You just spent $800 on a beautiful 65-inch 4K TV. You want it mounted on the wall to make your living room look like a home theater.
You call the electronics store to install it. The “Geek Squad” technician shows up, drills 4 holes into your drywall, hangs a piece of metal on the wall, and hangs the TV. Twenty minutes later, he hands you a bill for $250.
The TV installation industry is one of the most outrageous scams in America. They prey on your fear of dropping an expensive TV, charging you $250 for 20 minutes of unskilled labor and $15 worth of metal brackets. You don’t need to pay a guy in a polo shirt to drill holes in your wall. You just need to know where the wood is. Here is the dirty truth about TV mounting, and how to do it yourself for pennies:
The “Drywall Anchor” Death Trap The biggest fear people have is that their TV will rip out of the wall and crash onto the floor. Because of this fear, they pay the installer $250.
- The Free Hack: Never, ever hang a TV on drywall using plastic anchors. Drywall is essentially powdered chalk between two pieces of paper. It cannot hold 50 pounds of pulling force. The secret to a safe TV mount is finding the “studs”—the vertical 2×4 wooden boards hiding behind the drywall. If you drill your heavy-duty lag bolts directly into the solid wood studs, you could hang a 200-pound weight on the wall and it wouldn’t budge.
- ✨ The Extra Benefit : Finding and drilling into wooden studs means your TV mount will survive an earthquake or a hyperactive kid bumping into it. The TV will outlast the house itself.
The “Cord Hiding” Illusion Installers will try to upsell you a $100 “in-wall cord hiding kit.” They cut a hole behind the TV, drop the cord inside the wall, and pull it out near the floor.
- The Smart Fix: Cutting holes in your wall requires drywall patching skills, and running power cords inside a wall is actually a fire code violation in many states. Instead, buy a $10 “Cord Cover Raceway.” It is a plastic channel that sticks to the wall below the TV, and you simply snap the cords inside it. It hides the wires perfectly and looks like part of the house’s molding.
- ✨ The Extra Benefit : Using an external cord cover means you can easily unplug your TV to add a new streaming device or gaming console without cutting into your drywall. It gives you permanent, easy access to your cables.
The Full Motion Cheat Code (The Bracket Secret) People think they need a $200 professional installation because they don’t know how to angle the TV.
- The Smart Move : A Full Motion TV Wall Mount is the ultimate DIY cheat code. It is a heavy-duty steel bracket with an extending arm. You bolt the bracket to the wall studs, hang the TV on it, and you’re done. The arm allows you to pull the TV out, tilt it up or down, and angle it toward the couch. It completely eliminates the $250 installation fee. (If you want to see which mounts are easiest to install by yourself and don’t sag over time, check out our review of the best budget full motion tv wall mounts!)
- ✨ The Extra Benefit : A full motion arm allows you to angle the TV toward the kitchen while you cook, and then swing it back to face the couch when you sit down. It turns a static, boring TV into a dynamic, movable piece of entertainment for every corner of the room.
The Bottom Line Stop handing $250 to a guy who just borrowed your drill. Find the wooden studs, hide the cords with a cheap raceway, and buy a full motion TV mount. You can mount your own TV in 30 minutes and keep your money.