Media walls: what to decide before anyone builds it

A media wall is a built-out false wall with the television recessed into it. It looks simple and it is, provided four decisions happen before the first sheet goes up.

The screen you might buy, not the one you own

The recess gets built to a size. Widening it later means taking the front off the wall. Tell whoever is building it the largest screen you would realistically go to and it gets built for that, with the current one sitting in it happily.

Whether a fire is going in

Electric fires have clearance requirements and the aperture is built to the exact model, so the make and model need deciding up front. Adding one afterwards is a rebuild, not a retrofit.

Where the power is going

Sockets, spurs and aerial points behind a media wall are electrical work and get certified by an electrician. That is a separate trade and it happens at a specific point in the build, so it gets programmed rather than discovered.

How much room you are giving away

On a chimney breast the build often sits within the existing recesses and costs you almost nothing. On a flat wall the whole thing projects into the room. In a small living room that can be two hundred millimetres you do not get back, and it is worth marking on the floor with tape before agreeing to it.

One thing that costs nothing now and a lot later

Conduit. Running empty conduit through the carcass as it is built means cables can be pulled through in future without opening anything up.