Media wall electric fires: what to know before you build

Size the fire to the wall and the TV

The proportion rule that separates designed walls from assembled ones: the fire sits below the television and should be at least as wide as it, ideally wider. A 50 to 55 inch TV pairs with a fire around 1200 to 1350mm; a 65 inch screen wants 1600mm or more. On the survey we tape the candidate widths onto your actual wall, which settles the size question in thirty seconds.

Wall width matters as much: the fire needs breathing space either side, so a two-metre fire wants a wall comfortably beyond two and a half.

Recess depths decide the build

Every inset fire has a minimum recess: the slim Fire FX Atmos range needs just 140mm, which fits inside a standard stud build, while the deeper British Fires New Forest fires want 300mm, a fuller build-out that buys a deeper, more theatrical flame box. Neither is wrong; they are different budgets of depth, and the wall design follows the fire, never the reverse.

This is why the fire is chosen before the joinery starts. Retrofitting a deeper fire into a shallow wall is a rebuild, not a swap.

The wiring goes in first

A clean media wall has no visible cables, which means everything is planned before boarding: a fused spur for the fire, power and data behind the TV, and any lighting circuits for shelving or niches. The electrical connections are made by a qualified electrician where needed, and the result is a wall with nothing on show but the screen and the flames.

Think about sockets you will want later, sound bars, consoles, and have them wired in now. Opening a finished wall for a forgotten socket is the expensive way to learn this.

What a media wall costs and how long it takes

The fire is the smaller line; the build is the bigger one: studwork, boarding, the recesses, wiring and finishing. Most complete walls we build run two to three days on site, quoted as one written figure after the survey, fire included. Panelling, niches with lighting and floating shelves extend the joinery rather than the concept.

Compared with a woodburner installation it is usually the cheaper and faster route to a focal point, which is exactly why chimney-free modern homes choose it.

Common questions