Outdoor TV cabinet considerations?

[Andrew Wayland]

Looking to build an outdoor TV cabinet, about 65x40”. My thought is to remove vinyl siding from my home, mount the box, cover it with PVC trim board to make it a piece of the wall.

Ideally I’d like to install a hinge at the top and use some gas struts to lift the cover upwards (providing extra shade).

My concerns are that the cover may be too heavy to use 3/4 ply (I’m not certain it’d hold as well as dimensional lumber)

But with dimensional lumber: the PVC trim would make this a very bulky box.

Thoughts?

(I live in New England: rain/snow and humidity could be factors)

[ChrisA Edwards]

I would probably build a frame out of PT 2x4's and then cabinet in the box, around the TV, with T-111 or something similar and then a good exterior paint.

I would anchor it somehow, but with minimum impact on your siding. Maybe anchor the legs in the ground.

Struts for the front cover would be easy, but that's a big door to hinge on the top edge and pivot up to provide shade. If you dip the pivot up style, you could do a pair of vertical doors, on each side, that pivot out to support the door, these would also provide some side shade.

You could also do a 4 piece door, that opens folding closet style with vertical hinges.

I've had outside TV's in FL, TX and currently in TN, not in cabinets, but under a porch and these are just regular TV's not special outdoor rated units. Not had one fail yet.

[Jamie Buxton]

I’d think about a cover that rolls up. It would never be in the way, and never be exposed getting slammed around by the wind.

In hurricane country, roll-up storm shutters are fairly common.

[Andrew Wayland]

I’d think about a cover that rolls up. It would never be in the way, and never be exposed getting slammed around by the wind.

In hurricane country, roll-up storm shutters are fairly common.

Not a bad idea: just need to find one that isn’t too expensive!

[Andrew More]

Not a bad idea: just need to find one that isn’t too expensive!


You could attempt to do your own using a tambour system. Then it's just the cost of the wood. OTOH, I'm not sure how weather proof that approach is, since I've only seen it done on interior furniture.

[Jamie Buxton]

A traditional tambor has wood slats fastened together with canvas. I don’t think it would survive many years outdoors. And those storm shutters are expensive because they’re spec’d to withstand Cat 5 hurricanes. But somewhere I’ve seen an interior tambor with extruded plastic slats. The slats had kinda-tongue-and-groove stuff at the edges to connect to the next slat. IIRC it wasn’t expensive. I don’t remember where I saw it. Maybe Outwater Plastics?

[Andrew Wayland]

Looking further into it: tambor won't be an option this time around: it would increase the enclosure size rather significantly.


Another issue is the proximity to a window that the TV cabinet would end up: so side-open doors aren't an option so much.

I think my best course of action here is a lightweight frame that I can either:

1: Hang over the enclosure (like a Tupperware cap)

2: Raise up like an awning on gas struts.


Option 1 is far more feasible, but it would certainly be a bulky piece to deal with

Option 2 is nice overall: but I can't for the life of me think of a way to make it sturdy enough to deal with the repeated use, but still be light enough for the gas struts to raise...