How to Build a Media Wall

Building a media wall is a job that can be done by experienced DIYers. 

You will need to invest in materials, have the right tools and be confident doing some advanced DIY tasks. It’s also important you are confident you can do the job before you start because it will be difficult to correct any serious mistakes.  

Plastering the surface of the wall is normally part of building a media wall. DIY enthusiasts can do plastering by themselves, but it’s a job that can be difficult without experience. As a result, building a media wall might mean hiring a plasterer. You might also need to adapt the wiring in your room to suit your media wall. All electrical work should be carried out by a competent and suitably qualified electrician, preferably registered with the NICEIC. 

Building a media wall takes careful planning, and it takes skill and accuracy when you’re doing the work.  

Planning and designing your media wall

The planning stage is crucial in building a TV wall. You need to have detailed plans, and you need to know exactly how you will construct your TV wall before you start. All elements of construction need to be accounted for at the planning stage.

Planning should cover:

• Location selection

• The design for the wall – how it will look and how it will be constructed, paying particular attention to how to build the media wall frame

• Electrics - appliance requirements and sockets

• Materials

• Tool requirements

It might be a good idea to consult with a design professional or use specialist design software at the planning stage. This can help you enhance designs and avoid mistakes.

Measuring tools are crucial for any work like this. Have a look at our measuring tools guide to find out everything you need to know about choosing and using measuring tools.

Selecting the best wall for your media wall

A media wall will act as the focal point in the room in which it’s built. Usually, it will be a case of building it onto a wall that already acts as a focal point. This isn’t always the case, however, and you may want to think carefully about the location of your media wall.

After you choose the ideal location for your media wall, there are two important basic things to consider:

1. What is the existing wall in the location you would like to build your media wall constructed from? 

2. Will you need to move electrical fittings to build your media wall in your ideal location? 

Firstly, it’s important to accurately assess the structure of the wall you will build on. It’s much easier to build a media wall frame on a masonry wall rather than a stud partition wall because you can securely attach your vertical lengths of timber to the masonry at any point with wall plugs. If you are building onto a stud wall, you will need to locate the vertical studs of the partition wall and attach the vertical studs of your media wall to them. You cannot use plasterboard to anchor screws because this will be too weak. The instructions in this guide are focused on building on a masonry wall. 

Luckily, most people will find that the wall they want to build their media wall onto is a masonry wall.

You should also be aware that if the electrical fittings in your wall do not match the location of the appliances you will want in your media wall, this will mean adapting the electrics.

Designing your media wall

Once you’ve chosen a good location for your wall, you can design it around your requirements and style it exactly how you want. 

Media walls are highly adaptable. You can be creative at the design stage here, and we suggest that you research widely to find inspiration for your media wall plans.

The essential feature of a media wall is:

• Housing for a TV, games consoles or other media equipment

Some other common features are:

• Housing for an electric fireplace

• Shelves and storage space

• Decorative LED lighting

Planning how to build a media wall frame

The timber frame of your media wall should be built robustly. We will explain how to build a TV wall with lengths of timber that are attached directly to the wall. 

The framework of the wall should feature a top and bottom plate, vertical studs and horizontal lengths of timber above and below recessed sections of the wall, such as storage space. 

Your media wall will have as much depth as the size of the timber you use. Make sure you choose timber with the right depth at the planning stage. Good sizes are 5 x 2 inch and 6 x 2 inch. They will give your wall either 5 or 6 inches of depth, although you might decide to choose a different size.   

Here are some good rules to follow when you’re making your media wall plan:

• All timber should be CLS timber suitable for a stud wall.

• Horizontal top and bottom plates should be fitted with wall plugs or woodscrews, depending on whether they are attached to masonry or joists. 

• On a masonry wall, the vertical studs should be constructed from two parallel lengths of timber that are screwed together to create a wide vertical stud. This will create stability. L-brackets should also be used on the hidden inside surface of the vertical lengths to attach the studs directly to the wall.

• Horizontal lengths of timber should also be secured to the wall with L-brackets located out of view on the inner parts of the wall.

Any recessed areas that house electrical equipment or an electric fireplace should be built to allow for any necessary ventilation.

Choosing the right materials for a media wall

The basic materials you’ll need for a media wall are:

• Lengths of timber – you will need to buy lengths long enough to run from the floor to the ceiling

• 8 mm wall plugs and corresponding screws

• 80 mm woodscrews

• L-brackets

• Plasterboard or MDF

• Plaster and beading

• Electrical fittings

You may need other materials depending on circumstances. 

Note that it is possible to use a metal frame as an alternative to timber, although this is generally a less popular choice.

 

Should I use MDF or plasterboard for a media wall?

You will get the best looking results if you finish your media wall with plaster. The drawback to using plaster, however, is that you might need to hire a plasterer to help you. 

The alternative to plaster is covering the timber frame of your wall with MDF and then decorating the MDF. This won’t mean hiring a plasterer, but it won’t look as nice. MDF also won’t last as long as plaster.

Managing cables in media walls

A large part of the reason media walls are so popular is that they allow you to neatly tidy your cables away in your wall. For this to happen, power outlets need to be positioned at the correct locations in the wall. Ideally, your power outlets will be located at the points in the media wall where media devices that require power are located.

In some cases, people will be able to make do with the existing socket arrangement on their wall. In many cases, however, the electrics in the wall will need to be changed. Incorrectly positioned outlets will need to be removed and new cable will need to be run to new outlets that are in the correct location to match the media wall that will go on top.  

We recommend you hire an electrician at this stage if you need to adapt the wiring in your wall. Any electrical work should be carried out by a competent and suitably qualified electrician, preferably registered with the NICEIC.

Step 1. Building the media wall frame

Before you start doing any work, it’s a good idea to accurately measure out and draw your design onto your wall with a pencil. You’ll then be able to follow this drawing when you build your wall.

After you’ve drawn your design on the wall, here’s how to build your TV wall frame:

1. Cut the lengths of timber for the top plates and bottom plates.

2. Install the bottom and top plates.

• For the top plate, locate the joists in the ceiling above and screw the top plate into those joists.

• For the bottom plate, use wall plugs to install the plate into a concrete floor. If your floor is constructed with joists, again locate the joists and fit the bottom plate to the joists using woodscrews.

3. Install the vertical lengths of timber, using screws to attach them to the top and bottom plates. On a masonry wall, use at least three L-brackets to secure them to the wall. Mount the L-brackets on the inner surfaces of the wall where they will be hidden from view. 

Install any horizontal lengths of timber. Use screws to attach them to the vertical lengths of timber at each end. On a masonry wall, use L-brackets hidden on the inner surfaces of the wall to secure them to the wall.

Step 2. Installing the electrics for your media wall

We recommend that you hire an electrician for any modifications that need to be made to your electrics.

You should instruct your electrician to fit power outlets in the underlying masonry wall at the locations of your media equipment. It’s best if this work is done before you build your timber frame.

In some cases, it will be better to install power outlets in the frame itself. If this is the case, you should speak to your electrician about this.

Step 3. Adding LED lights to your media wall

Lots of people like to install LED strip lights or downlights in their media walls.

In order to install LED strip lights or downlights, it may be necessary to run wires for these through the frame of the media wall. If this is the case, do this after the frame is built and before you fit the plasterboard. 

You should, however, wait until after plastering is finished before you attach any mounts for your LED lights. Cover your cables and LED lights in masking tape before any plastering happens.

Step 4. Plasterboarding and plastering

Once the frame of your wall is constructed and your LED lights are in place, it’s time to plasterboard and plaster your wall.  

Make sure you attach your plasterboard according to the guidelines for plasterboarding. After you’ve finished this stage, you can either plaster the wall yourself or get in touch with a professional plasterer to do it for you. Make sure you cover any features that will be on display, like LED lighting, before you do any plastering.  

If you’ve chosen to MDF your wall, you can attach your MDF to the frame of your wall. It’s a good idea to plan this very carefully to ensure you do as neat a job as possible.

Step 5. Securing your TV onto your media wall

The next step is to attach your TV mount to your media wall. Follow the instructions that come with your TV mount for this stage. You should also fit any other mounts or fixings included in your media wall at this stage. 

Note that decorating will be the next job, and so it might be necessary to remove the TV bracket and fixings temporarily while you decorate.

Step 6. Decorating and adding skirting board to your media wall

You’ll need to wait until your plaster is dry before you can paint and decorate your media wall. In the summer, this can be as little as three days. In the winter, plaster can take much longer to dry.

After it has dried, make sure your TV mount, other fixings, LED lights or anything else that will be on display are covered up. 

Then you can paint the plasterwork on your wall. You might need to lightly sand any rough patches of plaster with fine sandpaper before you do any painting. You also need to make sure you do a mist coat of paint before your other layers. This is a layer of emulsion paint mixed with water that seals the porous surface of the new plaster and acts as a primer for the other coats of paint. Without a mist coat, your other layers of paint might not stick properly.  

You can also refit the skirting board to your wall at this stage. You should be able to reuse the skirting board you removed for much of the refit. However, you’ll probably need to buy some new pieces of skirting board for the small side sections of your media wall.