Flat-screen TV - "temporary" wall mounting

[Lobster]

A new tenant of mine has asked me if he can mount his large flatscreen TV on the wall of my property. Up until now I've always resisted such requests because I'm concerned about damage to the (solid brick) walls caused by multiple drill holes - tenants tend to be fairly short-term so I'd run the risk of completely honeycombed brickwork if a new mount gets erected every year or so.

I've been mulling over a possible solution though that would keep both tenants and me happy. They all seem to want to put the TV over the fireplace (why?!?); so what I was wondering about was hacking back an area of plaster to the brickwork, about 12" high x 18" long, and then firmly attaching a matching rectangle of three-quarter-inch ply to the brickwork, ie recessed into the plaster. Finish and paint to match the walls (ie magnolia!). Tenant would then be free to screw his TV bracket to the wooden panel; for any tenant without a bracket, the panel would simply be concealed behind a 24" x 36" mirror which currently hangs there.

When the wooden panel is too riddled with holes for any more mounts to be safely attached; then the idea would be just renew it (ie using the same brickwork drill holes as before).

The only issue I can think of with this Cunning Plan is whether the panel will be meaty enough to take the weight. Would three-quarter-inch ply (what, 16mm thick in actuality?) be adequate? Would blockboard be better/worse? Or maybe a couple of planks of solid timber?

The TV of the new tenant (not moved in yet) is apparently 49", which sounds a bit heavy to me...

Any thoughts? Thanks David

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Tell them if they do fit one the bracket complete must be left when they move on. Your next tenant can then use it - TV sets have standard fixings.

However, if it's properly put up using Rawlbolts, it could be removed easily with no damage to the wall.

[Jeremy Nicoll - news posts]

Do all fireplaces have the chimney part far enough back into the wall that there's no risk of these rawlbolts puncturing the chimney? I mean, I know the chimney appears to be towards the back of a grate, but do any of them then open out into a chimney that's much further forward into the room than you might expect?

[Brian Gaff]

If its a Plasma you might have issues but otherwise unless its a militarised design.. grin. I would reckon its fine.

Brian

[dennis]

If its a wall mounted gas fire it might have flu bricks/blocks above it, you really can't drill them and not expect to have to repair it as they are really thin walled . If its a proper chimney it will be at least one brick thick. That's deep enough for a ~3.5" hole.

[Robin]

Only one: how do you stop a tenant putting, say, M12 x 100mm expanding bolts through the wooden panel into the bricks? Steel plate behind the ply? (I'm not sure I'd be happy to trust to screws into 3/4" ply of unknown provenance.)

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

Or, put your ply up and hang a VESA bracket from it all ready for them and subsequent tenants. I looked at VESA brackets for my back rooom (TV's been happy enough on its stand in another room), but decided I wasn't paying 30quid for a few short bits of steel and plastic, so made my own out of a standoff ply plate.

[Tim]

How about going a bit "retro" and fitting a solid picture rail round the room. You could then hang a screen using wires from the rail.

Removes the need to make any holes in the wall and would be adaptable to most sizes of screen.

Tim

[Man at B&Q]

Make a VESA mount for the mirror to hide the bracket when there's no TV :-)

MBQ

[Andy Dingley]

BTDT (I'm trying to hang a digital sign on a listed building) - didn't work.

The screen tipped too far forwards away from the wall. Would have been OK for watching TV in bed, but as a screen for normal angles, it was a failure. Even if I packed out the bottom, so as to get it upright, it now sat too far out from the wall.

I'm now using a giant length of G rail, spanning the two spots where I'm allowed to use already-existing rawlbolt holes.

[Mark Evans]

If you need to drill large diameter holes in masonary then it can be best to start with a small hole and enlarge it. Also don't use hammer unless you need to. A small drill bit is less likely to wander. If you already have a 4mm hole then it can be very easy to enlarge it in 1 or

2 mm steps, even in fairly hard materials.

With Rawlbolts first make the hole big and deep enough to fit the bolt then enlarge the first part of the hole to accomodate the shield.

e.g. with an M6 10L have a 6.5/7mm 55mm deep with the first 45mm expanded to 12mm.

That way the shield should be unable to move forwards or backwards in the hole whilst as much of the bolt which needs to being able to extend beyond the shield. Without any possibility of the bolt "hitting bottom".

Ensure that the hole is free of dust. (Especially if the only practical method of fixing is to put the shields in the holes separate from the bolts.)

[Mark Evans]

Not sure anyone actually makes them in this size.

If someone can can drill 20mm holes in plywood and masonary they are unlikely to stopped by steel. Titanium or tungsten carbide is likely to cost more than the eighth of a litre (or so) of mortar needed to fill such holes.