Install a Flat Panel TV on a Wall With No Wires Showing
Installing a Flat Panel TV and hiding wires inside of a wall can be easy or very frustrating depending on your level of expertise and patience.
I've installed a number of TV's on the wall and hidden wires. Sometimes it's easy, such as the TV is directly above the AV equipment. Others are much more involved, when say above a fireplace or a location that the TV is going to be offset from the av equipment.
Either way, plan ahead!!!! You will need to determine many things and will need a number of tools.
1) Determine where and how high on the wall. There is no set advice on this; just what is most comfortable for you and the distance where you sit to view TV. If you do mount higher than 5' off the floor, plan on a TILT mount.
2) Use BLUE Painters tape to layout the size of your TV on the wall. Better than marking it up with pen or pencil.
3) You will need a stud finder to determine where your stud framing is located within the wall and use tape to mark those locations. Most homes are built with wood studs 16" centered from another. NOT ALWAYS, but it is a rule of thumb to use.
**If you have metal stud framing, brick, or any other masonry materials on or inside your wall, other than regular drywall, I suggest a professional do this from this point forward as there are special methods to secure safely.
4) CABLES:
Assuming you have purchased your wall mount in advance and have determined the "true" distance between the back of your TV, down the wall to your AV equipment and have purchased the correct av cables to hook up, you can proceed.
Always purchase cables longer than you think you'll need, trust me when I say too short and you'll be redoing everything all over. Rule to this would be if your av equipment is directly below the TV, plan on 8-10' cables, yup, that may seem too long but you'll see... use a string if you have to measure cable length ahead of time.
6) Ready set go:
All right you have everything you need, right?
TOOLS you will need:
*Stud finder
*Drill with assortment of bits
*Drywall knife
*Level
*Screw Drivers
*Socket set
*Fish tape or glow rod (Home Depot/Lowes carry these in the electrical dept.)
*Needle nose pliers
*Black electrical tape
*A helper
*A bible and prayer.. (Just kidding!)
7) All wall mounts come with very good instructions as to how to mount the wall mount to the wall and the brackets to the TV, follow those.
8) Hiding the wires:
Every wall and home is different, so what I'm writing here may not be true in your case.
First, using your stud finder, make sure you know exactly where your stud framing is.
Next use your stud finder vertically between the marked studs, up and down the wall to determine there are no obstructions in the wall between the studs, expect fire blocks at approximately 8' off the floor if you mounting that high. Some areas of the country have them lower, so make sure.
Insulation inside the wall is usually no problem just that it can make it more challenging to route the wires.
When you have determined no obstructions, drill or cut a 1-1/2 hole below or next to your wall mount, about 2-3 inches away from the nearest stud. Use a bent coat hanger and insert in the hole and feel around for any obstructions around the hole, if all is good, proceed to drilling/cutting a second hole in line with the hole above.
(If you are running wires away from and not directly below your TV, then step 8b will be you next step.) Use your new fish tape or glow rod and insert in the top hole and run it down the wall to the lower hole, you'll have to use needle nose pliers to grab it through. Once that is done, use black electrical tape to tape the ends of you cables, staggered, to the glow rod/fish tape. Pull back the cables from the top CAREFULLY. If all went well then you have your cables. You can then use a wall plate with a hole drilled out of the middle or just leave the hole open and secure the cables so they don't fall back.
8b) Ok, now this gets more involved and skill is required if you are running cables through stud framing, but here's the trick: Determine where you need to run through the stud and cut away an area of drywall directly over the stud. I recommend a section 8" x 4". Save that piece to use to re-patch later. After you have removed drywall over the stud, use a 1-1/2" bore bit to cut into the stud about an inch an a half deep in. (don't worry too much your not going to make your house fall down) Now run your cables in that new cut out in the stud to the next "bay".
Replace the saved drywall you cut out and use drywall screws above the stud cutout and re-patch with drywall putty and repaint. (No one said this was going to be easy and not allot of work!)
Ok, so that's the basic nuts and bolts of hiding wires in a wall. Good luck!!
