Mounting a TV on shiplap or paneling

Shiplap accent walls and older wood paneling have one thing in common: the boards look solid, but they're a finish, not a frame. A TV still needs to hang from the studs behind them.

Shiplap is thicker than drywall — but not a stud

Real shiplap is usually ¾″ pine nailed straight to the studs or over drywall. It will hold a picture anywhere. It will not reliably hold an 80-pound TV on a pull-out arm; boards can split along the grain and the nails holding them were never meant for that load.

Thin 1970s-style paneling is weaker still — often ⅛″ to ¼″ sheets over studs with nothing behind them.

Finding studs behind boards

Good news: board walls show you where the studs are. Look for the vertical lines of nail heads or filled nail holes; each line is a stud. A magnet confirms it. Electronic stud finders can struggle with thick boards and gaps, so nails are the better guide.

Drilling without splitting

• Pre-drill through the board with a bit the size of the lag bolt's shank, then a smaller pilot into the stud.
• Keep holes away from the edge of a board and out of the groove where possible.
• Don't over-tighten. A lag bolt can crush soft pine and leave a dent around the bracket.

Keeping the bracket flat

Shiplap has gaps and paneling has grooves, but the faces are in one plane, so most brackets sit flat across them. If the wall bows, washers behind the bracket at the low spots keep it from bending.

Where do the wires go?

• Shiplap over drywall: an in-wall kit can still work; the cut-outs go through both layers and need a clean, straight cut in the boards.
• Shiplap directly on studs: there's a cavity behind the boards, so wires can be fished the same way.
• Either way, cut-outs in wood are harder to patch than drywall. Decide the TV position carefully before cutting.

A white cord cover disappears nicely on white shiplap if you'd rather not cut the boards.

Paneling in older homes

Dark paneling in dens and basements is sometimes glued to masonry or furring strips. If a magnet finds no nail lines, there may be block or brick behind it — see our brick guide.

We treat shiplap and paneling as a standard stud wall, so there's no surcharge — labor starts at $94.