Hanging a flat TV

New flat TVs are incredibly light and only need a small bracket to hold them up, it has never been so easy to mount your TV on the wall!

Start by deciding where on the wall, what height, should it align with other items - pictures, door frame etc.  Consider also if you would like to have the TV move - to angle or swing it one way or the other, this will have a bearing on the choice of bracket.  The height is also important, I like to put mine at about eye level or above, never below.

Simple bracket

Fix the straps to the TV, note that most TVs have a limit to the length of screw when fixing behind the screen - about three to five full turns of the screw should be enough to hold it, the screw should never be allowed to penetrate too far as on some (older) TVs this could mark the screen.
 

the TV straps - none of the screws provided fitted this old TV

Now to fix the bracket to the wall - before marking the wall it might be worthwhile putting the bracket on the TV, to see the distance between the screw holes and e.g. the top of the screen, that way the unit can be precisely mounted on the wall 

the wall bracket

now the TV can be hung on the bracket - don't let go of the TV until you are sure that it is hooked over the bracket on both sides. Use bolts according to the strength of the wall (this one was concrete) and the weight of the TV -  a weaker wall = more fixing points

Tidying up

The whole installation will look neater if the cables are hidden, in rented property we normally use trunking - it is easily purchased and simply cut and fixed

plastic cable trunking - large enough for future cables...

 

In this example the spare cable drops down behind the furniture.  Remember that the new smart TVs can also be connected to the internet, either by wireless or preferably with a cable - the yellow one above.

 

 Trunking

Invisible cables

It is possible to hide the cables in the wall.  To do this will require sinking a tube into the wall, the diameter of the tube must be large enough to pass all of the cables and connectors through - probably 3cm diameter will be sufficient.  It may be best to mount the TV (and then remove it) before cutting the wall, so that the cable exit is in a convenient place.

The wall below - we made from plaster bricks, which were easy to cut and plaster over afterwards

 

invisible cables

Moveable or swinging bracket

The procedure is basically the same, some extra cable length may be required to allow the TV to move.  If the TV swings out on an arm, extra bolts may be required to fix to the wall...