Everything You Need to Know About Outdoor TV Mounting

Out­door tele­vi­sion instal­la­tions are grow­ing in pop­u­lar­i­ty as home­own­ers aim to bring enter­tain­ment out­side. How­ev­er, mount­ing a TV out­doors comes with unique con­sid­er­a­tions com­pared to stan­dard indoor mount­ing. This guide cov­ers every­thing you need to know about out­door TV mount­ing best prac­tices.

Weatherproofing Concerns with Outdoor TV Mounting

The num­ber one pri­or­i­ty when mount­ing a tele­vi­sion out­doors is ade­quate weath­er seal­ing and water­proof­ing. Out­door TVs are specif­i­cal­ly man­u­fac­tured with weath­er-resis­tant cas­ings, durable screens and mois­ture pro­tec­tion stan­dards. How­ev­er, the mount­ing set­up itself needs prop­er weath­er­proof­ing as well.

Ide­al­ly, cov­ered areas like patios are best for mount­ing out­door TVs. Direct rain or snow expo­sure should be avoid­ed. Before instal­la­tion, seal any cracks, open holes or crevices in the mount­ing sur­face that could allow mois­ture intru­sion behind the TV. Use exte­ri­or-grade sil­i­con caulk around the entire mount­ing plate perime­ter and hard­ware to pre­vent water dam­age.

Also ensure cables and out­lets have suf­fi­cient weath­er pro­tec­tion. Con­sid­er rout­ing cables inter­nal­ly through con­duit inside walls to keep con­nec­tions dry. Make sure the pow­er out­let is exte­ri­or-rat­ed and equipped with weath­er-seal­ing cov­ers as well. Take every pre­cau­tion to pro­tect your out­door TV from mois­ture expo­sure lead­ing to dan­ger­ous elec­tri­cal haz­ards or cor­ro­sion dam­age.

Accounting for Temperature, Ventilation & Sunlight Problems

In addi­tion to pre­cip­i­ta­tion, out­door TV installers need to account for oth­er envi­ron­men­tal fac­tors includ­ing:

• Tem­per­a­ture Reg­u­la­tion — Extreme cold and heat can dam­age screens and inter­nal com­po­nents. Mount the TV under an over­hang when pos­si­ble, and make sure the instal­la­tion area allows for ade­quate ven­ti­la­tion and air cir­cu­la­tion so heat can dis­si­pate.
• Glare & UV Rays — Direct sun­light can inter­fere with vis­i­bil­i­ty, col­or accu­ra­cy and con­trast. Where pos­si­ble, avoid fac­ing the screen towards the sun or invest in a sun­light read­able com­mer­cial dis­play. If sun expo­sure is unavoid­able, con­sid­er tint­ed or polar­ized dis­play fil­ters to cut glare while pre­serv­ing pic­ture qual­i­ty.
• Humid­i­ty & Con­den­sa­tion — Mois­ture in the air can build up inside the TV cas­ing lead­ing to cloud­ed image qual­i­ty issues. Allow ade­quate ven­ti­la­tion and air cir­cu­la­tion around/behind the set to encour­age mois­ture dis­si­pa­tion. Water-absorb­ing dehu­mid­i­fi­er bags can also be placed inside the TV hous­ing dur­ing mount­ing as an extra pre­ven­ta­tive mea­sure.

Account­ing for these ambi­ent envi­ron­men­tal fac­tors ensures your out­door TV mount instal­la­tion goes off with­out weath­er-relat­ed per­for­mance issues down the road.

Finding Proper Outdoor TV Mounting Locations

Anoth­er key con­sid­er­a­tion for open-air tele­vi­sion mount­ing is phys­i­cal place­ment:

• Height — Install the TV at eye-lev­el height for com­fort­able ergonom­ic view­ing. For stand­ing areas like pool decks, place the bot­tom of the screen near 6 feet high. For seat­ed out­door liv­ing spaces, clos­er to 4‑foot height is ide­al.
• View­ing Angle — Out­door dis­plays should be front-fac­ing to avoid prob­lem­at­ic glare, washout and col­or dis­tor­tion from off-axis view­ing posi­tions. Place the mount so the screen faces out­ward towards the cen­tral gathering/seating areas at opti­mal head-on sight lines.
• Dis­tance — Larg­er screens may require fur­ther mount­ing dis­tances for prop­er immer­sive vis­i­bil­i­ty. Check the man­u­fac­tur­er TV size guide­lines against the intend­ed view­ing dis­tance. Com­mer­cial out­door dis­plays often have high­er bright­ness rat­ings to com­pen­sate for greater dis­tances com­pared to res­i­den­tial-grade pan­els.
• Obstruc­tions — Ensure the area in front of the dis­play remains free of visu­al obstruc­tions. Care­ful­ly con­sid­er intend­ed sitting/congregation lay­outs when deter­min­ing height and lat­er­al place­ment to avoid trees, sup­port beams or archi­tec­tur­al ele­ments par­tial­ly block­ing sight lines.

Prop­er phys­i­cal place­ment is cru­cial for open-air TV enjoy­ment regard­less of cli­mate pro­tec­tion and seal­ing pre­cau­tions tak­en.

Special Mounting Considerations for Outdoor TV Installations

Out­door tele­vi­sion mount­ing also impos­es cer­tain mechan­i­cal con­sid­er­a­tions:

• Wind Load Sup­port — Out­door mounts must with­stand greater lat­er­al shear forces from wind pres­sure com­pared to indoor mounts. Select mount­ing equip­ment rat­ed to safe­ly sup­port the dis­play’s wind load spec­i­fi­ca­tions. Rein­forced steel com­mer­cial mounts pro­vide the strongest wind resis­tance.
• Range of Motion — Fac­tor the view­ing angle non­lin­ear­i­ty of out­door seat­ing into equip­ment selec­tion. Out­door mounts should offer extend­ed pan, swiv­el and tilt to accom­mo­date off-cen­ter sight lines view­ers may expe­ri­ence. Artic­u­lat­ing or pull-out arm mounts pro­vide the great­est range of motion.
• Theft Deter­rence — Open-air envi­ron­ments impose greater secu­ri­ty risks. Invest in com­mer­cial-grade tam­per-proof mount­ing hard­ware. Con­sid­er con­nect­ing the TV mount to per­ma­nent struc­ture points if pos­si­ble. Also uti­lize locks, secu­ri­ty cables and hid­den fas­ten­er heads. Mon­i­tor­ing cam­eras can pro­vide fur­ther visu­al theft pro­tec­tion.

Account­ing for weath­er­proof­ing, place­ment and hard­ware con­cerns ensures opti­mal vis­i­bil­i­ty, resilience and secu­ri­ty for out­door tele­vi­sion mount­ing projects.

Trusting Outdoor TV Installs to Professional Mounters

Con­sid­er enlist­ing pro­fes­sion­al assis­tance for out­door TV mount­ing:

• Con­duit Instal­la­tion — Hid­ing unsight­ly cables com­ing down build­ings requires inter­nal wall con­duits. Pro­fes­sion­als have the tools and exper­tise to neat­ly run cables inside walls through to elec­tri­cal con­nec­tions.
• Rein­forced Anchor­ing — Struc­tur­al dam­age becomes a greater risk out­side from wind shear forces. Pro­fes­sion­als prop­er­ly secure mounts into wall studs using heavy-duty, weath­er-resis­tant fas­ten­ers and anchor­ing mate­ri­als.
• Mois­ture Pro­tec­tion — Com­pa­nies that spe­cial­ize in out­door TV mount­ing are famil­iar with com­mer­cial-grade sealants, gas­kets, pipes and ven­ti­la­tion tech­niques that ful­ly weath­er­proof instal­la­tions.

While the idea of sav­ing mon­ey by DIY mount­ing seems tempt­ing, the mate­ri­als, tools and spe­cial­ized tech­niques required for prop­er­ly installing out­door TVs often proves high­ly com­plex for ama­teur attempts. The small upfront invest­ment of hir­ing experts pays div­i­dends via com­plete weath­er­proof­ing peace of mind, code-com­pli­ant instal­la­tions, and visu­al­ly flaw­less, durable mount­ing out­comes. Con­tact a pro­fes­sion­al AV installer to dis­cuss bring­ing enhanced enter­tain­ment to your out­door liv­ing space.