If you have a brand new TV and wish to mount it to a wall and are currently leaning towards installing it by yourself instead of having it done professionally then you need to make sure you know what you are doing before proceeding. If you have little to no experience doing this sort of stuff, then you have to first ask yourself an all important question: What could go wrong?
In this post, we present a couple of videos which should provide lessons to help us implement this project with significantly reduced likelihood of failing. The worst case scenario here is obvious: TV wall mount failure causing the the mounted TV unit to crash or entirely fall off. Note that while this is a very very rare occurrence, these things do happen so we really need to consider this when installing a big flat screen LED/LCD TV onto a wall bracket or mount.
Video 1: 50″ TV falls off the wall
In this gut-wrenching video we see the aftermath of an incident wherein an entire 50-inch TV falls clean right off the wall. The video indicates this happened during the night (which was really fortunate since that was likely the reason it did not fall on a person). They actually took an image of the the wall (see below) which is indicative of the likely reason behind the failure: incorrect mounting by someone who didn’t know better or didn’t care.
When you mount fixtures (like TVs) on a drywall or a wooden wall (like in this case), you want to make sure that you correctly attach the screws into wall studs to ensure that the mounting would be sufficiently load-bearing. Check out this video on how to screw a TV wall mount to wooden studs to learn the correct way of doing it, along with the amount of work involved in such an undertaking. If you are unsure you can do it correctly, then you need to call the professionals to do it for you and avoid the potential dangers and risks.
Video 2: Crooked wall mount problem
In this second video, we see a single-arm wall mount installed in a crooked manner and what needs to be done to correct it. This is a good reason to make sure you know how to work those leveler tools so you can prevent this kind of error. While this may be considered a minor failure compared to the one mentioned above, it is something that would still be annoying as heck and hassle to fix. Fortunately, it is also entirely preventable. Just use those measuring and leveling tools correctly and you should be okay. Measure twice, cut once!
An alternative to wall mounts
If at any point you decide that going the wall mounting route isn’t for you, then don’t fret. One great alternative to TV wall mounts/brackets which we ourselves like a lot are pop-up TV lift cabinets. These things will do away with drilling holes on your walls and provide great aesthetics because you can hide your TV away out of sight when not in use. No more wires and cables exposed!
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