Feedback please:
Ive got a cliewnt who wants me to make a custom enclosure for her LCD TV and media storage over her fireplace mantle. ive always had reservations about installing electronics near heat, especially a high end tv over a fireplace. if i do it i fully plan to install two computer exhaust fans in the unit to diminish heat, but am concerned about the health of the TV when a fire is raoring.
any info would help, and please tell your horror stories just so i know……
Dan Lynn, Dan Lynn Construction, Joliet, IL
QUOTES TO LIVE BY: ‘The bitterness of poor quality lasts far longer than the sweet taste of a low price….’ ‘Anything worth doing is worth doing well’ “If it was easy……ANYBODY could do it”
Replies
Don't know that I like the idea either, but it is being done:
http://www.garymkatz.com/TrimTechniques/flatscreen_mantelpiece.htm
Personally....the only thing I find cheesier than a TV over a fireplace, is one in the bathroom.
But hey.....if they can withstand the moisture in there, than they can handle the heat of an apparently, rarely used fireplace.
Exhaust fan is a good idea....as is a cabinet that can be completely closed off when TV is not in use and fireplace is.
J. D. Reynolds
Home Improvements
I'm not sure about heat, but what I don't like about mantle TV's is how high the screen is.
Unless you have alot of bar stools in yout living room that people will be pearched on to watch a show, I think it's a bad location for a main TV. Way too high up.
I'd love to see an option that allowed the TV to telescope down and out from above the mantle, haven't seen one yet though.
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
Tu stultus es
I agree. I've seen it done and the TV is way too high up. Bad for your neck. How about a TV in the fireplace? Comes with a yule log DVD?
I don't like about mantle TV's is how high the screen is
I'm with you. It gives me a pain in the neck just thinking about it.You get out of life what you put into it......minus taxes.
Marv
I'm a bit uncertain myself, though if you do it make sure the mantle has a good projection on it to deflect heat, and potentially smoke, away from the wall/cabinets. I assume the original reason for large prominent mantles was to deflect heat and smoke away from Granddad's portrait above.
Edited 12/3/2008 12:09 pm ET by CooperDBM
Aesthetics aside (they stink) the heat from a fireplace really isn't a factor.
First thought is how annoying computer fans are on the ear. But that's probably because I spend the day surrounded by them.
The viewing height above the mantle is really uncomfortable, especially if you are sitting.
My first thought was to mount it on some kind of articulating arm, so that you could pull it away from the wall past the mantle and then drop it down to a locked position for a better viewing angle. (while still allowing it to swivel side to side if needed)
This was the closest I could find on a quick search, but there's probably something better out there for the application.
http://www.amazon.com/Vantage-Point-UL01-S-Articulating-Mount/dp/B00009VQ70/ref=sr_1_48?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1228326818&sr=1-48
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TV over mantle is up too high?
Guess you boys and girls don't frequent sports bars.
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"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
Install two.
One above the fireplace, in accordance with the client's wishes.
And one in the fireplace, complete with a video loop showing flames.
Hardware (type of TV screen) and software are available so that a flatscreen unit will show what looks to be a painting or a photo.
It can be considered as a way to decorate what would otherwise appear as a big dark rectangle.
There are probably ways to program things so it is only active when combinations of light, motion, and sound are present, so that it idles in black at night, when no one is in the room, and otherwise.
Walk into the room, snap your fingers, and it trips into Van Gogh's "Starry Night." Maybe some David Byrne music comes up too, but not too loud.
It used to be, back in the olden days of human-scaled TVs, that you could hide the doggoned things in cabinets with doors. Remember TV "armoires" in hotel rooms? You can buy them today for the value of the firewood in them.
Today's big flatscreens bring angst to carpenters and cabinetmakers asked to house them in enclosures with doors. For a really big screen, there just ain't no way to do it without getting into sliding panels, huge hardware costs, and even then, you need room at sides to park the slid-away doors. Pocket door solutions don't work any more. A 60-wide screen would need a 33-deep cab to be able to park conventional swing-n-slide pocket doors in place, and who needs 33 depth when the $1700 plasma unit is only 3 1/2" deep?
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"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
Edited 12/3/2008 4:06 pm ET by Gene_Davis
As was said already, there's not enough heat from the FP to mess with the TV. However, you may want to have here mount it there temporarily and see if she likes it.
I'm betting she doesn't. Right after she sees the chiropractor for her stiff neck, she'll call you up and ask you to move it for her. ;-)
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
I agree with those who say the TV over the fireplace is too high. I was planning to do that but i tried it out with a cardboard template and it's not particularly comfortable. And you can't lie on the floor in front of the fireplace to watch TV.
It really depends on the fireplace and how it's used.. a gas fireplace is pretty well controlled. A wood burning masonary fireplace on the other hand with a roaring fire could actually melt the plastic causing all sorts of problems..
"A wood burning masonary fireplace on the other hand with a roaring fire could actually melt the plastic causing all sorts of problems.. "
Aw, c'mon Frenchy! That would mean you could never paint or wallpaper the wall over the fireplace -- or have a wood mantle, with a shellac finish (which I do, BTW) over the FP. Most of the heat from a fireplace is radiant -- meaning it radiates out in a straight line from the FP -- not up along the wall.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
But if you're burning black walnut with shellac on it...............http://www.quittintime.com/ View Image
ha!
I've gotten hotter fires from Maple and oak. And yes I have chared stuff in my fireplace including the mantle.. When you have a stack of wood blocking your view of the TV the temptation is to toss enough in the firebox to get your view back.. That's not recommended at all<grin>
50,000 bd.ft. of hardwood produces a lot of cut offs and scrap wood.
i have a 52 over a gas fireplace,that ought to get you guys going.those who hate gas fireplaces and those that hate tv's over the fireplace.
first lets talk heat, my tv is probably 16 above the top of the firebox. mantle has a pretty small overhang,maybe 4".if you run the fireplace for a hour or 2 the tv screen gets pretty warm,warmer than i like but hasn't hurt any thing. if the tv could sit back another 4" or the top of mantle protrude out 8-9" it would really help this problem.
viewing angle,everybody talks about stiff necks,man they must be watching tv on the clg. sit in your chair .i bet your eyes are around 4' + above the floor. my tv center screen is 5' 10 from floor.so to look at the middle is about 2' high.i'm sitting back about16'. look at your floor tv,i look down almost2' to center of screen.it's all about what your used to.
now the biggest thing to watch is reflection,when they are up high they can pick up a lot of reflection from windows and lights,it's a problem i have with mine as there is almost nothing but windows behind me and reflecting on the screen. at night i have a light hanging from the clg,it reflects so bad we have to have it off.
thats the biggest drawback i have with it is reflection, on the plus side it takes up space that would be lost otherwise.larry
if a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?
>> i'm sitting back about16' << That is kinda a key statement.
How would the space be lost? You could hang something else there, like a painting, or a family portrait, and have the TV at a height so your eye height is center screen when seated on the sofa.
If it's nice up that high, why don't people without fireplaces hang them up that high?
well to tell ya the truth ,i'm seeing a lot of tvs hanging in the 4-5' range on the wall,sure not going to hang a plasma at 2'! larry
if a man speaks in the forest,and there's not a woman to hear him,is he still wrong?
Edited 12/4/2008 8:48 am by alwaysoverbudget
I think the main issue will be the viewing height ........... I'd mock it up with cardboard for the client's approval. We have a CRT set (can't see the point to paying a grand for a LCD set so you can watch Dancing With the Scars in hi def)in a 28" deep alcove over a gas fireplace that gets used often during the winter .............. no heat issues. Aesthetics aside (I didn't build it), the viewing height is fine (62" to the center of the screen off the floor, 13' to 14' to the seating) but that could well be an issue with a high (tall) hearth in a small room.
Sir Winston Churchill
Check the warranty on the TV. I've done it before with a retrofitted gas-log fireplace. Above the firebox was a unit I made for the tivo box/direct tv box with the TV above that. Kind of high for my taste, but the owners loved it. The only thing the home theater installer was concerned about in this situation was smoke, not heat, from a fireplace. Since it was gas, they ok'd it. But they said that any smoke would do more damage to the screen than any heat would