Mounting 42" screen on (another) fireplace.

[norfbech]

Hi all,
About to take delivery of a new 42" plasma screen on Monday next week (panny TX70). Before then I need to install a wall mount (found a very good deal for a tilting one...not that it's essential it tilts but it works out cheaper than the fixed one...skytronic I believe) over the weekend (should it arrive before).
This is going to clear some well needed space (my missus childminds...the house can therefore be full of rampaging kids - hence wall mounting this).
I exposed a brickwork chimey last year, knocked out the messy mortar (which I may or not remortar) and scrubbed with brick cleaner....I digress...

To keep this at a decent height (centre of screen matching approx eye level?) the centre of the screen will hit the centre of the lintel (actually the green mans nose) in the middle of the chimney - I believe this is made of concrete (possibly stone...I'm no expert???).

Attached a rushed pic of said fireplace (hey - I like the industrial look...kind of 'manchester warehouse chic')! - bit of a mess, the ceiling's and top of walls are being plastered as we speak.
I guess I'd like to know if I'm ok going into this lintel - I could drill into the brick above but then that would make the screen a little too high):

Many thanks.

[wandgrudd]

well not sure if your meant to but we drilled in to ours and its been fine for the past 1 1/2 years. you may hit some steel as some lintels are reinforced. but that looks like solid stone.

[marko1]

Looking at your photo, I reckon that in order to get the plasma at the height you want you will probably need to drill into the brick above the lintel. Depends on the mount you have ordered but my panny 42 px60 is wall mounted and the bolts on the mount are 16 inches above the bottom of the tv. It might be worth waiting for both tv and mount to arrive so you can clearly see where the wall needs to be drilled. Best of luck and enjoy the new tv.

[norfbech]

wandgrudd - Yes - somebody else (in the building trade as it happens) mentioned that there may be steel reinforcements...he also suggested that it should be no problem to mount it here.

marko - good point - I assumed the middle of that lintel (the middle being slightly above eye leveL) would match with the middle of the mount and then the middle of the TV...never occured to me that this might not match as linear as that (it's the standard/tilting mount from chase direct btw).
Either way the bottom of the TV is going to hang below...but I feel this will look really good.

Forgot to ask - I'll also need to place my (what little I have at the mo) AV kit below this...basically the DVD player (which needs replacing ) the Sky box...gamecube...and amplifier (I don't have one for the TV at this stage).
I'm thinking of drilling in two shelves (either glass or wood) into the brick at the back of the fireplace...can't really see a problem with this?
Slight concern over the soot which occasionally get's dislodged from the top of the chimney by either strong winds or pesky birds! It's only a small amount (and there's never fluid/rain making it's way down)...might it be worth putting some kind of 'lid' parallel to the lintel - say a tighter shelve so soot is kept to a minimum? Anyone experienced this?
Many thanks.

[keyjade]

norfbech, I recently had a reply posted to my installation thread suggesting that a cowl or cap would be a good way to go to solve this problem. Check out:
http://www.hotline-chimneys.co.uk/ma...FQuHlAodXXrFzA

If it's not completely obvious as to which product you require, I'm sure they'll be able to answer your questions.

In my case I did not require a cowl or cap because I have completely removed the fire breasts from the first floor upwards, including the stack and pots on the roof. Hence, there is no chimney to cap!