Guide · Toronto & the GTA
A fireplace changes three things about a TV install: how much heat the panel sees, how high it ends up, and where the cable can legally run. Here is how each one is handled — and when we would tell you to use a different wall.
Send a photo of the fireplace and the wall above it and we’ll tell you what it needs before quoting.
Recognised by
HomeStars Best of Award winner 2018–2023 · Best of Houzz Service 2018–2021
The short version
Everything difficult about this job comes back to one of these. Get all three right and it is a straightforward install.
This page is about the wall — what it means when a television and a fireplace have to share one. If you have already decided and just want the service and the price, that is on the fireplace TV mounting page.
A firebox sends a column of hot air straight up the wall. A mantel of reasonable depth deflects it outward, which is why the screen belongs above the mantel and not below it.
The clearance pushes the TV up, and up is the direction that causes neck strain. The job is finding the lowest position the heat will allow.
A fireplace wall is often masonry, and even when it is not, cable cannot run through the space directly above a firebox.
Getting it right
This is the single most common regret with a fireplace TV, and it is entirely avoidable.
Almost everyone who is unhappy with a TV above a fireplace is unhappy for the same reason: it is too high, and watching it means holding your head back. That is not an unavoidable consequence of the fireplace — it is usually the result of setting the height off the mantel instead of off the sofa.
We work the other way round. We start from where you actually sit and what the comfortable centre-of-screen height would be, then raise it only as far as the heat clearance genuinely requires. Often that is less than people assume, and the difference between a comfortable install and a regrettable one is a few inches.
Where the clearance forces the screen higher than we would like, a tilting mount recovers most of the comfort by angling the panel down towards the seating. That is why tilt is the default recommendation above a fireplace rather than a flat fixed mount.
What it is made of
The surround decides the anchor, and it is worth knowing which one you have before booking.
How it goes
Five steps, and the first two happen before anyone arrives.
The fireplace, the mantel and the wall above it. We can usually tell you what it needs from that alone.
We confirm the heat clearance, the mount type and the cable route, then give you a firm price.
Set from your seating, raised only as far as the clearance requires, and checked with you before drilling.
Masonry anchors into solid material, or studs and blocking where the wall is framed.
Cable routed clear of the firebox, power done with an in-wall-rated kit or a raceway, then everything tested.
Straight numbers
Starting prices. We confirm your exact figure once we have seen the fireplace and the wall.
The chart covers labour. The bracket is quoted separately unless you take the combo deal, which bundles a full-motion mount and the installation into one price.
Related
The jobs that usually come with a fireplace install, and the pages that cover them.
By the numbers
10K+ Installations completed
20+ Years combined experience
5.0 Average rating across 1,340+ reviews on Google, Yelp and HomeStars
$2M Liability cover
Every installation is backed by a one-year material and workmanship warranty, and we carry $2,000,000 commercial liability insurance — a certificate is available on request.
Recent work
Mounted above mantels, on brick and on stone across the GTA. More in the full gallery.
Questions we get asked
If yours isn’t here, just ask us.
Yes, when it is done with the heat in mind. The screen goes above the mantel so the shelf deflects rising heat away from the panel, and we check the clearance and the mantel depth before committing to a height. Where there is no mantel at all, or the firebox vents forward, we say so and suggest an alternative wall rather than mounting it anyway.
Not if the geometry is right. Heat rises in a column off the firebox, and a mantel of reasonable depth pushes that column out and away from the wall above it. The risk cases are a shallow mantel or no mantel, a heat-circulating insert that vents upward, and a screen set too low and too close. All three are things we check on site, and all three change where the TV goes.
As low as the heat clearance and the mantel will allow, because the usual complaint about a fireplace TV is neck strain from looking up. We set the height from where you actually sit, then raise it only as far as the clearance requires. A tilting mount buys back a lot of comfort by angling the screen down towards the seating.
Yes. Brick and stone take sleeve or wedge anchors set into solid material rather than into a mortar joint, and we carry masonry anchors as standard. Marble, tile and porcelain surrounds we prefer to quote from a photo first, because there is no second attempt on a finished stone face.
A metal mount above a fireplace starts at $399.99. Tilt mounts start at $179.99 and swivel mounts at $189.99. Wire concealment on a fireplace wall is quoted with the job rather than at the standard $99.99, because the cable has to be routed clear of the firebox and the wall above a fireplace is frequently masonry with no cavity to use.
Free Quote
Send a photo of the fireplace, the mantel and the wall above it, plus the screen size and your postal code. We will confirm the clearance and come back with a firm price.
Takes about a minute · One-year workmanship warranty · $2,000,000 liability insurance
