A flat-screen TV mounted to the wall gives a home a sleek, modern feel, and frees up floor space, too. As long as you’re capable of taking accurate measurements, and driving screws, you could mount a TV to your own wall in about an hour. Doing it yourself could save you a few hundred dollars in installation fees.
Here’s what you need to know.
There Are Three Types of Mounts
There are three basic types of TV mounts that you can buy. These are low profile mounts, which hold the TV as close to the wall as possible; full motion mounts, which allow you to move the TV around and pull it out from the wall; and tilting mounts, which let you tilt the TV forward. You can buy Samsung televisions that will work with each type of mount.
Each type of mount is appropriate for a different situation. If space is at a premium in your TV room, use a low-profile mount. If you’re going to have to hang the TV above eye-height, or you’re going to be watching from the floor as well as the couch, use a tilting mount. If you want to be able to fully manipulate the position of the TV to face the viewer, choose a full motion mount.
Hang Your TV at the Right Height
It’s important to mount your TV at eye-height to the viewer. Most people struggle with this, and hanging a TV too high is one of the most common ways you can mess up mounting your TV on your own. You should try to center your TV screen at eye level, or you could even hang it a little lower than that so that the eyes of the viewers are on the upper two-thirds of the screen. Figuring out the right height will take three people – one to sit on the couch and decide on the proper height, and two to hold the TV and move it up and down.
Once you’ve determined the optimum height, use masking tape to mark the TV’s position on the wall. Make sure to mark the bottom edge of the TV with masking tape – then set the TV aside and use a level to make sure the tape is perfectly level. Locate the studs in the wall where you’ll hang the TV, so you can anchor it securely. If you have a brick, concrete, or block wall, you can drive your screws wherever you want. If you don’t have any studs in your walls, you can use molly bolts or toggle bolts to anchor your TV securely.
Position the Bracket and Mounting Plate Carefully
Now you need to carefully position the bracket and mounting plate on the wall, at the spot where you want to center the TV. Start by marking the wall where you need to put screws in. Hold the bracket up to the wall, make sure it’s level, and mark the screw holes. Use a drill to drill ⅛-inch pilot holes where you’re going to drive your screws. Then you can mount the bracket to the wall using screws. Check once again to make sure the bracket is level.
Now you can attach your mounting plate to the back of your TV. The holes on the mounting plate should line up with screw holes on the TV chassis. Use the screws that came with the mounting plate to attach the plate to the back of the TV. Be careful not to over tighten the screws, as this could damage the screws or the TV itself, and make it difficult to remove the mounting plate later or put another mounting plate on your TV. Tighten the screws until the mounting plate is snug against the TV, and then give them another quarter-turn.
The mounting plate should attach to the wall bracket using hooks or a clip. Extendable full motion TV mounts may have the TV mounted directly to the extendable arm.
Hide Your Cables
Few TV owners want to look at ugly black cables dangling from the bottom of a wall-mounted TV. If you’re sure you’re not going to move the TV anytime soon, the best solution may be to run the TV wires through the wall. You can also buy metal and plastic raceways to hide your TV cables – paint them the same color as the wall for extra camouflage. If you don’t want to install raceways or run your cables through the wall, you can at least paint them the same color as the wall so they’re less visible.
Hanging a TV on the wall yourself can be a little finicky, but it doesn’t require any special skills. You just need a couple of friends or family members to help you with it, and you could save yourself a few hundred bucks on an easy home improvement job.
