DIY Disaster

bazza baz

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I recently posted a thread entitiled "Hows it hanging" as I was looking for advice on how to ceiling mount my projector without bolting to joists, lifting floor boards etc but simply screwing into plasterboard.

After a few helpful replies advising that going into plasterboard was absolute fine and giving me advice on what screws to get and that the job was easy, I was quite confident I could do the job.

I am totally crap at DIY but after the advice I got, I thought even I could not botch the job.

I went to B&Q to buy the Hollow Wall anchor screws I was advised to get and seeing as the projector is very heavy I thought I would get heavy duty ones - used for kitchen cabinets and such like.

It would seem that there is no job simple enough for me not to muck up. I have just attempted to fix the ceiling mount to the ceiling only to find that the anchor screws I bought are too big and there a about an inch gap between the mount and the ceiling. I cannot tighten the screws so that the mount is solidly in place.

I have just given up with the living room covered in plasterboard dust (as am I) and I have downed my first comfort beer in the hope I can prove to myself I am a man.

The question is can I get such a thing as spacers so that I can tighten the screws or do I buy smaller anchors and start again hoping that I can hide the wholes already created by the current anchor screws?

Can anybody help a useless b****** or better still come and put it up for me.

Cheers
 
Sounds like fun, try and use bolts to make up for the gap, I think I know what you mean.

Just for fun when I bought my projector and ceiling mounted it I made my ceailing mount from scratch as I didn't want to spend any money on one.

I made it from wood, bolts screw and stuff. see this

http://www.avforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=35519&d=1155554124
http://www.avforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=35518&d=1155554114

I had soo much fun for days trying to get it right.

Quality of pictures are crap, sorry about that:smashin:
 
Am i correctly assuming that the screws you got are simply too long? And what's above the plasterboard?

What I used were plast 'expansion plugs' with a decent screw coming along with them. Those work in a fashion that they go into the drilled hole, then when you screw in the screw, they expand to the sides thereby anchoring themselves. Since those plugs are usually wider than screws you might be able to get those and use the holes you already have?

Something like this is what I'm talking about:

p1711307_l.jpg


They should sell these at any place where they got DIY materials.


Alternatively you could perhaps mount a plate in between the mount and the ceiling, with the same shape as the mounts base plate? But I guess the plug solution would look nicer and the mount would be tight to the ceiling. Got a Sony VW10HT hanging to 3 screws that way, it weighs quite a bit as it's a big monster :D
 
Basically the gap between the head of the anchor that sits flush with the plasterboard and the arms that expand at the other side of the plasterboard is to big so therefore when the arms come to rest at the other side of the plasterboard the head actually hangs down about an inch and so the screw does not tighten the mount to the ceiling. Thought I would be able to get spacers to fill the gap so that mount can be tightened.

Does that make sense?

Would plastic roll plug/anchor be heavy duty enough?
 
Theritz - this is exactly what I used but I got large ones and so the gap between point 1 and 3 once the arms are extended it too big as there is an inch gap. I guess I should have gotten smaller ones? What size do I need and that would hold something as heavy as a projector??

Cheers
 
bazza, my Sony weighs about 8kg's, add to that perhaps 1 kg for the mount...

I dont know what you're trying to hang up, but it works fine for me. I actually tested before mounting the pj to the mount, by 'hanging' on the mount and check it wouldnt come down. Don't really HANG though, but I pulled it in increasing tension (so I'd notice if something would start giving/breaking!!!) and pretty sure pulled well harder than 8 kg's.
 
Just get some smaller toggle fixings.

Or alternatively, use some self drive fixings - the metal ones from Wickes, not the plastic ones from B&Q.
I have fixed my 5Kg speakers to the ceiling with 4 of them and my 40Kg plasma to the wall with 7 of them and they are fine.

And before anyone claims they aren't up to the job, just check what the brackets are held to the wall with supporting your double iron radiators filled with water - the same fixings which most builders use...
 
bazza baz said:
Theritz - this is exactly what I used but I got large ones and so the gap between point 1 and 3 once the arms are extended it too big as there is an inch gap. I guess I should have gotten smaller ones? What size do I need and that would hold something as heavy as a projector??

Cheers
The ones i used where the smaller ones labelled as:

Medium Hollow-Wall Anchor, Heavy Weight Use.

4 of those should be more than enough to hold your projector and mount, but the holes made for the anchors you bought might be a little too big for these smaller ones.
 
I would use a spring loaded butterfly and bolt. Bolt through the mounting plate into the butterflys then push the butterflys through the holes in the ceiling and it pings open to spread the load. Tighten up the bolts until the mount is up to the ceiling. These things can take a fair load, I wouldn't use anything else. No depth to worry about because you now have a nut inside the ceiling supported on wings. They come in different sizes, used a fair amount of them at work.

Richard
 
JorisS said:
Am i correctly assuming that the screws you got are simply too long? And what's above the plasterboard?

What I used were plast 'expansion plugs' with a decent screw coming along with them. Those work in a fashion that they go into the drilled hole, then when you screw in the screw, they expand to the sides thereby anchoring themselves. Since those plugs are usually wider than screws you might be able to get those and use the holes you already have?

Something like this is what I'm talking about:

p1711307_l.jpg


They should sell these at any place where they got DIY materials.


Alternatively you could perhaps mount a plate in between the mount and the ceiling, with the same shape as the mounts base plate? But I guess the plug solution would look nicer and the mount would be tight to the ceiling. Got a Sony VW10HT hanging to 3 screws that way, it weighs quite a bit as it's a big monster :D


I used these to fit a large 5ft X 2ft mirror for my sis and they were fine. I got them from Wickes.
 
Get a flat square piece of wood about a foot on each side and 12-15mm thick. You can then use as many fixings as you like to fix this to the ceiling, but don't space then closer than about 100mm as you will weaken the plasterboard too much. I suggest the metal 'butterfly' type as recommended by firebladebec above.

It will be much lighter and therefore easier than the bracket to fit, and it will hide any extra holes you might have drilled. Paint it to match the ceiling, then use normal wood screws to screw the bracket to the board. You can make this bit easier by pre-drilling small pilot holes for the bracket before you screw the board to the ceiling.
 
I would'nt risk hanging my projector wit any form of cavity bolt or toggle bolt. all plasterboard is is cardboard and a crumbly plaster centre, all the strength is the cardcard in tension...your're relying on the strength of this

slowly over the time the plasterboard will bow. and if it ever gets wet it will fail

the best thing is to try to locate the joist above..you can buy stud detectors from DIY shops that will find them and any cables

alternatively way is to lift a floor board in the room above and put some additional timber between the joists in the correct position.

If you can't get into the ceiling void ie you are in a flat and you can't move the projector (use lens shift) so that you can fix into a joist (joists are normally 16 inch centres) then consider fixing some 9mm ply on the ceiling with "T" nuts prefitted in the correct fixing centres for the bracket.

Dave
 
I agree, if you can find a joist use it and 2" wood screws are cheep. Afterall joists are strong enough to hold up the floor upsatirs and the ceiling downstairs.

Richard
 
I agree as well, actually realized after posting before that I actually did locate the joist and have 2 of the 3 screws in there. But then the pc was already turned off and I forgot to mention it later on... sorry about that.
 
bazza baz said:
Can anybody help a useless b****** or better still come and put it up for me
Man, I totally sympathise. My 3 month old projector screen is now ****ed having come crashing down onto my kit at the weekend. My advice? Get someone in. I put up my projector bracket and then decided I didn't trust myself so got some local handyman who did it for a tenner. And has now hung my screen for me. Shame I need to get another one.
 
linkster said:
Man, I totally sympathise. My 3 month old projector screen is now ****ed having come crashing down onto my kit at the weekend. My advice? Get someone in. I put up my projector bracket and then decided I didn't trust myself so got some local handyman who did it for a tenner. And has now hung my screen for me. Shame I need to get another one.

Thats probably the best advice on here. If you can't do it right yourself, get someone in who can do it. If you've spent hundreds or even thousands on the gear, it would be a real shame to have it all come crashing down for the sake of fifty quid or something to get it done right. Maybe the there is someone in your family who is a 'bit handy' who can sort it out for a cup of tea and a bun..
 
The_Wierd said:
Thats probably the best advice on here. If you can't do it right yourself, get someone in who can do it. If you've spent hundreds or even thousands on the gear, it would be a real shame to have it all come crashing down for the sake of fifty quid or something to get it done right.


Do keep in mind that in that case you might need more than 1 beer in order to convince yourself you're a man.... :D
 
Thanks for all your kind suggestions. Actually went out and bought the plastic plugs suggested by jorisS and thought they would be ok. Fitted into the holes left by the anchor screws but alas, they were too big too so that I couldn't tighten the screws to the ceiling.

Now have to poke them through as they won't come out without a fight. Ceiling in a bit of a mess and I have now given up completely. Sat playing my Playstation last night with screws, dust, plugs, anchors and some sweat and tears lying abandonded round the room. If you shut the curtains and don't turn the light on you can successfully ignore it all.

Bottom line, I agree with later posts. Better to get someone in that botch it yourself or BIY as I am now going to call it.

Father in law is electrician so migh give him a go but really did not want to ask for his help. Wanted to prove to myself I am a man.

Oh well - looks like I will be onto bottles of Vodka before too long. Then I will be a man.
 
Sorry to hear that :(

But I wonder how those plastic plugs can be too big? They don't fit in all the way? Or are the screws you got too long? As I asked, what is above the plasterboard then? I have quite a space there, I would guess a decimeter or so, in which case it's absolutely no problem at all. Do you have hard cement very close to it then, so you can't get the screws in?
 
I do not think I am explaining myself too well...

Basically the plugs can go all the way in so that they sit flush with the plasterboard. Can even screw the screws all the way in as there is plenty room behind the plaster board. Problem I have is that these and the original anchors I used are too long between the head of the plug/anchor(that sits flush with the plasterboard) and the arms of the plug/anchor (that sit the other side of the plaster board. So when the arms rest on the other side of the plasterboard the head of the plug/anchor hangs down about an inch from the ceiling. The mount is not thick enough to sit snuggly in that gap and so cannot be tightened up to the ceiling. The mount and screw/anchor/plug hang down an inch from the ceiling.

Does this make sense? Not sure if you will understand from this. Ideally what would be great is a spacer or something, that could bridge the gap and enable me to tighten the mount to the ceiling firmly.
 
I tried to picture what I make of your description:





That what you mean?

If so, I'd rather not hang anything from that plasterboard, as it in that case would appear REALLY THIN in my humble opinion!!! :eek:

Locate the joists, get help. In either order ;)
 
Hi, I know exactly what you mean I bought some of the long ones once by mistake and haven`t used them.

Think you need these, there is another slightly longer one but think it is the short ones that I use.

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?cId=100067&ts=37006&id=18266

They are all the same circumference so the holes you drilled will .... just thought only way to get those b*ggers out is to drill them and if they aren`t caught to the plaster they will just spin.

If it was me I would cut round them then polyfila the holes then drill new ones.
As for strength these things are great, as long as you have 3+ of them I would definatley trust them on my proj.

For mine I managed to lift a floor board upstairs bolted a metal bar to a joist. this ran into the room below, attached a piece of white painted mdf to it and then between celing and mdf put a bit of black downpipe to hide all cables. just 3 m6 bolts through mdf into projector. Neat job.
 
I will purchase the smaller anchors and see what happens. If that doesn't work I will bite the bullet and find a joist or get someone in.

Cheers guys.

p.s jorisS your drawing was spot on.
 

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