How do we get your TV installed over your stone fireplace?

If your home is less than 20 years old and has a stone fireplace, I’d be willing to bet the stone isn’t really stone at all. Some homeowners know this to be true, and many others are surprised when I inform them of this fact. It may look and feel like real stone but it is actually manufactured stone (faux stone) made from concrete or some other aggregate compound.

How can you tell if your stone is actually faux stone? If you’re still in the building process you can simply ask your builder. Another way is a game that I play with a contractor of mine called “spot the duplicate stone”. Faux stone manufacturers only have so many moulds to use in the creation of their product, so it’s inevitable that a shipment of stone to the build site will include a number of stones that shared the same mould. If the installer did a poor job you might see two identical stones nearby one another over your fireplace. Otherwise, you may have to look a bit harder but you’re almost guaranteed to find two (or more) that match.
WARNING: Playing this game may result in your eye being drawn to those stones every time you look at your fireplace from now on.

So what does this mean for your dream of having your TV mounted over the fireplace? Well, if your fireplace were made of real stone then I’d likely consider it structurally sound enough to mount your TV directly to that surface, with some special anchors of course. However, with faux stone fireplaces the stone is simply adhered (clad) to the wall in much the same way that your tile backsplash is in your kitchen. Behind the stone is generally a wire mesh, stapled to a plywood board, nailed to a stud frame. Since we can’t find the studs (because of the stone), we can’t be sure the weight of the TV is properly anchored to the studs (as the mounting bracket manufacturer recommends). Therefore I don’t believe that your fireplace can be considered structurally sound enough to support a TV. And, even if it were structurally sound, the stone usually has such a varied profile that your TV likely wouldn’t hang straight anyway.

Some builders or TV installers may disagree; I don’t care. I care about ensuring that anything I mount on the wall stays on the wall, I care about ensuring that you are as happy with my work on day 1000 as you are on day 1, and I care about ensuring that your property and family are safe from the threat of a falling TV.

It’s starting to sound like I’m giving you a long-winded speech that could be summed up by saying “it can’t be done”. That’s not the case at all. In fact, I have developed a process for these faux stone installs that I have refined over the past 5+ years. Our recommended method for achieving your goal of mounting your tv over your faux-stone clad fireplace goes as follows.

1. Remove a section of stone just large enough to provide a flat surface for the mounting bracket.
2. Now that the stone is out of the way, locate the stud framing behind the wall.
3. Implant a plank of wood in place of the removed stone, anchored to the stud framing
4. Cut or reshape any necessary stone and patch them back in around the newly implanted wood plank.
5. Install the TV mounting bracket and TV.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about.

If you still have questions feel free to reach out via phone, text, or email:
865-264-0006
adam@installheroes.com

Congratulations!  Your computer is now clean.

You’re seeing this page because we have cleaned up or restored your computer and there’s a bit of information we wanted to make sure you know.

Although not every customer or computer is the same, based on our standards and practices this page should apply to nearly all of our customers who have purchased a virus removal or PC recovery service.

Squeaky Clean

If your laptop computer looks cleaner on the outside than when you left it with us, it is.  We use and recommend Monster ScreenClean for laptop and desktop computer screens as well as TV’s, eyeglasses and more.

If we cleaned up your desktop computer, we’ve also taken the time to open up and dust out the inside of your computer.  It’s advisable to have your desktop computer dusted out at least once per year.

Drivers & Windows Updates

No matter if we’ve performed a Virus Removal or Factory Recovery we have done our very best to ensure your computer has no devices without installed drivers and we’ve brought your computer completely up-to-date with Windows Updates.

Your documents

If we did a virus removal on your computer then all of your documents will be right where you left them and they have been scanned to ensure they are virus-free.

If you had us recover or re-install your operating system, then our initial consultation will have dictated what we did about your documents.  If you opted to have us perform a data recovery then your documents should all be in the correct folders with a link on your desktop.

Your Programs

If we did a virus removal on your computer then most of your programs should be in tact.  We may have removed troublesome programs if they were causing harm to your computer.

If we did a factory recovery or OS re-install then your programs will no longer be present.  Data recovery options work great for files and documents, but not so good with programs.  Your software will need to be re-installed from download or disc.

Feel free to give us a call if you find a program missing.

New Programs

Whether we did a virus removal, factory recovery or OS re-install we have likely installed new programs onto your computer.  While many of these programs do have premium versions which cost money to unlock, all of these programs are 100% free and you should never feel obligated to pay for a “full” or “pro” version.  Your computer may have a few or all of the programs listed below.

avast! Free Antivirus

Avast is a great free antivirus program.  Unless you already have a paid antivirus, or have requested a specific program, we have most likely installed Avast as your real time antivirus protection.  This is a program has a paid version which is not required but if you feel safer with the added protection then go for it.  You are not required to pay for the full version, but you do have to register the software by giving Avast your email address.  Registration must be done within 30 days of installation to prevent a lapse in coverage.  Simply open Avast and click the “REGISTER” button.

Glary Utilities

Glary Utilities is an excellent program we use to optimize your registry and system performance, among other things.  You may see a black screen with a message from Glary when starting up your computer.  This is a defrag process which will help to keep your system running smoothly.  You may skip this defrag by pressing any key if you wish.

Malwarebytes

Malwarebytes is a supplemental security program which you can manually run from time to time if you feel that something has gotten past your real time protection.

SUPERAntiSpyware Free Edition

Another excellent supplemental security program which you can run if/when you feel that something has gotten past your real time protection.  This is also a great program for removing unwanted programs.

Google Chrome

Chrome is our web browser of choice.  Many users prefer Firefox or Safari which are great web browsers, we simply prefer Chrome.  We have also installed Adblock, Adblock Plus and Avast extensions into your Chrome browser.  These add-on extensions will help provide a more secure web browsing experience.

Adobe Reader

Most people need to read a PDF document from time to time so we’ve included Adobe Reader in the setup of your newly cleaned computer.

ImgBurn

Most computers come with factory installed disc burning software.  Since that software may have been lost during the recovery of your computer, we have included ImgBurn as a great free replacement.

Team Viewer

Team Viewer is a remote access program which allows us to remotely assist you in the future.  You can take peace of mind to know that neither Install Heroes or anyone else can utilize Team Viewer to access your computer any time they wish because Team Viewer is programmed to change the access password each time the program is restarted.  This program is also free for you to utilize to host online meetings or access the computers of your friends/family when they need your help.  Contact us if you’d like to learn more about this powerful free program.

Skype

We don’t install Skype on every computer we work on, but if it was previously installed on your computer we often re-install it on your cleaned up computer if we think you may use it.

iTunes

As with Skype, we often re-install iTunes if we feel you may use it because it was on your computer before we started working on it.

OpenOffice

OpenOffice is a wonderful freeware version of the Office you know and love.  It looks and functions like Microsoft Office 2003, it will open and edit Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents, and best of all it’s FREE!  Try it out before you purchase an expensive copy of Microsoft Office.

Classic Start

If your computer has Windows 8 we have likely installed a program called Classic Start.  We have found that many of our customers miss the start menu they were used to in past versions of Windows.  Classic Start replaces the Windows 8 “Start Screen” with a fully customizable start menu.  Open “Classic Start Settings” from the start menu to customize or disable this program.

Heroes On Demand

Now we’d like to mention Heroes On Demand (HOD), our monthly subscription service for customers who want the peace of mind to know that resolution for their day-to-day problems is only a phone call away.  HOD provides subscribers a big business style tech support system at a fraction of the cost.

Not only do HOD subscribers get free remote support, but hand-on services like data migration, wireless network setup and factory recovery are provided at a discounted rate.  Click here or call to learn more about Heroes On Demand.

Lastly

Now that you’ve read all this important information you may be wondering how to change your homepage to something else.  Click here for instructions on how to set your homepage to Google, or any other page you prefer.

And remember:  Call and we’ll come to the rescue!