TV Height From the Floor: How High to Mount a TV in Abu Dhabi Homes

How high should a TV be mounted on the wall?

Mount it so the centre of the screen is at your eye level when you are sitting where you normally watch. Your neck stays straight and you look at the middle of the picture, not up at it.

For a standard sofa, that works out to about 107 cm (42 inches) from the floor to the centre of the screen. Samsung gives this figure as the average for someone of about 168 cm sitting on a standard sofa, and Houzz explains where it comes from: a sofa seat is about 46 cm high, and a seated person's eyes are about 61 cm above the seat.

The most common mistake is the opposite: a TV mounted high, at the height where it looks good when you are standing in the room. That is comfortable for a few minutes and tiring for a full film.

Sources: Livingetc, quoting Samsung (October 2023) and Houzz, How High Should Your TV Be?

What is the right TV height from the floor for each screen size?

The centre stays at about 107 cm. What changes with size is where the bottom edge of the screen sits, and that is the number the person mounting it needs. These are worked out for a standard 16:9 screen:

The sofa distance column uses the range Houzz describes, from 1.5 times to 2.5 times the screen diagonal. If your sofa sits closer than the low number, the TV will feel too big; further than the high number, too small.

If there is a TV unit or soundbar under the screen, check the bottom edge clears it by a few centimetres. On a large TV, you may need to lower the unit rather than raise the TV.

Does the right TV height change from room to room?

Living room with a sofa

Use the 107 cm centre and the table above. Deep, low lounge sofas sit lower than standard ones, so measure if yours sinks when you sit.

Majlis with floor seating

In a majlis with low cushions or floor seating, people sit far lower than on a sofa, so the screen should come down too. Sit where guests sit, measure from the floor to your eyes, and put the centre of the screen at that height. The same applies to a family room where the children sit on the carpet.

Bedroom

People usually watch sitting up against the headboard, which puts the eyes higher than on a sofa. Sit in bed the way you normally watch and measure to your eyes. A slight downward tilt helps if the TV ends up above eye level.

Kitchen and dining area

A kitchen TV is watched standing or from a high stool, so it goes higher. Keep it away from the cooker, sink and kettle steam.

How do you measure the right TV height for your own room?

1. Sit where you watch: on the sofa, cushion or bed, in your normal position.
2. Measure floor to eyes: have someone measure from the floor to your eye level. This is the centre height of the screen.
3. Find the screen height: measure the screen itself, or use the table above.
4. Halve it and subtract: centre height minus half the screen height gives the bottom edge.
5. Mark it with tape: stick masking tape on the wall in the outline of the screen and sit down again. Live with it for a day if you are unsure.

Example: your eyes are 100 cm from the floor and you have a 65-inch TV, which is 81 cm tall. Half of that is about 40 cm, so the bottom edge goes at about 60 cm.

How do you know if your wall is gypsum or block?

This matters more than the height. A heavy TV on the wrong fixings can pull out of the wall.

• Knock on it: gypsum board sounds hollow between the studs and dull where a stud is. Block or concrete sounds solid everywhere.
• Look at the sockets: take a socket cover off with the power off, and you can see the wall thickness and material at the edge.
• Use a magnet: on gypsum walls, a magnet finds the screws that hold the board to the metal studs, which shows you where the studs run.
• Ask the building: the maintenance team usually knows which walls are partitions in that tower or villa.

Mounting on a block or concrete wall

Use the wall plugs and screws suited to masonry, sized for the bracket. Block walls hold a TV well when the holes are drilled clean and the plugs fit tightly.

Mounting on a gypsum wall

Gypsum board on its own cannot hold a TV on plastic plugs. The bracket needs to fix into the metal studs with toggle-type bolts, or to a board fixed across two studs. MantelMount, a bracket maker, advises that the fixings together should be rated for at least four times the weight of the TV.

Source: MantelMount, How to mount a TV on metal studs, brick, concrete and plaster.

Which TV bracket should you choose?

• Fixed: the TV sits flat against the wall. Neatest look, least strain on the wall. Best when you watch from straight in front.
• Tilting: angles the screen down a few degrees. Useful in bedrooms or where the TV ends up above eye level.
• Full-motion arm: pulls out and swings. Handy for corner seating, but the arm puts much more force on the wall when it is extended. On gypsum, only with proper stud or backing board fixing.

Check two things on the box: the bracket's weight rating is above your TV's weight, and the VESA pattern, the screw spacing on the back of the TV, is listed as supported.

What should you check before drilling into the wall?

• Hidden cables and pipes: they often run straight up or down from sockets and switches. Do not drill directly above or below them, and use a detector if you have one.
• A socket behind the TV: if you want one there, that is electrical work for a licensed electrician, not a mounting job. Plan it before the TV goes up.
• Cables: decide whether cables will hang, run in a cover strip, or go behind the gypsum.
• Landlord permission: in a rented home, ask first. The holes may need filling and painting at handover, which our moving out checklist covers.
• Moving soon? Keep the bracket screws in a bag taped to the bracket when the TV comes down.

If you would rather not drill yourself, our TV wall mounting in Abu Dhabi fixes your bracket at the height you choose, with fixings matched to the wall, and checks it is level. Moving house at the same time? The TV can come off at the old home and go up at the new one as part of an apartment move.