If you’re thinking about upgrading your living room layout, installing a new flat-screen TV on the wall is probably one of the first ideas that comes to mind. After all, floating screens offer the ultimate neat look, like an idea straight out of home decor magazines and TikTok videos, especially since there are multiple ways to mount your TV. Whether you’re trying to save floor space in a small apartment or create the ultimate minimalist media room, it’s hard to resist the appeal of a wall-mounted TV.
However, with this perfect aesthetic comes a darker side that no one hears about. Sure, it looks cool, but did you know that the installation process can be a nightmare? How can this ruin your walls? Or that it makes future room renovations difficult?
Understanding these hidden drawbacks before purchasing a mounting bracket and turning on your drill can save you a lot of time and effort. From neck strain to cable management nightmares, the aesthetic of a floating TV screen may not be what you want. Let’s break down the top five downsides to wall-mounting your TV and explore why sticking with an “old-fashioned” TV stand might be the wisest decision.
The frustrating reality of this difficult installation
One of the biggest annoyances of wall-mounted TVs is the brutal installation process. Unlike simply placing a TV on a regular media stand, hanging a TV requires a surprising amount of work and effort. Today’s TVs may have incredibly thin screens, but they’re heavy and difficult to handle. And when mounting on a wall, heavy lifting is essential; To safely hoist a 55-inch OLED into the air, you’ll need two or more people working in sync to hold the screen securely and avoid a disastrous and costly fall.
Beyond the big job, you also need to measure accurately to avoid a crooked TV. A stand installed even a fraction of an inch off-center results in a permanently skewed screen, and let’s be honest: it will ruin every movie night forever. And as for where you mount it, avoid drywall; it’s a mixture of paper and gypsum, and it can’t support much weight. Trying to do this will almost guarantee a broken TV. Heavy TVs need to be mounted on wooden studs, so make sure you have the proper tools on hand to locate the studs and secure your TV. For what it’s worth, it’s not uncommon to hire professional installers, even if it adds to the overall cost of your new TV.
Wall Damage and What Happens Once You Remove the TV
Everyone wants a spotless living room, but installing a flat screen means you’re opening yourself up to some damage to your walls. After all, attaching a heavy TV mount to a wall means driving heavy-duty lag bolts deep into the framing of your home. This permanently alters the wall and the structural damage becomes obvious the second you want to move the TV. Tenants should be especially careful here, as landlords love to withhold security deposits for surprise drywall repairs.
Wall mount damage usually doesn’t rear its ugly head until you move, want to redesign the room, or upgrade the mount for a newer TV. When you finally take the TV and its heavy metal support system apart, you’re left with large gaping holes in your drywall. You can expect a few hours of work to repair these deep grooves; they certainly can’t be covered with a little touch of leftover paint.
Fixing these consequences requires repairs, sanding and meticulous repainting to make it look like new again. If you decide to move completely, fixing up the living room becomes an inevitable and painful chore that adds to an already stressful moving day. Anyone who frequently rearranges their home decor will probably hate having a setup that’s literally bolted to the wall.
Lack of mobility for necessary future adjustments
When a TV is sitting on a media console stand, sliding it a few inches to fit a new soundbar is a breeze and takes just one person and a few seconds. On the other hand, a wall mount basically anchors the entertainment setup to a specific location, even if you splurge on a high-end full-motion mounting bracket. The articulating arms help slightly by allowing you to remove the screen or rotate it a bit from side to side, but they still limit your TV to one part of your room.
A year from now, if you decide to buy new living room furniture and it sits lower than your old furniture, you can’t just slide your TV down. Adjusting the screen at this point means removing the backing, drilling new holes, and repairing the now exposed drywall. If you’re using a wall-mounted setup, make sure you place your TV somewhere you really like; you won’t have any room to change the height or angle once mounted.
Another problem is that even minor upgrades become complicated with this built-in choice. Upgrading to a larger TV on your current mounting bracket may mean that the original center point no longer lines up perfectly with your sofa. And while a swivel mount can compensate for this slightly, it can’t hide the fact that the hardware is off-center.
The headache of managing messy dangling cables
Without question, the main selling point of a wall-mounted TV is the minimalist and ultra-clean aesthetic it offers. However, to achieve that floating look, it’s not enough to mount your TV on a sturdy stand, as you’ll also need to hide the power cord. This chaos multiplies if you also have other cords, such as for HDMI or for connecting game consoles and streaming boxes. Left untamed, these cords hang from the bottom of the screen, ruining the uncluttered ambiance you were going for and only attracting curious children and pets.
You have options for hiding these cords, but they come at a cost. The simplest option is to use a wall-mounted TV cable channel. These come in several lengths and colors, do a good job of tidying up your cords, and don’t cause much damage to your wall. The tradeoff is that you’ll still see the cable channel; you won’t get that 100% clean aesthetic.
To achieve this, you need to hide your cords inside the wall behind your TV. Hiring an electrician is the easiest way to do this. Otherwise, opt for a built-in TV power kit. These plug-and-play kits require no electrical wiring skills and function like an extension cord built into your wall. You drill two holes in your wall: one at the top and another at the bottom near an outlet. You’ll plug your cables into the upper room, then the kit’s wall connection cable will come out of this second box, which you’ll feed into the nearby outlet. It’s tidy, but is wall mounting better than a TV stand?
Cervical tension and disastrous consequences of poor placement
The least talked about downside to wall-mounting your TV is the neck discomfort it can cause over time. For what? Because open wall space is usually located higher, such as above your stone fireplace or other decorative features. This means you’ll always be watching your shows upward rather than comfortably forward at eye level. For movie nights and game days, you’ll tilt your head back and up every time you want to watch something; holding this odd angle for too long can cause persistent neck pain.
Basic ergonomics states that a television screen should be placed so that its center is at eye level when you are sitting comfortably on the sofa. Installing your TV this low can be tricky if there is furniture or paneling in the way. Plus, mounting this low puts it closer to where your TV would sit on a console stand, so why not save yourself the hassle?
However, mounting it very high will virtually guarantee that your TV is completely outside the ergonomic zone. This can potentially turn daily sessions of excessive monitoring into a painful medical problem. So while a raised display looks great on a quick tour of the house, daily use can turn it into an ergonomic nightmare that leaves you rubbing your neck all day. But is it enough to make you want to ditch wall-mounting and consider an alternative setup?
