Mounting a flat screen tv to a plaster board wall?

[talksr]

Good morning.
I have recently moved into a (5 or so year old) new home.
Unlike my last place, it has plaster board walls throughout.

As I don't own the place, I want to be extra careful about putting anything up on the wall.
In the bedroom, there are two tv areal sockets close to where the door opens and closes. It is quite clear it has been designed to have a tv put on the wall rather than on a piece of furniture.

I have tried to find the stud partitions, but I am not having much luck. I removed the face plates for the TV areal and power sockets and from what I can see, there seems to be a block of wood running horizontally to the floor. Is this right? I thought they were always vertical?

Can anyone give me some advice on how I can find the wooden partitions so I can drill into them and get a tv mount up and in place on this wall?

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• talksr
• 14 Oct 2015

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• talksr
• 14 Oct 2015

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• talksr
• 14 Oct 2015

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Do you have the landlords permission?

 

[talksr]

Do you have the landlords permission?

I do. it is a housing association property and I was told by the person who gave us the keys that we are allowed to drill into the walls provided we cover them with pollyfiller when we go. We don't even need to re-paint them.

 

[alan333]

There might not be any. Is it an external wall, those back boxes look like they're screwed into something? The plasterboard might be dot and dabbed onto the block work, or it could be built using thin metal support rails instead of wood supports, many new houses are built this way.

 

[jj4091]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?po...crdt=0&treatment_id=7&clk_rvr_id=911443602246

 

[Diyisfun]

Use a small drill (1mm )& drill a series of holes until you find the batten, the small holes, will be hidden behind tv, when you move & fill the large holes fill the small ones. Simple job.

 

[talksr]

There might not be any. Is it an external wall, those back boxes look like they're screwed into something? The plasterboard might be dot and dabbed onto the block work, or it could be built using thin metal support rails instead of wood supports, many new houses are built this way.

Behind the wall is the stair case going down, so it is an internal one. The back boxes appear to be screwed into a horizontal block of wood.

 

[talksr]

Use a small drill (1mm )& drill a series of holes until you find the batten, the small holes, will be hidden behind tv, when you move & fill the large holes fill the small ones. Simple job.

Sounds sensible. How far apart should I space the small drill holes?

 

[rsgaz]

If you don't have a stud detector, you can use a strong magnet to find where the studs are, even if they are wooden, because the magnet will find the screws that hold the plasterboard to the stud.

Or, if you unscrew the metal box (the aerial one) from the horizontal nogging and pull it out through the hole, you should be able to poke something thin (eg plastic ruler) through the gap between the plasterboard and the nogging to the left until it hits the vertical stud, which will tell you how far away it is. You should also be able to listen to it hitting the stud to determine if it is a wooden or steel stud.

Gaz

 

[foxhole]

Horizontal timber is just to fix the sockets in place, nothing to do with wall construction, what type of bracket are you fitting?

 

[Diyisfun]

Use a small drill (1mm )& drill a series of holes until you find the batten, the small holes, will be hidden behind tv, when you move & fill the large holes fill the small ones. Simple job.

Sounds sensible. How far apart should I space the small drill holes?

About every 40mm, that's what I did to find a batten, but I did it before I decorated the room.

 

[mattylad]

If you can unscrew the backbox and pull that out you can get a long bendy stick like object and shove that along until you find a vertical, at least you will know where 1 is then

 

[alan333]

Bear in mind you might not have much timber supports, your house might be built with jumbo stud instead, like this...
http://www.buildingmaterials.co.uk/146mm-jumbo-stud.html
My new build house approx 14 years old is built with this stuff.

 

[talksr]

About every 40mm, that's what I did to find a batten, but I did it before I decorated the room.

Thanks, very helpful.

If you can unscrew the backbox and pull that out you can get a long bendy stick like object and shove that along until you find a vertical, at least you will know where 1 is then

Ok, that's a good idea, will give it a go.

Bear in mind you might not have much timber supports, your house might be built with jumbo stud instead, like this...
http://www.buildingmaterials.co.uk/146mm-jumbo-stud.html
My new build house approx 14 years old is built with this stuff.

It would not surprise me. The quality of the house is not that amazing. If it is jumbo stud, would this cause a problem? Might I be better using something like spring toggles?

 

[alan333]

You can still screw into jumbo stud but you'll probably need a drill.