Fitting a TV mount to less-than-ideal wall

[Lobster]

I'm refurbishing our living room at the moment, and as part of this the TV is migrating from a stand to a wall bracket. Possible issue is that the wall concerned is a 100-year-old, plastered, single-skin red-brick internal wall, so I'm slightly concerned whether it's going to be up to the job if just attach the bracket direct to the wall with coach bolts or whatever.

The bracket I'm using is this one:

(or - I've fitted one before and it's excellent. I realise the cantilever arm isn't going to help matters, but we need that functionality. The TV is a 42" model weighing

23kg.

Is it going to be OK? Am I worrying too much? How would TMH respond if asked to fit this and stake his no-claims bonus on it!?

FYI as part of this refurb I'll be channelling in all the TV cables etc into the wall, after which I'm having it professionally skimmed, which has me thinking that this potentially offers the opportunity to hack off an area of the old plaster and attach an intermediate, largeish plate of some sort to the wall which the bracker could be attached to, in order to spread the load, should this be necessary?

[The Medway Handyman]

Don't use expansive fixings like plugs or shield anchors.

Problem with that kind of bracket is the small area & low number of fixing points.

I'd use masonry bolts, then test the strength of the fixing. If all else fails I'd use resin anchors.

If you are refurbing that would give you the ultimate peace of mind.

[Capitol]

Me, I'm a coward. The wall may or may not have cement mortar. Unless the wall is two story, I'd settle for a stand. The thrust forces on the wall are going to be considerable. I don't think I'd risk it, even with a spreader plate if it's single story.

[Lee]

A long time ago I worked for a company which installed CRT TVs on cantilever brackets on a regular basis, personally I wouldn't. Even with the relatively low mass of a modern LCD. If you absolutely have to have the functionality then bolt the bracket to a larger metal plate and bolt that to the brick and plaster over it. As others have said the bracket concentrates too much force in a small area and you want to spread that.

Another point is that if you actually use the cantilever function of the bracket, you will find out fairly quickly how well it's been made :) :)

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It would allow you to put the fixings to the bricks in the ideal place. If you have my luck, the holes on the bracket will always be over mortar.

I had a similar problem in my kitchen. Wanted the TV on an arm so it could be easily swivelled to point at the kitchen or breakfast room ends. Only suitable place was mounted above the peninsula unit and to the side of the chimney breast - and very close to the external corner. So I removed some tiles, and fitted steel straps to the brick extending back to the internal corner. With the bracket bolted to those. And then replaced the tiles. Works perfectly.

[The Natural Philosopher]

MM. I was asked to do exactly this. During wall drilling a complete half brick popped out and there was a 4" square hole to the outside of the house.

I finished drilling that popped out brick and banged it back in with some strong mortar.

24 hours later a skim with some plaster and a lick of magnolia restored the inner surface, and the TV bracket went up with three big screws in plastic plugs and was still up when I finished the relationship with its owner some years later.

besides this was a CRT telly. Modern LCD are nothing like so heavy.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

A single brick outside wall?

[RobertL]

I'd use resin anchors. Buy some stainless steel threaded studding rod of the appropriate diameter and cut it to the right lengths. Drill hole, clean, squirt in resin, insert bolt.

Only problem is if you decide to move the bracket...

Robert

[JimK]

/A single brick outside wall? /q

Maybe it was Ms Whiplash's dungeon room....

Jim K

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yup.

A single brick outside wall.

Its rather common round Cambridge.

19th century and pre WWI stock is 'bijoux desirable Victorian terrace/semi detached' and total utter rubbish.

Most were built as two up two down with an outside privy. And some had coal cellars. # Fronts and back are often faced with brick, general rubble as the doubling of the wall. The sides - and they used passage access when rear garden access want available - is single brick.

The standard 'conversion. is a lean to bathroom and bog at the back on the ground floor. Sometimes a second storey extension adds a third bedroom These are nearly always single brick too.

this heap of builder shit goes for upwards of 300 grand anywhere near the station.

[Tim Watts]

I'd say if you have good bricks you are OK with something like rawlbolts.

If the bricks are soft then another option is resin anchors - I used these to hang a cistern and a basin on a celcon block wall.

A 3rd option is to mount a 2x2 ft bit of 18mm ply using a naumber of fixing points and then bolt onto that - this is a good option for plasterboard walls where it spreads the load.

[newshound]

From the description I would not take the chance.

Agreed; also Multi Monti's are very good, although it is important to use the right sized pilot drill, and they like an accurate hole. Depending on the bracket design you might be able to add extra bolts, or alternatives if one fixing goes "bad" e.g. because of breaking into the mortar.

Have often done that too, especially for radiators. You can chop out the plaster and inset the plywood; you may also get away with 12 mm.

[Lobster]

On 25 Aug 2014, newshound grunted:

Thanks for all the replies!

Does sound to me like the above solution is likely to be the safest option.

What would be my chances of skimming over this and persuading the plaster to stick to the wood (my previous experience suggests 'unlikely') Are there any tricks? Different type of plaster over the wood, maybe?

Given that this is all behind the TV, I'm perhaps being a bit precious even considering the aesthetics as an issue (ie, versus just insetting the plywood more or less flush with the adjacent plaster); however the cantlevered bracket does mean that the wall behind will indeed be visible most of the time. And all the cables are going to be run neatly below the wal surface, too.

[Tim Watts]

skrim tape over the join with the wall and a thin coat of filler.

PVA the wood.

Normal finishing plaster.

That should work.

[Lee]

Of course it depends on the depth of plaster and thickness of board, but the obvious answer is to glue plaster board to it and plaster over as normal. One traditional method was to drive pan-headed nails in almost flush and then plaster, don't like that idea though, I guess mesh would be better.

[Andy Burns]

If there's going to be a TV covering the wood+bracket, do you /need/ to achieve a decorative finish over it?

[JimK]

as he needs the cantilever I expect it will all be visible from some angles...

Jim K

[Bill Wright]

A few years back we had the job of fixing wall brackets and large TV sets in all the waiting rooms in a large hospital. The walls were many and various, but some were pretty dodgy. Single leaf breeze, and studding walls that were hollow with plasterboard faces. And some that were the same but a system build thing, steel sheet instead of plasterboard, covered with some sort of fabric.

We were obliged to demonstrate that each bracket when fully extended would support the weight of an adult, the reason being that patients can do strange things (think A & E on a Saturday night).

We used large commercial brackets, and the fixing method varied. In extremis we fitted a stout plank (10" x 2" I think) on the other side of the wall, from floor to ceiling. We put long, sleeved, M8 bolts through the wall to take the bracket. A plank, faced with plastic and with plastic corners, just looks like a pipe duct.

We have had similar jobs in prisons. In that case you have the additional problem that people might hang themselves from the bracket.

Bill

[newshound]

My plastering is crap, so I wouldn't bother. Put neat radii on the corners, sand down well, paint to match the wall. You could make the panel the same size as the backplate in which case it will barely show.

[Capitol]

Chicken wire will likely work.