I have been asked to mount a set of speakers to a wall. Where they will be positioned I am told they can not be mounted to a stud. But the downside is the wall is plaster and lathe.
The speakers weigh 15 lbs. each. My question can these be mounted?
I have already been told, no shelf system or floor standing. Here is a link I was given to what would be used:
Bill
Sometimes the smart thing to do is just walk away from a job. It may work, with a good anchor, it may not. They are pretty hefty and the bracket does not seem to leave a lot of options for mounting. As the speaker gets further away from the wall, leverage becomes a factor and these brackets don't help with that.
If you could mount a piece of wood say 6" wide and 12" tall, then mount this bracket on top, you'd have a much better chance of it holding. That way, you could use four Molly bolts and spread the load across the wall.
Best is to either walk away, or have them agree, no stud mount, no speaker mount.
Is this metal lath, wood lath, or gyp lath? I would be worried about the installation also. Toggles have the strength, but that looks like a lot of leverage on the wall.
Ask if it would be acceptable to make a decorative medallion behind each speaker. I have made some from 3/4" MDF and ply. Circles and octagons are easy, run a router around the edges, sand, prime, and paint. They can be painted wall color or speaker color. These need to be large enough to get to the studs for good fastening and provide great fastening for the speaker brackets.
(top posted for your convenience) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) snipped-for-privacy@7cox.net
Bill-
BTDT..............heavy speakers, drywall wall, no studs to mount to.
Used the MDF "adapter plate method" & a heavy duty speaker mount by Omni-Mount
OmniMount is the mfr of very heavy duty audio & video mounts
check out
wall or ceiling mount
IMO plaster w/ metal (or wood lath) can deliver fairly high loads; I would suggest the use of either SMS screws directly inot the wall (if wood lath) or molly bolts (not the toggle style), the "epanding cage" style if metal or gypboard lath
A 15 lb speaker is not all that heavy; the ratio of the wall to speaker cg distance and the adapter plate screw center distance will give you an idea of the "force multiplier" that the screws must resist. Worst case I'd figure 3x. If you get a
4 screw pattern that means your top screws need to deliver about 23 lbs each in pullout.cheers Bob
A lot depends on the quality, strength, and age of the lath & plaster. I have a house which has plaster reinforced with real horse hair. It's so old that if you tried to attach anything like that, half the wall would fall down. Like Dan said, toggle bolts would be your best bet.
A lot also depends on who asked you to do the work. If it's for free, tell them you can do it, but you won't guarantee it will work. If it's for someone you never met, and they are paying you, they've already indicated they could be a PITA by putting restrictions on how to do the work. In which case, I agree with Ed that sometimes it's just best to politely decline the work.
you can do it...just use toggle bolts.. use a 2" L bracket... (2 of them on top 2 on bottom) it's pretty hard to miss a lathe, if you do, slide up or down 1/4 "
Some old lathe was simply tacked onto the studs with short brads. If the house is 100 to 200 years old, and the studs have dried out, half the wall can come down.
walah! why didn't i think of this!
why not put speaker on wall where it will hang... pencil in a square around it...(real lite like)
then...put 2 x 4 frame inside the sqaure... or 1x2, or 2x2 etc...frame inside the square load the frame up with screws...oh yeah... now you have a very good source to fasten speaker to
turn L bracket upside down like, 7 hang on the frame put screws in
this link takes me to a $44.99 bracket that itself can hold up to 44 lbs and is fully adjustable. with all that adjustability i don't see a positioning problem. maybe you do. vertical wooden studs are probably either 16" or 24" apart. knock and listed horizontally across the wall to find them if you don't have a studfinder. drill small pilot holes to confirm their locations. install brackets with some 2-1/2" deck screws or pilot holes and lag bolts into the wood. unless the customer must have them in some inconvenient spot between the studs. perhaps find some decorative 3/4" x ?" x 24" wood pieces to span the studs. speaker vibration will try to loosen a less sturdy mounting.
this link takes me to a $44.99 bracket that itself can hold up to 44 lbs and is fully adjustable. with all that adjustability i don't see a positioning problem. maybe you do. vertical wooden studs are probably either 16" or 24" apart. knock and listed horizontally across the wall to find them if you don't have a studfinder. drill small pilot holes to confirm their locations. install brackets with some 2-1/2" deck screws or pilot holes and lag bolts into the wood. unless the customer must have them in some inconvenient spot between the studs. perhaps find some decorative 3/4" x ?" x 24" wood pieces to span the studs. speaker vibration will try to loosen a less sturdy mounting.
Thanks all.
It was also suggested that I could used a fastener called Walldriller (Zinc) with a #8 screw.
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