Advice please! Removing fireplace & wall mounting TV

[katt92]

We have never used the fire and our TV is crammed into the corner of the room. To make better use of the space, we are looking to remove the lot (fire, hearth, mantel), and mount the TV on the chimney breast (at eye level!).

I'd actually love to remove the chimney breast completely, but that seems like a much bigger job for little extra benefit.

I have been doings lots of research, and there are a few areas I would really appreciate some advice on from people who have undertaken similar jobs.

Fireplace
What do with the space after the fire is removed? I thought to tidy it up and put something decorative there (probably flowers / a plant), but I think it would look weird given it's not centred. Could some of the bricks on the left be knocked out to widen the space so it's centred? If it was bigger, we could then maybe build in a unit to house things like the Virgin box, games console, etc.

Mantel / flooring
Removing the mantel is going to leave a patch of floor with no flooring. The laminate was there when we bought the house, and the previous owners didn't leave any spare boards. I figure it's unlikely we could track down the exact same flooring? The flooring is in good condition so would ideally not replace the whole lot just to sort one small patch.

TV sound
I've read that mounting a TV on a chimney breast can cause sound issues. It's a party wall so we obviously want to avoid inflicting any extra noise on our neighbour. We currently use a sound bar that sits on the TV unit. Could the sound bar be mounted below the TV (I've seen this done before), or is there a better way to prevent any sound issues?

Any tips on the above or anything I've not considered would be greatly appreciated! :)

Tv on wall and put slim sideboard underneath it

couldn’t cope with the fireplace not being central In chimney breast

If it were me, i would remove the fire and mantal. Mount the TV on the wall at the correct height similar to the stand you have (dont understand people that have them at standing height eye level) then if i had to absolutely save the floor, get a box of something similar to level it off then put a nice rug over it

My daughter has a similar set up and she has her wall mounted TV where your picture is. You soon get used to it being higher up and it’s better to keep the mantle piece imo.

are neighbours on the other side?

if yes don't mount the tv on a chimney stack. the noise will travel to the neighbours.

Sorry, Missing the thread point but how is your fire so off centre on the chimney breast? 😀

The non centered fireplace would drive me crazy!

If you want to remove it rather than move it to the centre (which would keep the niceness of a fireplace and give you a few extra inches for the TV), I'd get a low unit the width of the chimney breast and just sit the TV on it rather than wall mounting.

If you had the budget, you could get matching shelving built in the the alcoves.

I missed that but now I’ve seen it, I can’t unsee it. Very odd - would need to get that changed.

My new neighbours have put their tv on the chimney breast and I absolutely hate it - I can hear it all the time.

If there's a way to avoid that I would try!

I was going to say just put the tv above the existing feature, but argh the off centre is a thing of nightmares! You can get someone to take it out and block up the gap. They will need to leave a vent there for air circulation, but it shouldn't be intrusive.

When you are asking for quotes, the floor part is the hearth, the mantle goes above the fire. You are unlikely to completely match the floor colour, as even if you find the same one, yours will have been exposed to light, footfall and furniture. I would just go with a close match and a rug if you don't want to redo the whole thing.

I couldn't live with that.

Putting it on the wall will be a nuisance for your neighbours

Just checking you know eye level is seated eye level? Lower than think. The number of times I see them out on the wall so people have to crane their necks …

It was like this when we bought the house! I’ve no idea what the person who fitted it was thinking 😂

Yes, I meant seated eye level! The sofa is only about 8ft away. I can’t stand TVs high up on a wall, my neck couldn’t take it!

By the time you take out that fireplace you will likely find that the opening under the supporting wall arch is big enough and the right height to set the TV into with a false wall filling the old fireplace.

Is that a first floor room or ground floor with a cellar beneath? (it would explain why the fire is off-centre)

You could just build the wall to the right out to match the other side. Use the floor from the bit you’ve covered over the hearth stone. Slap plaster board across instead of the fireplace and hang your telly.

I like the slim sideboard idea from pp

Our TV is above the fireplace - fireplace is on an external wall so no neighbour annoyance and the TV wall mount angles down slightly so it's a nice viewing angle from the sofa.

The off-centre fireplace would have driven me insane though!

Previous house we removed the very dated early 80s fireplace monstrosity and just put a nice drawer unit against the chimney breast to store all the kid hairbobbles and assorted crap in.