[convectuoso]

After years of reading posts on this forum (getting some great tips and useful information) I’m hoping I’ve finally got something worth posting about; I've just picked up the keys to my new house and the DIY fun will soon begin!

My first project is going to be putting a 17" Tile TV into the main bathroom. As there is a small recess at one end of the bath where the boiler is located I thought I may as well kill 2 birds with 1 stone and build some kind of cabinetry with high level doors to access the boiler.

As far as I can remember it looks like this:

I’m going to the house for the 3rd time tonight so I’ll get some pics and will hopefully be starting work tomorrow. I’m thinking I can build it out in a similar way to a stud wall but I guess I need to take a closer look at it before getting too ahead of myself

I’m not really a big DIY’er but I’m willing to try anything and hopefully have enough enthusiasm for me and SWMBO put together.

Any tips before I start would be massivley appreciated and I’m just so excited to be getting a new house to play with!

[THERINGMASTA]

Does the boiler get hot enough to require some form of ventilation? The heat might damage the tv if it gets too warm.

[louishm]

welcome to the forums:

personally i wouldn't recess a tile tv into a boiler cupboard, although the front of these sets are made to componsate steam/water etc the rear is usually sunken into the wall, there will be a lot of heat generated from your boiler especially if you box it in.

[convectuoso]

Hey guys, cheers for the responses.

With regards to heat, I thought I would divide the cabinetry so that the tile TV was in a separate section to the boiler and I was also planning on leaving above the boiler open to allow any hot air to rise. There isn’t really anywhere else it could go so I’m pretty desperate to find a solution for it below the boiler!

The TV is second hand and it is already ‘faulty’. Basically after an hour viewing the audio begins to buzz, this was a problem for the original owner but I figure I’m not going to be in the bath for longer than that so it isn’t going to worry me!

I’m back home now but will be returning to the house tomorrow and will turn the heating on so that I can gauge the heat output from the boiler. I’ll be gutted if I can’t put the screen there as it seems so perfect but I guess you adapt as you go along ( I’m going to convert the cellar into a cinema but from cursory measurements tonight, the floor is at a 20 degree angle and there’s a ton more work required that the first few viewings suggested! )

[banners]

My mother had a boiler installed in the kitchen a few years ago, and when I installed a kitchen for her one of the requirements was a wall cupboard to conceal it.
It operated with no problems for about 5 years until she sold the house, so I can't see too many problems with your plans unless you've got some sort of behemoth boiler.
Please note that I don't know how the boiler is now and that there was about 3 inches of space around the boiler as ventilation and about the same from the front to the door.
Could you put a vent in to the loft?

Steve

[convectuoso]

Hi Steve,

The loft is already converted into a bedroom so can’t vent in that direction however I may be able to vent to the outside wall (the one with the bath against it) or my preferance is to vent into the bathroom either mechanically or just with slatted doors on the front and leaving it open at the top to allow the movement of air. The boiler isn’t that big but I’ve still not had it running so am unsure as to how much heat will be generated.

I sadly didn’t get anyting done on it this weekend as once we had spent the Friday evening looking round it was apparent that there were ‘more important’ (not to me but guess we agree to dissagree!!) things to do than fit a tv in the bathroom. Looks like it may be a week or two before I can get cracking on this but I’ll post any photos and updates.

Cheers for the tips guys

[johndon]

I built a cupboard to conceal the boiler in my previous house with a door on the front but I left the top of the cupboard completely open so there was plenty of ventilation for the boiler and never had any problems.

HTH

John

sounds interesting, any pics tho???

[hornydragon]

Originally Posted by convectuoso

The TV is second hand and it is already ‘faulty’. Basically after an hour viewing the audio begins to buzz, this was a problem for the original owner but I figure I’m not going to be in the bath for longer than that so it isn’t going to worry me!

I’m back home now but will be returning to the house tomorrow and will turn the heating on so that I can gauge the heat output from the boiler. I’ll be gutted if I can’t put the screen there as it seems so perfect but I guess you adapt as you go along ( I’m going to convert the cellar into a cinema but from cursory measurements tonight, the floor is at a 20 degree angle and there’s a ton more work required that the first few viewings suggested! )

THis could work you need to get feeds to the screen and i would buy new speakers the tilevision ceiling speakers are naff and a nightmare to install as the cupboard is to be built i would consider either better ceiling speakers or some small wallmounted speakers. ideally you need harsh environment speakers but if your prepared to replace them regularly you can get away with ordinary speaers as long as they are in direct path of water etc

[convectuoso]

Originally Posted by robboy

sounds interesting, any pics tho???

Yeah sorry, hadn’t posted an pics as there wasn’t really much to show as I’ve still not started!

Originally Posted by hornydragon

THis could work you need to get feeds to the screen and i would buy new speakers the tilevision ceiling speakers are naff…

Yeah so I’ve heard, I think that’s why I was given a pair for free!! I’m thinking I might get a pair of tru audio IP rated or maybe the sonance ones – haven’t looked at which ones yet though

As for the construction of the cupboard has anyone got any tips? I was thinking of a stud frame with a space for the backbox:

Then louvered doors for the boiler to allow for ventilation (also leaving the top of the boiler clear with a few inches gap between the cupboard and the ceiling)

And then some sort of marine ply or other wood (any reccomendations?) to finish the front off and make a door for the bottom section, maybe for towels etc.

I guess at this stage I’m all ideas and no implementation but hopefully I’ll be able to get moving on it this bank holiday weekend.

[inzaman]

That should look pretty smart once complete

[louishm]

i agree and doing it that way i dont think you should have any problems with heat.

[johndon]

Looks good to me. My cabinet was of similar construction but I used solid doors instead and didn;t have any problems with heat.

John

[mark.carline]

dont forget that electrics in the bathroom are covered by part p and you'll need to contact your council planning dept before you start

[convectuoso]

Originally Posted by mark.carline

dont forget that electrics in the bathroom are covered by part p and you'll need to contact your council planning dept before you start

It's only 12v and i am going to locate the power supply in another room, surely this doesn't require me to contact the council ?

[garyb9900]

Also don't forget that you'll need access to the boiler for servicing or possible repairs if ever needed. If its a combi boiler from my experience they arn't that reliable.

[hornydragon]

make sure you can get at the pipes below the boiler and oddly your boiler will have mains running to it. the ones i have seen are designed for fitting into a solid wall by the use of wings wich attach to the back box,the wings then srew into studwork and you board/plaster over the top

[convectuoso]

Yeah, i was thinking about how to allow access to the epipework and i guess i'll just have to make some kind of provision via the bottom door. I think that i'll be leaving the void behind the tv open and just put some sort of shelf on the very bottom of the frame to allow for storage etc so for acces all i'll need to do is remove the towels etc.

As for the back box I hopefully won’t need one.

This as another crudely knocked up sketch of the backbox and tv.

You’re right that the wings on the TV are used to connect them to the backbox but in this tilevision TV’s case it is done with Velcro strips as I’ve tried to show here:

I’m going to construct the frame which will support the tv to the correct aperture and add a strip to compensate for the difference in the surround glass depth and the thickness of the wood I eventaually go with. Hope that makes sence, the effect should be a flush mounted screen to the front of the cupboard.

As for how I actually secure the screen there are a few ways I can see that I could fix it to the frame once it’s in place via the access from the boiler doors or the door below.



edit: sorry just re read your post hornydragon and realise you were talking about the backbox wings not the surround on the tv! Hope it all still makes sence

[THERINGMASTA]

Sorry it's not relevant to the subject convectuoso but what are you using to produce your images? They look pretty professional

[convectuoso]

Originally Posted by THERINGMASTA

Sorry it's not relevant to the subject convectuoso but what are you using to produce your images? They look pretty professional

It's google sketchup - It's free and really simple to use!

If you're not bothered about scales etc and just want to get a visualisation across to people then you can knock together images like these in minutes!

http://sketchup.google.com/

[hornydragon]

YOU MUST USE the proper BACKBOX please do not attempt to install this without the proper BACKBOX. The back box is the part that makes this legal ad safe by keeping the power etc away from water the back box must be used and must be grounded to a cold water pipe with earth cable and straps.

[pete00]

Originally Posted by convectuoso

The TV is second hand and it is already ‘faulty’. Basically after an hour viewing the audio begins to buzz, this was a problem for the original owner but I figure I’m not going to be in the bath for longer than that so it isn’t going to worry me!

Will it be easy to replace the TV if needed? In my (limited) experience, when a problem like that occurs with a TV, it takes less and less time for the problem to appear.
It will look smart though.

[convectuoso]

Well after a busy weekend I managed to squeeze in a days work on the cupboard got most of the frame done. I came across a few problems along the way but sure they would have seemed like nothing to most of you but as this was my first foray into DIY I was pretty pleased with myself for getting so far!!

First thing was the skirting board. The plastering had been done after the board had been fitted so there was good inch gap behind it, this meant I couldn’t have the bottom of the frame flush with the wall. I’m sure there are many workarounds for this but I simply screwed the frame to (and through) the skirting and then just cut out the sections of the main vertical timbers so they would be flush against the wall.

Another thing was it took a bit of trial and error to get the best combination or rawplug/screw until I wasn’t ripping out chunks of plaster!

Once I’d done the bottom and front I measured out the screen and back box aperture (cheers horny dragon – was thinking of skimping on that due to cost but hadn’t considered the grounding issue) and fixed the horizontal supports.

As you can see the screen will sit in there but it is only balancing there for testing the viewing height, the back box should arrive tomorrow or Thursday and then I can start securing the screen in place.

I’ve cut some MDF to line the lower cupboard and hide the pipes etc. They are cut to size so they slide in and jam into position and feel very secure so I don’t think I’ll even need to fix them – plus this makes for easy maintenance access 

The back piece is just a cut off - I need another sheet of MDF to make it out of a single piece rather than have a join although I may not bother as I might put a shelf in.

I’m having some walnut veneered 18mm MDF cut for the doors and tv surround which should be ready to pick up tomorrow. I got the hinges today and have chiseled out the recess to allow the hinge edge of the doors to sit up against the left hand wall. I’m using hinges which allow the door to open within the space it already occupies (hope that makes sense, it opens without requiring extra space so that I don’t have to leave a gap on the left had side).

So I guess that’s it for now, I should hopefully have it all done by the end of the week, once I’ve decided on what signal I want to feed it and what cables I require! Then I can move on to other tasks like the lounge plasma and multiroom audio!!

Originally Posted by pete00

Will it be easy to replace the TV if needed? In my (limited) experience, when a problem like that occurs with a TV, it takes less and less time for the problem to appear.
It will look smart though.

Hey Pete – I guess it will be easy to replace but not cheap!! I got this at a ridiculous bargain as it is faulty and cannot be repaired but I thought worth installing even if it only lasts 6 months – if it dies I’ll just replace it with a mirror lol


Out of interest Inzaman – I’m going to sort out the cabling infrastructure of the house – cat5, RF distribution, bus cable and multiroom audio. I’m looking to initially network up a couple of MCE machines and a 360 but when I’ve got a little more time I’m going to upgrade it to a Crestron system. Where would be the best place to out that thread as it’s not really home cinema DIY (and will probably drag on!)

cheers for all the input guys

[inzaman]

Originally Posted by convectuoso

Out of interest Inzaman – I’m going to sort out the cabling infrastructure of the house – cat5, RF distribution, bus cable and multiroom audio. I’m looking to initially network up a couple of MCE machines and a 360 but when I’ve got a little more time I’m going to upgrade it to a Crestron system. Where would be the best place to out that thread as it’s not really home cinema DIY (and will probably drag on!)

You are best posting that in the Entertainment Computers and Components section of the forums, there are a few sub forums within that section that will be more relevant.

Good work so far as well