Wall mounting plasmas in new houses

It is at times like these you appreciate the build quality and construction of Victorian built houses.

Mounting one of these on a brick chimney breast is and easy easy thing in comparison to what has been discussed in this tread.

very scary........
 
Originally posted by big.hal
I've got mine fitted to the plasterboards using heavy duty rawlplug expanding plasterboard bolts. Its been on the wall now for 7 months and still there!!.
I'd keep my fingers crossed if I were you ... one of my friend's neighbours attatched a 50Kg CRT to plasterboard with heavy duty rawlplug expanding plasterboard bolts, they came home one day and not only was tv on floor but plasterboard was snapped in half (and the boards next to it); pulled down half their living room wall in their new build house.

Also, my local hi-fi dealer told me about a customer of theirs who hung their plasma as you descibe; they had a similar experience but with shattered plasma on the floor. :eek:

StooMonster
 
greyt

This bolt is an expanding bolt. These are nor good for thermalite as they tend to shatter the block. It would be better to use treaded rod as this causes not reasure on the blocks structure other than that needed to suport the load.

Phil
 
Phil,

You are right that a normal expanding bolt is no good for Thermalite.

Rawlplug claim these bolts are specially designed for thermalite. If you look at the design of them you will see that they expand only by a few mm. I think this is more to seat the bolt in the hole than really grip tight which a normal expanding bolt would do.
 
Guys - I have just been to Travis Perkins and spoken to a couple of guys there... They have sold me some special thermalite plugs that look like elongated propellors (like the type you may find on a boat but a longer and thinner... They are 50mm long, and you have to drill a 10mm hole in the wall and hammer them in. Diameter wise they are about 20mm across but apparently as you hammer them in, the 'fins' cut into the thermalite and hold tight?

I have got 8 of them and 8 bolts that are 80mm long... Obviously I need to put some spacers inbetween the plug and the wall mount but has anyone else seen these?
 
Originally posted by bluebear


but mikeq has a good point about the threaded bar stopping the moisture running around the thread to the plasterboard, that I had not thought about before.


Yep, that is why brick ties usually have a twist in them or some kind of circular barrier thing. The moisture travels from the outside wall to the inside wall (condensation/heat etc)

I knew my Civil Engineering would come in handy one day:lesson:
 
Well thanks for the replies.... I am going to be attempting it this weekend. Last question, what size diameter bolts am I likely to need for attaching the wall mount to the wall.... Am I correct in saying that the brackets have 10mm? diameter holes in them for the wall bolts? Thats a bloody big hole!

I went out and bought a load of bolts and 'special' plugs recently but looking at them I think the bolts are too small (5mm diameter) with a 10mm spanner type head... hmmmm although 8 of em should be more than enough to support 30kg?? :rolleyes:

Cheers
 
make sure the head of the bolt will not go through the hole, may need some washers.
 
My house is two and a half years old. When I bought it I spoke with the builder about fixing the wall bracket for a 14" TV to a partition stud wall, non-load bearing, non-exterior and definitely no breeze block, just a cavity! I was told that heavy duty cavity fixing would do the job. I was somewhat scpetical of this as there is considerable torque on a wall bracket holding up a 14" CRT, so I went round to one of the houses that were still being built and spoke to the plasterer. He said the same thing! He told me that the walls were stronger than they looked but cavity fixings would be OK.

I gingerly did what I had been told, after all the house was new, if I had a problem I could get the builder to sort it out. Well, after two and a half years the TV is still there. I used the same fixings for the wall bracket for a 37" Panasonic plasma in the master bedroom and the whole thing is rock solid.

One word of caution. Plaster skimmed walls are NOT drylined walls. Skimmed walls will only ever be as good as the material behind them. Proper stud walling, delicate and brittle though it may appear, seems to be perfect for the job.
 
Chicken Balti.... I would probably agree with you if the walls are battoned i.e. attached to wood battoning with screws however id be a little concerned about hanging such a lot of weight from a plasterboard that is simply 'glued' to the thermalite..... The top surface of plasterboard can be simply peeled off by hand - and I'd be a little worried of the entire board being peeled off the wall!

Im being a little over protective and going to use 12 special plugs, and bolts.... I REALLY don't want to come home and find my plasma in pieces on the floor...

Cheers
 
Merritt,

Your call. I agree that it just doesn't make sense but I spoke to the 'experts' and they all agreed that it was OK. I haven't had a single problem, no loose fixings and no degradation whatsoever. By the way, there is no timber battening on any of the walls holding up the plasterboard sheets, thin folded aluminium (and I mean THIN) angle was fixed to the floor and ceiling to which the plasterboard sheeting was screwed. Sounds dodgy I know but modern building methods and all that. Its not a Barratt home by the way :)
 
If it works fare enough. My personal opinion is that any one who attaches one of these things to a stud wall, Plaster board etc without proper consideration (Fixing to uprights, batons, metal rods and the many other suggestions made to make these things safe) has alot more bottle than I have.

I feel better knowing mine is attached to solid victorian brick work by eight 3inch coach bolts.

If it comes off the wall it is taking the whole lot with it !
 
A plasterboard and misconceptions. Plasterboard has a better strength when fixed to the wall useing the plaster dab adheasive than when using batterns (try pulling the bloody stuff off!) The adheasive penertrates the paper and bonds with the substraight. The subseqent contact area is huge compared to using screews and batterns. Typically 30% of the board area is bonded rather than less than 5% using screws.

Like I said before though this type of fixing doesn't give you a good nights sleep.

Phil
 
My house was built in 1970,how on earth do you know what walls you got????:confused:
 
Whatever happens don't bridge the wall cavity (between the outer bricks and the blockwork) by fixing it from the outside. This could result in dampness and other issues and problems caused by this action would not be covered by your 10 year NHBC house guarantee.

You need to fix it to the plasterboard or to the inner skin of your cavity wall. You do need the correct fixings (cavity or wall), but there are plenty of alternatives. A platerboard "spreader plate" is available for some brackets, for example the Vogel plasma brackets, and the load is spread using two horizontal plates with the bracket mounted onto the plates and the TV mounted in turn. Or you can use fixings that go through to blockwork.

Andy
 
I used heavy duty plasterbaord metal fixings from B&Q, the ones that fold in when you tighten the screw and they are holding my PWD8 fine, before I hung it though I swung on the wall mount to make sure it would hold. :eek:
 
I have thermalite blocks and dot and dab plasterboard and I just used large screws and plugs in the thermalite after filling the holes with no more nails.

Just drill your holes, fill em with no more nails, put your plugs in then leave it for the no more nails to harden then attach the spacer block of wood to bring it level with the wall and screw the mount to that. It took my full weight at full tilt with no movement and I'm not exactly small. :rotfl:

I can take some pictures if you really need em cos I moved the telly now to a stand I had made for it and the wall has 2 lovely 2 by 4 battens in it, the wife is not happy. :nono:
 
Ok guys - I have put my wall mount instructions back on line for a little while... They can be found here:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/steveb.merritt/wall_mount.htm



Edited to say...
used heavy duty plasterbaord metal fixings from B&Q, the ones that fold in when you tighten the screw and they are holding my PWD8 fine, before I hung it though I swung on the wall mount to make sure it would hold.
I would be VERY careful about attaching something this heavy to the plasterboard alone as I have heard horror stories of entire plasterboard panels coming off the adhesive dabs with the plasma still attached!



Good luck..

Steve
 
d812e093.jpg


is this thermailite blocks or breeze blocks?
 
If you get a small screwdriver and try to push it in to the blocks and you can't then they are not thermalite. If on the other hand, the screwdriver can be pushed in rather easily then they are thermalite.
 
Thermalites are white ie. same colour as the plaster in your plasterboard, those blocks look grey.

How tight were the screws holding that socket back box in place?
It's only an indication, but if you can get a good fixing into red plugs with normal screws then heavier fixings should be ok too.
 
Scotty306 said:
Thermalites are white ie. same colour as the plaster in your plasterboard, those blocks look grey.

How tight were the screws holding that socket back box in place?
It's only an indication, but if you can get a good fixing into red plugs with normal screws then heavier fixings should be ok too.


The thermalite in my house isn't white - its the same colour as that shown in the picture... and its everywhere. It is however very good for noise insulation!!

Steve
 
The picture shows Thermalite blocks, Durox blocks are white.

Both are pretty hopeless for fixing to, aim for the mortar joint, thats where the best fix is secured ;)
 

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