Ceiling mount into a Plaster board ceiling

[Gene]

I'm currently just placing my infocus X1 projector on a coffee table and have to set it up and put it away each time, which is not too bad since I only use it 2 or 3 times a week.

So I was thinking of mounting it on the ceiling, but my ceilings are made of plaster board (with chalk in the middle).

I'm scared that this is not good enough to screw a mount to and don't want the projector to fall to it's death if thats the case.

Anyone know what I can do about this?

[monkeynuts]

just a quick idea, as i expect someone else will come along with a technical answer shortly!

The plasterboard has to be attached to something.....ie joists. The ceiling mount should be safe once located on one of these.

If there are no joists where you want to mount the PJ on a framework which is in turn attached to the closest pair of joists.

[Gene]

There does not seem to be any joists near where I would want to mount the projector.

The only thing I could think of is to add a long peice of wood across some joist I can find and then add the projector mount to that. But that may look ugly, and dunno if the missus would approve. I could always paint it white to match the ceiling color :D

[theritz]

The good old "Search" function comes to the rescue again - This issue has been dealt with a couple of times, check out This Thread for instance......

Have fun,

S.

[Thunder]

It shouldnt be a problem, just make sure you use proper plasterboard screws. My Toshiba LCD unit has been mounted to the ceiling for four years now with no probs

[jimcarney]

If you have access to the room above or if its a roof space fix your ugly piece of wood between the joists thats how I mounted mine!! Jim

[F1Boy]

Hi Gene,

There's two options really...

1. Fix a nogging(?) - a bridge between and fixed to, two of the joists (under the floor of upstairs if your projector is downstatirs or in the loft if it's upstairs). The projector then gets screwed into this. It's effectively another joist where there wasn't one before.

2. Use plasterboared wall anchors/toggles. When bought these look like a metal cylinder with a bolt through the middle. The sides of the cylinder are 4 metal strips with a small, perpendicular crease in the middle. The whole assembly is pushed into a hole drilled into the ceiling then the bolt passes through the projector mount into the metal cylinder (now in the ceiling). When you tighten the bolt the top of the cylinder is pulled down and, when tightened fully the metal strips forming the side of the cylinder fold and form a cross (in the ceiling cavity) preventing the bolt from slipping through. Once in - these are NOT coming out

Sorry it's a bit of a long post (and probably very confusing!). Have a look here to see what I'm talking about. Remember - ceiling plasterboard is thicker than walls so make sure you get the right thickness.

That's all from me now , good luck,

Matt