Shiplap Electric Fireplace Surround

Measure your ceiling; the framing height is that MINUS 1" — the tip-up clearance. Build the back wall (two verticals, three horizontals) with 2-1/2" screws.

Build the front wall the same, plus the insert opening: set the center horizontal at your insert's opening-top height, frame the opening to the insert manual's dimensions, and place the upper stud bay to match your TV bracket's bolt pattern. The bracket and the insert manual are the real drawings for this wall.

Screw the back frame to the wall studs through its horizontals with 2-1/2" screws, dead level — shim as needed; every shiplap course references this frame.

Add the 12" side depth blocks (they set the bump-out depth), then screw the front wall frame to the blocks. You now have a hollow stud tower; knock on it and enjoy how permanent it already sounds.

Install the 24" blocking for the mantle (and center-mount TV bracket, if using one) with their bottoms RESTING ON a horizontal 2x4 — that's the load path that takes a solid-timber mantle's weight to the floor instead of hanging it on fasteners.

Start the first course at the floor, LEVELED (floors lie; the level doesn't), and work up with 1-1/4" brads, two per stud. At the insert opening, hold each board in place, trace the opening from behind, and jigsaw it out.

When the courses reach mantle height: install the 4x6 now, lagged from BEHIND through the framing with the 6" lags, while the wall above is still open. This is the plan's easiest-way warning — front-mounting a solid beam later is a much harder job.

The corner-matching sequence: (1) top and bottom SIDE trim, cut to fit; (2) top and bottom FRONT trim; (3) vertical SIDE trim — its front face must land flush with the plane of the front shiplap; (4) vertical FRONT trim, corners meeting the sides exactly. Quarter round covers any ceiling gap.

Fill every hole, let dry, sand at 120, dust off, paint. The trim order is what makes the corners look mitered without a single miter.

Mount and TEST the TV — cables, power, everything — while the insert bay is still open, because the insert removes your last access to the cavity. Then slide in the fireplace insert per its manual. It pulls back out if you ever need the framing again; the TV wiring doesn't, which is why it went first.

A sloped ceiling changes only the front wall framing — its verticals become different lengths and the top plate follows the slope. Get that frame right and everything else stays cut-to-fit over it, exactly as before.