StevieB
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| posted on 20/3/10 at 11:19 AM |
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Fixing a Plasma TV to a wall?
We're about to buy a plasma TV with the intention of fixing it to the wall above the fireplace (ie, away from sticky little fingers!). The unit
weighs about 30kg.
My house is modern construction with the wall in question being a blockwork party wall with plasterboard fixed over, assume on battens.
I've got a stud detector but so far it won't pick up anything. I've tried using the old fashioned 'tap the wall and listen to
the sound' technique and have found the rough location of the battens but obviously I need to get it right.
I was just looking for a little advice from anyone who's done this already.
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matt_claydon
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| posted on 20/3/10 at 11:24 AM |
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For accurately finding battens, I make a best guess and then drill a series of very small holes thorugh the plasterboard to find either side of the
wood. They can be very easily filled, but in your case will be covered by the telly anyway.
[Edited on 20/3/10 by matt_claydon]
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MakeEverything
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| posted on 20/3/10 at 11:26 AM |
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I reckon the plasterboard is fixed with Blobs of plaster, not battens.
Ive installed mine exactly the same way, and had to cut out the plasterboard, chip away the blobs and fix the bracket to the wall behind.
Its solid, and i can hide the cables behind the remaining plasterboard wall. Not looking forward to ever taking them out again though.
Kindest Regards,
Richard.
...You can make it foolProof, but youll never make it Idiot Proof!...
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Toltec
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| posted on 20/3/10 at 11:45 AM |
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Something like these from Screwfix should do
the trick.
When drilling into block it is easy to end up with a hole larger than the bit so you may want to try using a bit 1mm smaller first. Also it is seldom
necessary to use hammer on soft block walls.
Depending on how much your mounting will spread the tightening load across the surface of the board you might need to prevent tightening the screw
from crushing into the board. Cut out a small section of the board where you are going to insert the fixing and make up a spacer to fill the gap
between the surface of the block and the board. A piece of wood with a hole in it will do.
HTH
Chris
[Edited on 20/3/10 by Toltec]
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daniel mason
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| posted on 20/3/10 at 01:11 PM |
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generally a plaster board will be 1/2 inch thick, and a blob of dry wall adhesive the same. i would recommend cutting a strip out of the plasterboartd
and fixing a 2" x 1" battern to the blockwork,then fixing tv to the battern! also do you have a plug socket above the fire? and does the
fire send heat straight upwards? tv screens will not last long if exposed to high levels of direct heat!
edited to say dont use plugs through the plaster board! it will get a good fixing into the block but over time will become loose where the screw goes
through the plasterboard as the boards themselves are not very stong.
[Edited on 20/3/10 by daniel mason]
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Litemoth
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| posted on 20/3/10 at 01:33 PM |
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It's a dot 'n' dab or 'drylined wall' - no battens i wouldn't think. There are specialist fixings to deal with the
sandwich you have there... some of these bad boys will do the trick but i would just use normal (longish) plug and screws with a spacer (washers maybe
at a push)to transmit the force through the plasterboard to the wall.
 
Description
[Edited on 20/3/10 by Litemoth]
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thunderace
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| posted on 20/3/10 at 02:00 PM |
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have you ever watched a tv thats bolted to the wall its not good you want a plasma at eye hight .
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Litemoth
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| posted on 20/3/10 at 02:03 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by thunderace
have you ever watched a tv thats bolted to the wall its not good you want a plasma at eye hight .
It's a very good point
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zilspeed
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| posted on 20/3/10 at 03:23 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Litemoth
quote:
Originally posted by thunderace
have you ever watched a tv thats bolted to the wall its not good you want a plasma at eye hight .
It's a very good point
What they both said.
I've seen two done like this, where a picture or mirror over a foreplace used to go.
Not for me.
We have ours in the corner, but instead of on a stand which takes up loads of space, I made a stand out of good old 1" square 16swg tube.
Tellf fits right into the corner with no space wasted and at eye level.
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loggyboy
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| posted on 20/3/10 at 03:25 PM |
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Ive just mounted my 42 inch plasma to a timber stud wall, making sure all 4 of my fixings went in to a stud.
Ive mounted it so that when sitting normally on the sofa the tv is dead central. This is much better than it being over a fire place as thats like
being in the first row of the cinema! Unless your a good 4-5m away from it youl get neck strain!
If you are securing to a block wall then the menthod shown above is the perfect solution, but bear in mind the cabling, on an internal stud wall you
can poke the cables behind it and not see them at all.
[Edited on 20/3/10 by loggyboy]
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adam1985
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| posted on 20/3/10 at 04:25 PM |
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are you sure its a good idea putting a plasma (gas) tv above a heat source like a fire
eta
make sure your fixings dont go through the precast flue blocks
[Edited on 20/3/10 by adam1985]
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MakeEverything
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| posted on 20/3/10 at 06:17 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by Litemoth
quote:
Originally posted by thunderace
have you ever watched a tv thats bolted to the wall its not good you want a plasma at eye hight .
It's a very good point
Mine's mounted at just above seated eye level, and its fine. You can rest back on the sofa and watch TV without holding your head up all the
time.
Kindest Regards,
Richard.
...You can make it foolProof, but youll never make it Idiot Proof!...
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StevieB
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| posted on 20/3/10 at 08:23 PM |
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It's actually an electric fire, which is rarely used.
We have been thinking about getting rid of the fire altogether and gong down the route of putting in one of those media/storage units that you get in
Ikea.
I always think we should keep the fireplace because that's what houses are meant to have. But since it never gets used and, being a modern town
house, space is at a premium the fireplace just takes up precious room.
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MikeRJ
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| posted on 20/3/10 at 08:34 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by thunderace
have you ever watched a tv thats bolted to the wall its not good you want a plasma at eye hight .
I agree that ones mounted above fireplaces are usually a literal pain in the neck.
Mine bolted onto the wall though (at eye height) as I don't trust any modern big screen TV that isn't bolted to something with kids
around.
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