All the fun of the TV pattress.

[MikeSharp01]

Tomorrow I need to install three pattresses - exactly the same so easy to make and fit. I already did the one we have planned for the snug but I think it sensible to install these three for future users, just plaster over the back boxes with those little covers and put an accurate drawing of their locations in the house file. I will run cables to the local power and AV connections and leave them covered up in the back boxes. I know it seems like a lot of work but at least one of these spots will probably get a TV in our time but we are trying no to sully this 10m x 3m wall with anything but Art at the outset - pretentious I know!

 

Anyway deciding to put them is not the problem here. I am wondering, give the future proofing thinking what layout of pattress and service back boxes to use. Only one rule really - The other half of our relationship hates seeing wires so all the services MUST be behind the TV. It comes down, I think to one of two - see below. For the various possible bracket options really. LEFT (Flat to the wall) or RIGHT (floating bracket.) is either of these approximately future proof. I have used a 55" TV but my research tells me the same bracket area could go up to a 70". Any thoughts anyone?

 

[Oz07]

I set ours too high in last place. Got used to it but would've been better lower. Can't remember the best angles for watching but available online. 

[S2D2]

I've just put this in myself, have a quick look at amazon best sellers and plan around the biggest backplate, I fitted this one because I didn't trust the small wallplate of your second option on dot and dab walls:

 

 

Double socket and single gang brush plate with chunky conduit behind the wall. I took the view that AV cabling/terminations could change often so being able to pull the TV away from the wall and run a new cable through the conduit in seconds appealed without the faff of taking down the entire tv as per the first bracket.

 

It does sit maybe 3cm further away from the wall than the fixed bracket, but that saved the need to buy 90 degree cabling as on my tv the only arc hdmi port is on the back of the TV. Some Amazon brackets sit much further away from the wall so some care needed when choosing one.

[ProDave]

First question is what is the wall make up?  That has a big influence on how to do it.

 

Ours is timber frame at 600mm centres OSB and air tight membrane then service void created with vertical battens in line with the  studs.

 

Use the sort of bracket that hangs from a top rail if you want the tv to be as close to the wall as possible.  Only use the cantilever type if you want the tv away from the wall or angled.

 

Assuming you have a service void, then DON'T put any back boxes in now.  Run all the cables in the service void noting and photographing their positions before plasterboarding, then only cut back box holes and fish the cables out and connect them when you know where the tv is going.

 

If you want ultimate flexibility, run a horizontal noggin at bracket height all along the wall, so you can hang the bracket anywhere along that wall, not just certain pre guessed locations.  Similarly run cables along a horizontal batten in the service void so you can cut the back boxes in anywhere along the wall you choose.

 

For the mains feed run the ring main cable along that batten all the way with a bit of slack left in the cable but don't cut it anywhere.  Only when you know where the sockets are going cut the back box hole fish the slack cable out and connect the socket(s)

[Russdl]

14 hours ago, MikeSharp01 said:

will probably get a TV in our time but we are trying no to sully this 10m x 3m wall with anything but Art at the outset - pretentious I know!

Get a Samsung ‘The Frame’ TV. Satisfies both requirements. Looks like a picture/painting when off (obviously a TV when on) and fits flat to the wall. 

[Mike]

2 hours ago, Russdl said:

Get a Samsung ‘The Frame’ TV. Satisfies both requirements

+1. I've put in the conduits for one on my latest.

 

17 hours ago, MikeSharp01 said:

what layout of pattress and service back boxes to use

Here's mine, all on 2 layers of high-density plasterboard to make it easy to fix brackets anywhere:

 

 

 

16 hours ago, MikeSharp01 said:

just plaster over the back boxes with those little covers and put an accurate drawing of their locations in the house file.

If you glue some metal to the back of the cover, they'll be easy to locate with a magnet too.

 

16 hours ago, Oz07 said:

I set ours too high in last place.

A common problem. I prefer setting the centre of the TV at eye height when sitting.

 

[Spinny]

You can find recessed TV mounts that have fold out arms but which fold back into a large back box which gets recessed into the wall structure.

 

I wanted one in a concrete block wall and had the architect do a drawing with a lintel and recess built into the wall - but it was all too much for the builders.

 

What are ''those little covers'' exactly ?

 

The absence of any proper planning for domestic M&E trunking/conduits/service voids seems like a major failure amongst architects. It has always seemed faintly ridiculous to build something then have to spend a while load of time drilling, chasing, cutting and generally bashing about what has just been built to force M&E into it. 

[MikeSharp01]

3 minutes ago, Spinny said:

What are ''those little covers'' exactly ?

https://alertelectrical.com/beadmaster-square-74-for-single-socket-or-light-switch-bm-square.html?variant=51288796561754&country=GB&currency=GBP&gad_campaignid=208985893