Mounting a screen on a non-load-bearing wall

endian675 · 02-06-2008, 3:27 PM

Hello AVForums Gurus

My friend and I recently attempted to mount my Sony 46" LCD on the wall, only to discover that it wasn't load bearing. We ended up leaving it on top of the AV cabinet that I bought.

Ideally I would like it on the wall, are there are any options for mounting on a non-load-bearing wall? I think it's constructed primarily of plaster, as it is solid.

Thanks

xPositor · 02-06-2008, 3:37 PM

Depends upon how much re-decorating you want to do afterwards...!

I took the wall back to the studwork, then mounted two new uprights (4" x 2") at the same distance apart as the screw holes on the bracket. Reinforced the floor stud with additional bolts, and in addition to nails used metal braces top and bottom of the stud.

I was lucky as I'd taken the entire room back to studwork, but if you do do this it also enables you to conceal all of your cabling, by putting cable runs in and / or cables to where you are going to need them. Most of my spaghetti junction is now in the wall, rather than running along the skirting board! But around the screen and the front three speakers not a single cable to be seen!

Of course, if you didn't want to redo the entire wall, you could cut out the plaster board to the width required to allow you to put additional braces in.

I'm successfully holding up a Panasonic 50" plasma having done this, although I was still slightly nervous when taking hands away from the screen having just placed it on the wall!

Anybody else with their experiences / suggestions?

bsuttie · 02-06-2008, 3:37 PM

Hi, you'll really need to understand the construction of the wall before you can decide on what fixings to use.

What age of house is it? Is it a downstairs or upstairs room?

How did you discover that it "wasn't load bearing"?

Did you try to make any holes in it? If so, what was the result?

regards

Brian

endian675 · 03-06-2008, 3:26 PM

Thanks for the responses. The wall is solid, but seems to be composed of plaster, we didn't see any brick dust when we drilled in to a depth of probably about 10 inches. The house is a dividing wall between the front lounge and the back lounge, and the house is of roughly 1950s construction I think. It *looks* like it should be a solid wall, so my guess is that at some point the rooms were "knocked through", and it's now been turned back into a wall. Although if that were the case, presumably it would just be done as a stud wall with plasterboard over the top? And it's not like that, it's definitely solid.

I am confused, but concerned enough that I don't want to hang a big screen on it without confirming it's OK.

ched · 03-06-2008, 5:27 PM

What colour was the dust? I am guessing you either drilled into the mortar in between the bricks, or its a breeze block wall. 10 inches is a thick wall, a brick is only 8.5 x 4 x 2.5 inches, breeze block is 17 x 8.5 x 4inches. By the sound of it you may not have a load bearing wall as it may be a replacement for an original load bearing wall that was replaced with a steel support at the top.

But if it is a breeze block wall then providing you use the correct fixings it should be fine.
By right fixings I believe the best are the resin fixings. As you drill the holes, blow out the dust, inject the resin into the hole and then push a piece of studding into the resin. Then let it set and you have a great fixing for your TV.

The main advantage of the resin fixings is that using expanding fixings can crack the breeze blocks and then they fixings aren't firm.

bsuttie · 03-06-2008, 8:47 PM

I would concur with Ched. Everything he says makes sense.

regards

Brian

xPositor · 04-06-2008, 9:40 AM

Sounds right. You've done the best thing by trying to investigate what your wall is comprised of, and what the guys say above is good.

Still doesn't detract away from that nervous, gut wrenching moment when you first let go of your panel, and hope that it stays where is is. And how many people have stuck their heads in the next morning just to check that its still on the wall...

endian675 · 04-06-2008, 4:52 PM

Thanks for all of the feedback and help, I really appreciate it. The info on resin fixings is very helpful.

When we withdrew the drill bit there was definitely on sign of brick dust, it was mostly plaster coloured I think. It may have had some grey in it, but it's long enough ago (several months) for me to have forgotten.

The main reason for wanting to hang on the wall is that the cabinet it's sitting on is a bit too low. I may take the easy way out and just build something on top of the cabinet to raise it up. I'd love a floating wall, but I don't have the skills or time to do it justice!