this done and it looks pretty good. The only problem with over fireplace mounting is that the tv is usually too high which drives me nuts.

LH.

1st. That would be too damned easy and completely negate the post earlier. What I really wanted was for someone to say. Go for it man, those screws will hold anything to that stone and who gives a damned if its against an un-even surface.

2nd. Actually the height is the culprit. The mantle seems to sit high as it stands. That mount that I have would serve as a two-fold purpose. 1. It tilts so I could tilt it down a little bit. 2nd. It extends out 19" so although the mount would be above the mantle the TV itself would hang over it at the appropriate (or very close) viewing height.

Thanks for the input none the less.

Uni

This is easy. You need to buy a new house to fit your TV
In all seriousness, there are lots of anchors that should hold ok provided they are installed right. You could use washers on the back of the mount (to act as shims) to accomodate the uneven surface, and then use longer screws.

I didn't mean to imply that you can't mount on a stone surface, but when I think of a stone face, I think of an irregular surface with a lot of round protrusions. etc. Mounting on this might be tough. If it is more of a flat surface then it would of course be easier. Anything can be mounted if you do it right. Of course you have to be able to drill into the stone itself and that's not easy. I have an old mill gear which weighs about 100 lbs mounted on the brick above my fireplace. I used some real heavy duty anchors to mount that puppy and it caused me a lot of stress when I was putting it up. I'm sure you'll find a way.

You would probably have better answers in a different forum, like maybe specific sites for carpentry, or home building/design.

The problem with mounting a TV over a fireplace (even if not used) is that the TV will probably end up a bit high. Ideally, you want your eyes to be close to mid-center to the screen in your regular seating position. Perhaps it might be a better option to cover the fireplace opening with your TV, since you don't light it anyway.

Unless you live in the deep south or the tropics, I'd use the fireplace anyway. The ability to light up and cozy in front of a fire in mid-winter with the wifey is an asset. The huge stone fireplace was one of the features that attracted us to our current house years ago.

how about using rods hanging straight down from the ceiling? use length-adjustable rods, too, so you can raise/lower your tv depending on whomever is watching it. this also gets you out of major masonry work on your stone fireplace.

I've had to mount to stone before. One of two things, the surface area in which the mount has to be positioned needs to be fairly level or straight as you have it. Home Depot sells masonary bits to grind down stone. It you cross section drill to remove sections at a time, it goes quicker. You will need a hammer and a stone chisel to get away some of the stubborn peices. This is a messy job, but it gratification is worth every penny. Once you have come up with the squared off area for the base of the mount, the trick is to find the mounting wholes (spots for the lag bolts to go through). The trick is that not all builders have placed plywood behing the stone. Most do, but some don't. Going to your local nut and bolt shop, you should find 2.5 inch or even 3 inch lag bolts. Min 1/2 inch diameter. You will need a heavy duty drill with a masonary bit a little larger size than the lag bolt. I would recommend no smaller than 1/2 inch. The TV itself is not that heavy, but does need two secure bolts. That's it! Anyways when you are at the bolt shop, remember that you will need the metal counter anchors for the bolt to go into. When you pre-drill you will be able to tell right away if you have plywood or not. DO NOT DRILL THROUGH PLYWOOD! Your lag bolt anchors, can be trimmed down with a pair of linemans pliars, or a pipe saw. You want to trim those down to the depth of the stone to the wood. It you do not have wood behind, you will need the full lengh. If the fitting is tight enough with the lag in the whole, you will never have an issue. The hardest part is getting to mount area fairly flush. It doesn't have to be perfect, you can also use spacers from you local hardware store as well. But remember for the spacers, you have to compensate with longer bolts. If the fireplace is on an outside wall, no doubtly you will have a false chimney as well. That makes your perfect space to run cables!!! By knocking out a stone, you can go throught that area, and predrill from you basement(if it's not finished) from the bottom I mean, and go in behind the fireplace. Make sure from the basement side you are near the back of the fireplace, because you do not want to go through a gas line or anything. There is lots of room. I've had to do it in a pinch. then you can run your cables to what ever side you want your components too. Drill down from the main floor down. If you end up into the cement wall downstairs, it's nto so bad. You may have to move your whole out from the wall a bit. You will need a samll bit to make the pilot whole, the a 1 inch ogging(can't spell) bit to get your cabling through. I hope that helps!

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[Post edited by ReaggieP on Jun 10, 2008 - CDT 9:36 AM]

I think they make a achor bolt that goes into concrete called a tapcon. That would hold plywood. What you do is drill a hole and then put the pin in the pin makes it expand and not come back off. We have used them at work for holding up walls. I do comercial construction. But I don't know how what the stone itself will hold. But I thought this might work