Renovation guide · Planning
How to plan a TV feature wall in Ottawa
A feature wall is fixed in place once it’s built, so the decisions that matter come first: how big, how high, what holds it up, and where the power and cables run.
8 min readUpdated By SS Carpentry and Renovations
Key takeaways
- For screen size, THX’s rule of thumb is your seating distance in inches × 0.835: about 80 inches of screen for a seat 8 feet away.
- Keep the centre of the screen within 15° of seated eye level. That’s a rise of no more than about a quarter of the viewing distance.
- Above a fireplace, the TV’s and the fireplace’s manuals decide. Most TV makers advise against a heat source below the screen.
- A TV’s power cord can’t simply be pushed through the wall. Power needs a recessed outlet wired as permanent wiring and reported to ESA; signal cables go in conduit so they can be replaced.
How big should the TV be for the room?
Start with where you sit, not with the wall. THX, which certifies home cinema equipment, gives a simple rule: measure from your seat to where the screen will be, in inches, and multiply by 0.835. The answer is a screen size. A sofa 8 feet away (96 inches) gives about 80 inches; THX’s own example is a 66-inch distance and a 55-inch TV.
Treat the result as the size for a cinema-like picture, not a minimum. What matters for the wall is that you decide it now. The screen size sets the width of the backing behind it, the position of the recessed outlet, and the proportions of any panelling around it, and all of that is built in. You may change the TV one day; the wall stays, so it’s worth planning the framing for the next screen as well as this one.
How high should the screen go?
Closer to eye level than many walls are built. THX suggests your line of sight should land within 15 degrees of the centre of the screen, above or below. In practice that means the centre of the screen sits no more than about a quarter of the viewing distance above your eyes when you’re seated.
- A: Viewing distance, from your eyes to the screen
- B: Rise from seated eye level to the centre of the screen: at most about a quarter of A
| Seat to screen | THX screen size | Screen centre, at most this far above seated eye level |
|---|---|---|
| 6 ft | about 60″ | about 19″ |
| 8 ft | about 80″ | about 26″ |
| 10 ft | about 100″ | about 32″ |
| 12 ft | about 120″ | about 39″ |
To use it, sit on your own sofa and have someone measure from the floor to your eyes. Add the figure from the table and you have the highest the centre of the screen should go. Because seats differ so much, there’s no single right number; measuring takes a minute and settles it.
Can the TV go above the fireplace?
A fireplace wall is an obvious place for a feature wall, and it comes with the most conditions. In the words of one fireplace maker’s instructions, most television manufacturers instruct homeowners not to place a TV above a heat source, because it can shorten the TV’s life and may void its warranty. So the first document to read is the TV’s own manual, for its maximum operating temperature.
- Check the temperature, not the look. Fireplace makers ask for the wall temperature to be verified at installation and say a TV shouldn’t go up if it exceeds the TV’s limit. In one maker’s testing, adding a mantel brought the front-wall temperature down to 40 °C.
- Read the fireplace manual too. It sets the clearances to combustible materials for any mantel or shelving, and a wood surround or panelling is exactly that.
- Check the height. A screen above a mantel is usually well above eye level, so run the 15° check from the table above before committing.
What holds a large TV on the wall?
Not the drywall. A large screen needs solid backing where the bracket goes, and the bracket goes where the screen looks right, which won’t always line up with the studs. On the media walls we design and build, the wall is opened first and 2×6 timber and ¾‑inch Baltic birch backing are fixed into the structural studs, which supports displays over 200 lbs, including 77-, 85- and 98-inch screens.
The mount is the other half. Check that its rated load is above your TV’s weight and that it fits the mounting-hole pattern on the back of the TV; both are in the TV’s manual. A flush bracket keeps the screen close to the wall, with the outlet and cables recessed behind it.
If any equipment or a TV stands on furniture rather than the wall, Health Canada’s advice applies: TVs are potentially deadly if they tip over, so place them far back on low, stable furniture made for their size and weight. A console fixed to the wall takes that question away.
Where do the wires go?
Power and signal are two different problems. For power, the Electrical Safety Authority is plain: extension cords must never take the place of permanent wiring. Pushing the TV’s cord through the wall and out at the bottom does exactly that. The proper answer is a recessed outlet behind the screen, wired as permanent wiring.
That’s electrical work, so it’s reported to ESA through a notification of work before it starts. Whoever does the work files it: you, if you do it yourself, or the Licensed Electrical Contractor you hire. On our walls, outlet moves and new circuits are done by licensed electrical contractors under ESA notifications.
- 1: Blocking: 2×6 timber and ¾″ Baltic birch backing fixed into the studs, where the bracket will go
- 2: Recessed outlet behind the screen, wired by a licensed electrical contractor, with a plate beside it for the signal cables
- 3: Two conduit chases, one for power and one for signal, each with a pull string
- 4: Concealed LED channels, with the drivers kept where they can be reached
- 5: Floating console for the equipment, with the conduits ending inside it
Signal cables are about the future. HDMI’s Ultra High Speed cable reached the market in 2020, rated for up to 48 Gbps; the newer HDMI 2.2 standard runs at up to 96 Gbps and needs its own Ultra96 cable for everything it does. A cable sealed into the wall today may not suit the next TV. Running signal in its own conduit, with a pull string left inside, means a new cable can be pulled through without touching the finish.
How is the lighting built in?
The glow around a feature wall comes from LED strips set into channels in the panelling, so you see the light and not the strip. We use a warm 2700K for these channels, set on dimmers that are adjusted once the wall is finished.
LED strips run on low voltage through drivers. The detail worth asking about in any design is where the drivers go: on our walls they stay where they can be reached, not sealed behind the panelling.
Does it need a permit, and how long does it take?
Panelling, backing and a mounted screen aren’t on the City of Ottawa’s list of projects that need a building permit. That list does include adding or removing walls and structural alterations, so a design that builds a new wall or cuts into the framing to recess the screen is a different matter, and the City asks you to call 3-1-1 if you’re unsure. Exempt work still has to meet the Ontario Building Code. Our guide to which renovation work needs a building permit in Ottawa has the City’s full lists.
The electrical side is separate: the ESA notification applies whether or not there’s a building permit. If the wall is part of a basement being finished or made into a legal unit, it follows that project’s permit and inspections.
On site, a feature wall typically takes 2 to 3 days. Where the design involves marble or granite, allow up to two weeks. For how that fits around design, quotes and permits, see how long each stage of a renovation takes. It’s one of the shortest projects in the wider Ottawa home renovation work we take on; most of the work is in the decisions above.
Guidance only, not a design or code ruling. Your TV’s and fireplace’s installation manuals, the Electrical Safety Authority and the City of Ottawa set what an installation must meet.