How to Prepare for Your TV Mounting Appointment in Lexington, KY

Most TV mounting jobs take somewhere between an hour and a couple of hours. The ones that run long almost never run long because of the mounting — they run long because nobody decided where the TV was going until the installer was already standing in the room holding it.

Twenty minutes of thinking ahead makes the whole appointment shorter, cheaper, and a lot less stressful. Here is what is worth settling before we knock on the door.

1. Decide on the Wall — and Have a Second Choice

This is the single biggest one. Walk the room before the appointment and pick the wall you actually want to look at, then think about why. Where does the seating face? Where does afternoon sun come through? Is there a window directly opposite that will throw glare across the screen at exactly the hour you watch TV?

Have a backup in mind too. Occasionally a wall turns out to be the wrong wall for reasons you cannot see from the outside — a plumbing stack, a chase full of ductwork, a masonry chimney where you expected framing. It is much easier to say "then let's do the other wall" than to reschedule.

2. Settle the Height Before We Arrive

Height is where people second-guess themselves most, usually because the TV in the showroom was hung high and the one at a friend's house was hung low. The rule that matters is simple: the center of the screen should land near eye level from where you actually sit. Mount it above a fireplace and you will be looking up all evening.

If you want to think it through properly first, our guide to TV viewing height and placement walks through how to measure it from your own couch. Decide it in advance and the install goes straight to drilling.

3. Know What Your Walls Are Made Of

Lexington has a wide range of housing stock and the walls vary a lot by era. Newer construction out toward Hamburg and the subdivisions off Man o' War is mostly wood-stud drywall. Older homes in Chevy Chase, Ashland Park, and the neighborhoods near downtown can be plaster and lath. Basements and additions turn up concrete block. Some commercial and newer multi-family buildings use metal studs.

You do not need to diagnose it — that is our job — but if you already know, say so when you book. It tells us what anchors to bring and whether the job needs anything unusual. If you are curious how each of those behaves, we have written about mounting on drywall without studs and about plaster and lath walls.

4. Pick Your Mount Style

Three choices, and they change the price, so it is worth deciding early.

Fixed. The TV sits flat and close to the wall. Cleanest look, lowest profile, no adjustment. This is what most living rooms get and it is included in the mounting price for your size — $79 for a 32", $99 for a 43", $109 for a 50", $119 for a 55", $139 for a 65", $179 for a 75", and $219 for an 85".

Tilting. Lets you angle the screen downward, which helps when the TV has to sit higher than ideal — over a fireplace, in a bedroom where you watch lying down. Add $45 at any size.

Full-motion. The arm swings the TV out and around, which is what you want for a corner, a galley kitchen, or a room with two seating areas. Add $125, and note that we only offer it on 32" through 55" sets. It is a special-order mount, so mention it when you book rather than the morning of.

5. Think About Power and Cables Now

The cables are what make a mounted TV look finished or unfinished, and they are the thing most people forget until the panel is already on the wall.

• Is there an outlet behind the TV? If not, a new outlet run behind the wall is $150, and it is the tidiest answer.
• Do you want the wires hidden? Powerline concealment is $99 and routes the cable inside the wall instead of down the front of it. Our guide to hiding TV wires in the wall covers what that involves.
• Where do the devices live? Cable box, game console, streaming stick, receiver — decide whether they sit on a console below or get tucked somewhere else, because that determines how long the HDMI runs need to be.
• Soundbar? Mounting one under the TV is $40. Have it out of the box and nearby.

6. Clear the Space

Give us a working area of roughly six feet in front of the wall, floor to ceiling. That means moving the console, the lamp, the plant, and anything hanging on that wall out of the way before we start. Pictures come off, shelves come down.

It sounds trivial, but a clear wall is the difference between starting immediately and spending the first fifteen minutes of your appointment carrying furniture. If you have pets who get anxious around drills and strangers, a closed door somewhere else in the house helps everyone.

7. Have the TV and Its Parts Ready

You do not have to unbox the TV — we will handle it carefully either way, and leaving it boxed is safer if it has been sitting around. What helps is having everything with the TV: the remote, the power cable, the stand screws if the legs are still attached, and the little bag of hardware that came in the carton. Manufacturer screws sometimes matter for the mounting pattern.

If you are reusing a mount you already own, have it out with all its hardware so we can look at it before we start. Not every old mount fits a new panel — we wrote about reusing an existing TV wall mount and what to check.

8. Decide What Happens to the Old TV

If there is an older set coming off the wall or out of the room, we can take it away for $30. Say so when you book so it is on the work order.

9. Plan Parking and Access

Downtown Lexington, campus-area apartments, and older streets with permit parking are worth a heads-up. So is a gate code, a security desk, or an elevator that needs to be reserved — several apartment and condo buildings around town require that for anything larger than a hand cart. If you are in a rental, check whether your lease has anything to say about wall anchors before the appointment rather than after.

What We Bring

You do not need to supply anything. We arrive with mounts, anchors and fasteners for every common wall type, stud finders, levels, drills, cable management, and drop cloths. If you asked for a new outlet, powerline concealment, or a soundbar, that comes with us too. The only thing we cannot bring is a decision about where you want the TV.

A Quick Pre-Appointment Checklist

• Wall chosen, with a backup in mind.
• Height agreed on by everyone who watches TV in that room.
• Mount style picked — fixed, tilting, or full-motion.
• Power sorted, or a new outlet added to the job.
• Devices and soundbar out and nearby.
• Six feet of clear floor in front of the wall.
• Old TV removal and parking or access notes mentioned at booking.

Get those settled and a straightforward install really is a one-visit, one-hour job. The TV goes up level, the cables disappear, and nobody is standing in the living room at the end of it wishing it were four inches lower.