Santa Clarita TV Mounting: Project example: a 75-inch TV over a linear gas fireplace with the wires hidden in the chase — what it looks like and what it costs

The scenario

This is the great room of a two-story tract home of the kind built across Valencia's newer neighborhoods in the 2000s and 2010s: a 10-foot ceiling, a 60-inch-wide linear gas fireplace set low in a large-format tile surround, and above it a flat drywall chase that runs to the ceiling with nothing on it. The chase is framed with wood studs on 16-inch centers and is hollow behind the drywall. A floating console sits to the left of the fireplace, holding a streaming box and a game console, with a duplex outlet behind it. The sectional faces the wall from 12 feet.

The brief is a 75-inch TV centered on the fireplace with no visible cables — no raceway, no cords — and the screen low enough to watch without strain. A linear fireplace has no mantel to clear, so the TV can sit lower than it would above a traditional hearth, but it also has no mantel to deflect heat, so the manufacturer's clearance above the fireplace opening and a temperature check govern where the bottom edge goes. The hollow chase makes in-wall cable concealment straightforward.

What the job involves

1. The installer reads the fireplace unit's installation label for the minimum clearance to electronics above the opening, then runs the burner for an hour and checks the wall temperature at the planned bottom edge of the TV to confirm the clearance is enough.
2. The screen position is marked: centered on the fireplace's width, bottom edge at or above the clearance line, and the seated eye line from 12 feet is checked with painter's tape before the bracket location is final.
3. Studs behind the chase are located with an AC-sensing stud finder, two of them are confirmed with a thin pilot hole, and the tilting bracket's wall plate is lag-bolted into both studs with the laser line as reference.
4. Two openings are cut in the drywall: one behind the TV inside the bracket's footprint, one low behind the console; the installer checks with a borescope that the flue and the fireplace's own wiring are nowhere in the path.
5. An in-wall rated power kit — a recessed outlet behind the TV fed from a matching inlet behind the console — and a CL2-rated HDMI cable are fished down the stud bay with a fish tape and fitted into the two openings with their plates.
6. The TV is hung and locked, tilted a few degrees toward the sectional, the HDMI and power are connected at both ends, every input is tested, and the drywall dust is vacuumed from the tile and the console.

Hardware and materials

• Tilting wall mount rated for 70–85 inch panels, UL-listed, with lag bolts for two wood studs
• AC-sensing stud finder, laser level, borescope and fish tape
• In-wall rated power kit (recessed outlet plus inlet, code-compliant for use inside a wall) — no extension cord inside the chase
• CL2-rated high-speed HDMI cable, 15 feet, plus a low-voltage bracket and wall plates for both openings
• Thermometer for the clearance check above the fireplace opening
• Drywall saw, dust vacuum and drop cloth for the hearth tile

Add-ons often paired with this job

• Mount a soundbar as well — +$49–$79. A soundbar bracket under a 75-inch screen is common on a media wall; its cables share the same in-wall path.
• I need the mount supplied — +$40–$120. A 75-inch panel needs a bracket rated for its weight; if none has been bought, the installer supplies one.
• Take down an existing TV first — +$40–$89. When the old TV sits on the console or another wall, taking it down and patching is a separate line.

Why it is done this way

Linear fireplaces push heat straight up the wall because there is no mantel to throw it into the room, so the clearance printed on the unit and the temperature check are what set the height, not a rule of thumb. Once the bottom edge clears that line, the TV sits lower than it would above a traditional mantel, and a few degrees of tilt bring the picture to a comfortable angle from the sectional.

In-wall concealment is the right choice here because the chase is a hollow framed wall with nothing but air between the two openings. The power kit matters: a standard extension cord inside a wall is a code violation and a fire risk, so a rated in-wall kit with a recessed outlet behind the TV is used instead. Everything else on the wall — the surround, the tile, the console — stays untouched.

What would change the price

• The chase is blocked with fire-stop framing or the flue runs behind the TV — cables then take a longer route through a side wall, or a surface raceway is painted to match.
• Builder low-voltage conduit already runs behind the chase — the pull is faster and the concealment line can drop toward the low end of its range.
• An 86-inch or larger panel — the base rate moves to the top size tier and the bracket may need a wider plate across three studs.
• The clearance test calls for a higher mount — a pull-down bracket that lowers the screen below the clearance line when the fireplace is off adds hardware cost.
• A new circuit or outlet rather than a power kit — that is a licensed electrician's job and is priced separately.