screw load / mounting plasma to wall

[<no_spam]

Hello, How does one calculate the load capacity of a particular screw ?

I will be mounting my 37" plasma tv to the wall. It weighs 67 lbs. I have purchased an appropriate wall mount bracket. In a perfect world the screw holes for in the bracket would line up with the studs, but that isn&#39;t likely so I will first attach a piece of 3/4" plywood to the wall so it will span two studs. The mounting bracket will then be screwed to the plywood.

The mounting bracket will be secured to the plywood in 4 places. The TV is

67 lbs (plus the bracket itself is 12 lbs) That&#39;s about 20 lbs per screw. Will 4 screws in 3/4" plywood be strong enough?

How does one calculate the load capacity of a particular screw (probably will get 1" lag screws with 1/4" diameter)?

Thanks, Rogue Petunia

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Each lag bolt of that size can take hundreds of pounds if properly installed. Most common bolts and screws in the hardware store will not have a rating on them. When you get into machine bolds for auto, aircraft, etc, you&#39;ll see markings on the bolt heads designating the class or grade they are.

The bolts will easily take the weight. Be more concerned about drilling the right sized pilot hole and then not stripping the wood by over tightening it.

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, I&#39;d run two strips of 1x6 finishing grade hardwood plank insatead of crummy plywood even tho it&#39;s hidden behind the panel. Tony

[Roger]

There are too many variables to quantitatively determine screw load for such a simple installation, as it will be drastically affected by screw material, guage, strength of wood stud, and dozens of other factors. You haven&#39;t said how you will attach the plywood to the wall studs. That is a critical attachment, as the safety of the mounting is as good as its weakest point. I would prefer to attach the bracket directly to the wall studs using whatever screw length will penetrate the stud wood about 2 inches, after leaving the sheetrock. First get the bracket in the house and see if by chance your stud spacing will accomodate the screw spacing on the bracket - it might be already designed to mount on the standard 16" stud spacing. Then, if you must go the plywood route, try to get screw length that will also penetrate the stud about 2 inches. Your plan to use 1 inch screws into the plywood, net of bracket width, would likely work fine. As the other poster said, see that you predrill small enough pilot holes so that screw drives tight, but not so tight it splits the wood, with care not to overtighten. Same with the stud pilot holes - there you might just use self tapping wood screws, without any pilot hole.

[ben.aust]

The tensile strength of a screw equals the strength of the steel in the screw (about 30 000 psi) multiplied by the cross sectional area of the screw.

Don&#39;t trust one calculation though, the weak link might be something else. The screws could pull through the plywood or pull out of the stud. Put it together and test it by trying to pull it off the wall.

[Mikepier]

You could always drill your own holes in the bracket to line up with the studs, so you do not need the plywood.

[Robert Haar]

Use lag bolts to attach the plywood to the wall. Use a stud finder to locate the center of the studs and pre-drill a pilot holt. The lag bolts should be long enough to extend 2 to 2 1/2 inches into the studs. If you

1.2" drywall and use 3/4" plywood, that comes out to be about 3 1/2" length.

I would not trust four screws. They won&#39;t have all that much to grip on with just a 3/3" plywood backer. Either use more screws or ue carriage bolts inserted from the back of the plywood before you attach it to the wall.

[dnoyeB]

Well its not the strength of the screw but the strength of the join as you know since you decided to mount it in plywood and not drywall. So a screw in plywood is pretty darn strong and doubt it will shear off.

Is there no better brack you can buy that is designed to mount to the studs? Its hard to believe the bracket is designed to mount in the drywall/plaster.

Also, how many pounds per screw will depend on the bracket design and how they are attached to the bracket. Lots of screws for hanging things have ratings on their package for what they will hold. These are for the screw and the anchor to gether.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I would think the bracket is at least 16" long and can grab a couple of studs. I think the OP is either moving it to a location off center or just afraid of the setup. a couple of 2" screws into the studs would easily hold

80 pounds. Just look at most wall mounted cabinets.

[Oren]

Some mounts, like mine can be screwed (2" lag bolts ?) up to 30" spaced studs. The mount has horizontal holes - not just a single hole. Then move and adjust before the final torque. Holds up to 180 pounds.

Oren "My doctor says I have a malformed public-duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fiber, and that I am therefore excused from saving Universes."

[<no_spam]

Follow up on installation... I didn&#39;t need the plywood after all, the mounting bracket&#39;s 4" horizontal slots allowed me enough left/right play to attached directly into 2 studs while keeping the center of the TV exactly where I wanted it on the wall.

Used 1/4" x 3" long lag screws (1" was just to get through the plaster and lath). When the bracket was on the wall, I grabbed hold of it, put my feet on the wall and hung my weight from it. I&#39;d rather if it were to fall, it only be dropping me off the wall instead of the $$$ TV.

It held quite securely. :)

Thanks to all for your replies.

-Rogue Petunia

[hallerb]

Just for the heck of it perodically check that the set isnt coming loose.

better safe than sorry

[EXT]

I would use some long #10 pan head screws to attach the plywood to the wall, probably 4 or 5 on each of at least 2 studs.

To attach the bracket to plywood, I would use some bolts with "T" nuts inserted into the plywood from behind, and the bolts threaded into them from the front through the backet.

[spudnuty]

I think you came to the right solution and test method. Good job. Did you use washers between the lags and the bracket? Richard

[Rogue Petunia]

No I did not use washers between the lag head and the bracket. Was that bad?