space around in wall tv

mjbarnard

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Living room refurbishment with 85 inch televison. If you look at the attached photo there is a downpipe on the left hand side of the wall where the tv will go. A new stud wall will be built level with the front of this so the depth behind the televsion will be 20cm. The intention is for the television to be "in wall" - on a bracket and level with the plasterboard. Given the space behind the whole wall (the tv is 7cm deep) I am not too worried about ventilation and we can assure this in other ways as well.

My question is what space around the tv between it and the plasterboard edges would you recommend? In other words if the television is 1915 by 1125 what dimensions would you specify for the whole recess? I have had recommendations around 6cm each side. I am not too worried about upgrading in the future as the wall will easily be reconfigured for different sizes.
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In my cinema room, I put an LG OLED 55" TV "in wall" and it is a pretty close fit. I'd say 20-25mm around all edges. I do have a hole of around 75mm in the back where the cables drop down and it allows some air flow behind the TV. Ive had zero problems and no heat build up.

If you need any more help, photos etc let me know.

cheers

simon
 
As standard on an install we would leave a 50mm recess all round if using a flat bracket (mostly for the height at the top to be able to drop the TV onto the bracket.

For a pull-out bracket you can get a lot closer to the edges, think 10mm or even less, just enough to get a finger beside the screen so you can pull it out again
 
What is your rear wall constructed out of? The reason that I ask is hanging an 85" TV (60Kg)on a cantilever bracket is a very large turning moment if that TV bracket is extended. If the wall behind is thermalite or Turbo block you may struggle to adequately fix and extend it.

Having watched a 85" Samsung rip resin anchors out of a thermalite block wall, you may want to consider a large sheet of 10mm ply, glued and fixed at regular centres, across the sheet. Then coach bolt the bracket to the ply.
 
Now that’s interesting information. Thanks very much, I hadn’t even considered that. It’s a 5 year old detached house built by Cala homes. Previous experience has shown that the walls are ‘ dab and dot’. I had thought that appropriate fixings into the concrete blocks would be sufficient. You’re saying potentially not? In any case the AV supplier is liaising with the builder.
 
The problem is thermalite and turbo block are very friable (brittle). If you use expansion bolts and over-torque them, the blocks just shatter. Similarly heavy duty rawl-plugs with coach bolts do the same as they expand. Being made of very fine granular material, resin anchors can’t always get enough friction as the drill hole is smooth.

If you have concrete blocks you should be fine.

Additionally dab and dot plasterboard can crush, when you torque the bracket in.
I would cut a small hole say 10cm2 to have a look at what is behind the plasterboard and how big the cavity is.
 
Thanks. Apologies for naivety, how can you tell what the wall is made of when viewed?

Assuming a large 10mm ply for the bracket to go onto, would you put it on the existing wall (with suitable fixings) or take existing plasterboard down and directly onto the blocks? I had assumed the latter.
 
10mm for a pull out seems very little to me, I'd leave 6-7cm at least, there will be times where the TV will creep off level and it's nice to just give it a bit of persuasion whilst in position which you would not be able to do with just a 1cm gap.
When fitting my bracket into 4" solid party wall I used long (16cm) concrete screws that way there is no need to remove any plasterboard and you are ensured of a good fit to wall.

Make sure you measure where the VESA mounts are on the TV, for some TVs your mount will be at the bottom of the TV, for others more towards the centre of the TV, this is another reason to have a larger "gap" in your recess...
 
When you cut away the plasterboard, assuming that there is a solid wall behind it, you are likely to see either:
Turboblock - very light grey (almost white) chalk like blocks
Thermalite Block - very dark grey block, made with what looks like a fine dark grey sand
Concrete Block - this will be a medium grey with a texture like rice crispies or those puffed wheat cakes.

Concrete block will be fine to fix expansion bolts / resin / coach bolts and plugs into but you may pull the through plasterboard unless it has plenty of adhesive behind it when you torque the bracket up.

If there is concrete block I would still cut away the plasterboard where the bracket is going, then get a plasterer to put a patch back in, but with the entire area covered in adhesive.

Turboblock or Thermalite Block is softer and really wants a 10mm or 12mm hardwood ply attaching directly to it. I normally use a lot of high impact adhesive then screw through

When I have done this before, I have cut away the plasterboard and glued / screwed directly to the blockwork. Before you mount the timber, you may want to cut out holes for back-boxes. You may also want to chase the wall and run some conduit to the back boxes to run in cables and power behind the TV. The secret to doing this is taking your time. Plan it out and measure everything twice.

For a TV of your size I would suggest using a fairly large sheet of hardwood ply to distribute the load.

I would then fix the bracket to the ply using M6 or M8 coach bolts. You will need a socket set to torque them down.

Using good quality ply with a fine finished face means that you can paint it and nobody will know.
 
When fitting my bracket into 4" solid party wall I used long (16cm) concrete screws that way there is no need to remove any plasterboard and you are ensured of a good fit to wall.
.

Your neighbours must have been happy seeing the last 2" of your 6" screws poking through the 4" party wall!!!!

A 60kg+ tv on an extended bracket will crush the plasterboard if there is insufficient adhesive to fill the gap and if the substrate is too friable will just rip them out. Really dont want to see the OP's 85" TV on the floor in bits the morning after he hung it!
 
Your neighbours must have been happy seeing the last 2" of your 6" screws poking through the 4" party wall!!!!

4" solids party wall where I live are on their side so 12" in depth, I also have acoustic slabs in place, poorly phrased in my first post, I meant 4" solids and not 4" separating us
 
I was being flippant :) I didnt think for one minute that you only had 4" of masonry separating your properties. The problem is that most flat panels aren't that heavy, but 85" tend to be much heavier and although the brackets are strong enough, fixing them to modern built houses can be challenging especially using extending brackets.
 
They are excellent in brick / concrete / concrete block. In thermalite / turbo block they will pull straight out with any serious load on them.

Thermalite Block - Strength 2.9N/mm2, Density 470 Kg/m3
Concrete Block - Strength 7.3N/mm2, Density 1800 Kg/m3

Concrete block is 4 times as dense as thermalite with nearly 2.5x the strength
 
I went with a 100mm gap that was about 80mm deep. I mounted a 24mm piece of ply to the wall first then the wall bracket. This meant the TV front was flush to the finished plaster board. I also used the 24mm edge of the ply to run the LED tape around. Worked really well.

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