Key takeaways
- Drywall alone will not hold a television. Anchors rated for a picture frame are not rated for a 50 lb panel on a lever arm. Studs, concrete, brick or steel-stud toggles — nothing else.
- Check VESA and weight, not just screen size. A mount that fits the TV’s size on the box can still be the wrong mount if the hole pattern or weight rating don’t match.
- Use the hardware that came with the mount. Bolt diameter and thread pitch are matched to the load; a near-enough substitute from the spares drawer is how screens come off walls.
- Too high is the most common regret. Centre of screen at seated eye level. Above a fireplace, that means a tilting mount, not accepting the higher position.
- Plan cables and ports before you drill, not after. Retrofitting concealment — or reaching a port you didn’t plan for — usually means taking the TV back off the wall.
Five mistakes cause almost everything that goes wrong with a wall-mounted TV. Get any one of them wrong and the rest of the install can be flawless — level, centred, cables tucked away — and the TV still isn’t safe, comfortable to watch, or usable the way you expected.
Here’s each mistake, what it actually costs you, and how to tell whether you’re already living with it.
- Anchored into drywall alone
- The screen eventually pulls the wall apart. Needs a stud, concrete, brick or steel-stud toggle instead.
- Mount doesn’t match the TV
- VESA pattern or weight rating is outside the bracket’s range, even if the screen size is right.
- Substituted hardware
- Screws that go in easily but weren’t sized for the load. Undoes an otherwise correct install.
- Mounted too high
- Neck strain, and often a washed-out picture from viewing off-axis.
- Cables planned after the fact
- Usually means taking the TV back off the wall to run what you missed.
- Skipped the post-install check
- A fixing fault you don’t find until the TV is already hanging on it.
Mistake 1: Anchoring Into Drywall Instead of Structure
Drywall alone was never rated for a television. A picture hook or a floating shelf sits well inside what a plastic or metal drywall anchor can hold; a 50-plus pound panel on the end of a bracket arm is a different load entirely, and the leverage gets worse the moment the screen tilts forward. This is the mistake that ends with a TV on the floor, and it’s worth checking first if anything on this page feels familiar.
What the bracket needs to reach depends on the wall. Wood-framed walls need the stud itself, not the drywall around it — find it with a stud finder, then confirm with a knock: solid over the mark, hollow either side of it. Steel-framed walls, common in Toronto condos and newer builds, need toggles made for hollow metal studs, because a lag bolt has nothing to bite into in a thin steel channel. Concrete and brick need a hammer drill, the correct masonry bit, and sleeve or wedge anchors rated for the load, fixed into the brick itself rather than the mortar joint where possible.
None of the three stud-missing workarounds — a wider wall plate, a plywood backer spanning two studs, or heavy-duty toggles into masonry — is optional if the framing genuinely isn’t where you need it. Leaving a bolt in bare drywall and hoping is the one approach that never works, on any size of TV, including a 75-inch panel where the extra weight and leverage make the mistake more expensive, not less.
Mistake 2: Buying a Mount That Doesn’t Match Your TV
A mount that fits the screen size on the box isn’t automatically the right mount. Three things have to check out together: the VESA hole pattern in millimetres (400×400, 600×400, and so on), the TV’s weight without its stand, and the screen-size range the bracket is actually rated for. Get the weight wrong, or the VESA pattern wrong, and you’ve still bought the wrong mount — just one that looks correct until you try to hang the TV on it.
Fixed, tilting and full-motion brackets also solve different problems. A tilt mount earns its keep on anything mounted a little high, angling the picture back down toward the seating. Full-motion suits a wall you view from more than one spot, or a corner where a fixed mount would leave the TV facing the wrong direction. Buying the wrong type doesn’t usually fail outright — it just leaves you straining to see the picture properly, which is its own kind of mistake. Our guide to fixed, tilted and full-motion brackets covers which suits which room, or start with choosing the right mount for your space if you haven’t bought one yet.
Mistake 3: Using Whatever Screws Happen to Fit
The hardware that ships with a mount is matched to the load, down to the bolt diameter, length and thread pitch. Swapping in something close from the spares drawer because it screws in easily is one of the few mistakes on this list that can put the TV on the floor on its own, with no wall problem or wrong-mount problem involved at all.
Snug, not forced
Tightening past the point where the plate sits flush strips the thread in the stud, and a stripped bolt looks and feels tight right up until it isn’t. Bring the plate solid against the wall and stop — that’s the target, not “as tight as the driver will go.”
If the supplied screws genuinely don’t fit — wrong thread for your TV’s inserts, or too short for the wall type you’re fixing into — go back to the manufacturer rather than improvising. Mount makers supply the correct hardware and will usually replace a missing or wrong piece. It’s a slower fix than digging through a toolbox, but it’s the only one that doesn’t leave you guessing what the substitute is actually rated to hold.
Mistake 4: Mounting the TV at the Wrong Height
The centre of the screen belongs at seated eye level, which for a typical living room sofa works out to roughly 42 inches from the floor to the middle of the screen. Go higher than that and two things happen: you tilt your head back for the length of whatever you’re watching, and the picture itself often looks worse, because most panels lose contrast and colour accuracy when viewed off-axis rather than straight on. A TV that looks washed out or dim on the wall isn’t usually a TV problem — it’s a height-and-angle problem, and the other common cause is a window or light directly opposite the screen reflecting back at the seating. Curtains, blinds, or moving the TV off that wall solve that faster than any picture setting will.
| Room | Centre height | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Living room | About 42″ from the floor | Measured to seated eye level on the main sofa, not standing. |
| Kitchen | Higher than a living room | Set for standing eye level at the counter or island. |
| Bedroom | Lower, judged from the bed | Measure from where your eyes actually land lying down, not from the floor formula. |
| Above a fireplace | Whatever the mantel dictates | Use a tilting mount to angle the picture back down rather than accepting the higher position as-is. |
Getting the height right the first time is mostly a measuring problem — our guide to accurate TV wall mount measurements walks through it before anything gets drilled.
Mistake 5: Leaving Cable Routing and Port Access Until After
Planning cable routing is dramatically easier before the screen goes up than after. Once the TV is on the bracket, running a cable through the wall usually means taking the screen back off, which is the mistake this section exists to prevent. Decide the route, cut any openings, and pull what you need — power, HDMI, ethernet — while the wall is still open.
Port access is the other half of this mistake. A slim fixed mount looks superb until you need to plug in a new streaming box or swap an HDMI cable, and you can’t reach the back of the TV without unclipping it from the wall. If you swap sources often, either choose a full-motion mount that swings out, or run every connection you’ll realistically need to an accessible point before the TV goes up — not just the ones the current setup requires. If the install is already finished and the cables are the problem, our invisible wire concealment service exists for exactly that.
How to Tell If the Install Actually Passed
You don’t need to wait for a wobble to find out whether a mount is holding. A two-minute check after the bracket goes up, and again once the TV is on, catches most of the mistakes above before they turn into a bigger repair.
- Pull test the bracket before the TV goes on. With the wall plate fixed, pull down and outward firmly. No movement, no creaking. Anything that shifts means a fixing didn’t find what it needed to.
- Check level again once the screen is hanging. A plate that measured level empty can still read differently under load if a bolt isn’t seated the same as its neighbours.
- Confirm every bolt is fully seated, not just started. A bolt that spins without ever getting properly tight has either missed the stud or stripped the hole.
- Look for daylight between the plate and the wall. Any gap means the fixings are already pulling out, and it gets worse with time, not better.
If a TV is already up and you’re not sure it would pass this check, our TV mount troubleshooting guide walks through diagnosing a crooked, wobbly or already-installed mount step by step.
When to Call a Pro Instead of Risking It
Handle it yourself when the fix is levelling, tightening, or swapping in the correct hardware. Call someone when the wall is concrete, brick, plaster and lath, or steel stud; when the TV is going above a fireplace; when the panel is too large to safely hold up on your own while you check the fixings; or when the job needs new power or cabling behind the screen.
GTA TV Wall Mounting handles exactly this kind of install across Toronto and 25 surrounding municipalities. We carry $2,000,000 commercial liability insurance, we’re up to 50% less than comparable big-box store installation services, and every job comes with a one year material and workmanship warranty. Tell us what’s going on the wall and we’ll tell you straight whether it’s a weekend job or one for us.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a TV be mounted on drywall?
Onto drywall, yes — into drywall alone, no. The bracket has to reach the wood or steel framing behind the board, or masonry if that's what's back there.
Drywall anchors are rated for pictures and shelves, not for a television hanging on a lever arm. This is the mistake that ends with a screen on the floor.
Can you mount a TV without studs?
Only by giving the bracket something structural to hold. The usual solutions are a plywood backer spanning two studs, heavy-duty toggle fixings into a masonry or steel-stud wall, or a mount with a wider rail that reaches the framing that does exist.
If none of those work, a floor-standing pole mount gives you the same look with no wall fixing at all.
Can a 75 inch TV be mounted on drywall?
Yes, when the bracket is fixed into the studs behind it. Larger panels concentrate more weight and more leverage on those fixings, so hitting two studs squarely matters more at 75″ than at 43″.
It's also a two-person lift. Anything at this size is awkward enough that a slip is expensive.
How do I check my mount is compatible with my TV?
Three checks: the VESA hole pattern in millimetres, the TV's weight without its stand, and the screen-size range the mount is rated for. All three have to pass, and all three are listed in the manual.
How high is too high?
If you have to tilt your head back to watch comfortably, it's too high. Most complaints come from screens mounted above a fireplace without a tilting mount to angle the picture back down toward the seating.
Can I use different screws than the ones supplied?
Only if you know they match the bracket's specified diameter, length and thread. The supplied hardware is chosen for the load. Substituting by eye is one of the few mistakes here that can end with the TV on the floor.
What if my wall is concrete or brick?
That's a strong wall and a good outcome — it just needs a hammer drill, the correct masonry bit and sleeve or wedge anchors rated for the load. Fix into the brick itself rather than the mortar joint where possible.
Should I hide the cables before or after mounting?
Before. Decide the route, cut any openings and pull the cable while you still have clear access to the wall. Doing it afterward usually means dismounting the screen you just put up.
How do I know the mount is safe once it's up?
With the bracket fixed but before the TV goes on, pull down and outward firmly on it. There should be no movement and no creaking. Once the screen is on, check level again and confirm every bolt is fully seated.
When should I call a professional?
Concrete, brick, plaster and lath, steel studs, anything above a fireplace, very large panels, or any job that needs new power behind the screen. That's our daily work across the GTA, and it comes with a one year material and workmanship warranty.