Well,

I’ve got to say, one thing I’ve had a slow time with is getting our TV mounted above our fireplace. I guess it’s been a combination of building up the nerve to follow through with, building the confidence to trust my own work, and getting the right tools for the job (ie: a mitre saw.)

Anywho, I’ve included a couple of pics of what I managed to get accomplished so far (as of yesterday). To summarize, I pulled the old framing out (it was garbage for structure) and installed new 2×4 studs that have been tied into the joists above. That ain’t coming down! I then attached 2×6 jack studs to both shift the mounting right a bit (to centre the installation) and to flush up the new framing with the old at the far edges. All in all I’m very happy with the strength of what I have built.

I also installed ABS pipe, 2 inch, to act as conduit for the speaker wires (rear surrounds) as well as the power and HDMI cables for the TV. The cables will pop into the inwall mount from beneath before plugging into the TV.

The holes in the conduit are to help pull the cables. I have now learned (through trial and error) that placing a T-intersection (even a downstream bending one) causes problems for pulling wire. I won’t be repeating that mistake again. Learning experience this was. I will close it all in, but should one need to pull new wires and run into trouble, we won’t have to pull the whole wall apart later, just a section.