Designed around the fire

Media walls, surveyed before the joinery goes up

A media wall is a fireplace, a television and a piece of joinery that have to work as one. Get the order of operations wrong and it is expensive to unpick — so the fire is chosen, and the wall surveyed, first.

Why they go wrong

The most common media wall problem has a single cause: the joinery was built before the fire was chosen. Every inset fire has its own required aperture, clearances and depth, and a wall built to a round number rarely matches them.

Once a stud wall is up and skimmed, the aperture is fixed. If the fire you want needs 1720mm and the hole is 1500mm, the options are a smaller fire or a rebuild. We would rather have that conversation before anyone lifts a saw.

How we do it

We survey media walls before any joinery goes up. That visit settles the appliance, the aperture dimensions, the clearances, the cable routes, the screen height and the wall build-up — and we are happy to talk directly to your builder or carpenter about the aperture.

If the joinery is already up, it is still worth a survey: the right fire may well be found for the opening you have.

Media walls: what to know before you commit

Six avoidable mistakes

What we check, and what people miss

Mistake 01 The joinery went up first Every inset unit has its own aperture, clearances and depth. Build a stud wall to a round number and you will spend a long time hunting for a fire that fits it. Choose the appliance first, always.

Mistake 02 The television is in the heat path Electric units run cooler than gas but still exhaust warm air. Most manufacturers specify a minimum separation or a deflector above the fire. That specification is not optional.

Mistake 03 Nobody planned the cables Power for the fire, power and HDMI for the television, and a route for whatever box drives it — all decided before the plasterboard goes on. Retrofitting conduit means cutting the wall open.

Mistake 04 The screen is mounted too high Media walls tempt people to mount high because the fire takes the lower space. A television well above seated eye level quickly becomes uncomfortable to watch.

Mistake 05 The wall cannot carry the load Appliance weight plus screen plus finish, on what may be a non-structural stud wall. The wall build-up is checked at the survey.

Mistake 06 The finish was chosen last Micro-cement, timber slat, marble and painted MDF all need different substrates and different tolerances at the aperture edge. Deciding late means compromising.

Appliances that suit a media wall