I need to install a 42″ LCD flat screen in my wife’s office. There are steel studs in the office. How do you install the mount to the wall? I’m worried about the TV falling off the wall. Best Buy wants $500.00 to install and tune it. That’s half the price of the TV. I need to install the TV next week. Please help.
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Replies
wouldn't just a plain old molly bolt work. the type you drill the hole,slide it in and as you screw the screw down 3 fingers collaspe and make a flange on the back.do it on the studs co it captures the metal stud. then remove the screw and put the brackets up.? whats the tv weigh50-60lbs? larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
Better not to use the molly anchors, and instead use what's known as "snap-toggler" bolts.
They are also marketed by Hilti and sell for maybe $.80 a peiece.
They are the new version of the old cheesewiz toggle bolt with better strength and less hassle.
They have a steel threaded bar on the end of two zip-tie like plastic strips with a ziptie like plastic tightening collar.
You start with a 3/8" - 1/2" hole, flatten the steel bar, insert into hole, flatten the bar out behind the wall - then hold taut and slide the plasic collar to the surface of the wall, thereby tightening the steel threaded bar behind the hole.
You then merely clip off the lengths of plastic tie and that leaves you with a killer threaded hole in the wall that's rated for 265lbs+ and is as strong as you'll ever get for a drywall anchor.
Molly's suck, as they sometimes start to twist before they fully leg out and then if you ever need to remove them you almost have to put a 2" hole in the wall to get them out.
Here's a link:
http://www.toggler.com/products_hwh_installation.html
These are easy and you'll find the job will be NO problem.
Good Luck,
Julian
I agree with Julian - snap-togglers work great. I mounted four big displays with them five years ago and have had no problems. I think I used eight on each Paramount mounting plate. Don't use toggles, mollies, or plastic anchors.
I don't think I'd depend on the drywall to hold up my $1,000 tv. What's on the other side of the wall? I had this situation and ended up putting a piece of unistrut (you could use plywood) on the other side, across two studs, and then running carriage bolts from the tv bracket, through the wall, to the unistrut. If that's not an option, I'd open up the wall, put some blocking in, and patch the wall. Then you would have something solid to anchor it to.
"I don't think I'd depend on the drywall to hold up my $1,000 tv."Museums hang $1 million paintings on little wall anchors. How heavy is a 42" flat screen TV, anyway, 65 to 75lb? Drywall can support a lot of shear load and with 4 Hilti Toggler anchors the weight would be distributed widely, so even if the TV weighs 80 lb each one carries only 20lb.Are you concerned with drywall resisting the pulling forces from tilting the unit? Consider the pulling forces on the tiny area under the heads of maybe 16 little drywall screws holding an 80 lb sheet of 5/8 sheetrock to the ceiling joists.
BruceT
I hope you've got more than 16 screws in a sheet ;-)
Oops, you caught me. I forgot that an 8' sheet spans 5 joists, not 4, and 12" spacing uses 5 screws, not 4; so make that 25 screws per sheet.OK, bad example. I guess I should have compared to a swag hook on a toggle bolt supporting a light fixture or something.
BruceT
I make up a mounting board for things like this.
Take a sheet of good 3/4" birch plywood or MDO cut to slightly larger than the TV and attach it with PL Premium and screws.
Trim around it with a bolection and paint it all.
Now you have a raised panel on the wall that is stroing enough to hold your lags for the TV mount.
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Heh, heh..you said Bolection...heh, heh..Parolee # 40835
If the TV will be on a static mount (not a moveable arm or a tilting mount), a Sanus mount (or something else that attaches over a larger area) will work using toggles because the assembly is basically pulling downward. However, drywall being what it is, I would screw a piece of 1/2" (minimum) plywood of the same size/shape as the backing plate, to at least two studs and use an anchor that won't crush the drywall behind the wood. If you can go into the studs, even better. Have them break out the price of mounting and tuning the set. Also, have them document what they do when tuning it. I suspect that "tuning" it will take about 15 minutes, if that. I think I heard that they charge about $250 to tune them, which is enough to buy your own setup equipment (actually, more than enough).
If you don't mind doing a bit of drywall repair, cut a piece of drywall out that's not much higher than the backing plate but smaller than the TV, centered across two studs. Cut a piece of plywood the same thickness and size of the hole and screw it to the studs. If you can cut it so it goes half way into each stud's width and can be screwed into the flange, you can have some side-to-side movement. Fill any gaps and paint it to match. Screw the mount to it and hang the TV. If you can locate the TV over an existing electrical box, you can hang a whip down and connect it to the feed. You can also place the video feed behind the TV but not in the same box as high voltage unless the correct divider is used. You can buy a combo box that allows the AC feed on one side and is open to the back for your low voltage cables.
Any sort of anchor that expands **behind** the wall -- Molly, toggle, etc -- installed through the flange of the stud. Definitely DON'T use the stupid plastic expanding anchors that are just supposed to expand inside the plaster.
The studs in the wall are the type that look like a C, it is open on one side. The way that they have the walls built there is no way to attach a piece of wood to the second steel stud. I'm not sure if opening the wall is an option. She is slated to open in less than a week. I'm not sure the contractor left enough paint for a repair job. I need to know if the molly bolts will work. Has any one actually hung a tv like this?
If you can get a few toggles or mollys through the flanges of the studs you're golden. Otherwise you can attach a board to the drywall with such anchors, but I'd only do that if the display is hanging close to the wall with no adjustments.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
Try a different approach.
I've had good luck and kudos by installing a ceiling mount instead of trying to reinforce a steel stud wall.
If it's a drop ceiling, then go to the underside of the roof or floor framing above with the mounting flange and an appropriate length extension tube. Two neat holes in the ceiling tile or drywall; one for the tube and one (with grommet) for cabling.
The last one I did needed a 2x12 anchored across structural steel beams with the flange through-bolted to the 2x12. It's there forever.
Edit to add for mount.
Got it online from Videomountstore.com
A Universal Plasma Ceiling mount PDM-C $189.95 and a ceiling plate $12.50 for a 1 1/2" NPT extension.
Edited 3/31/2007 8:51 pm ET by RalphWicklund
My wife and I saw a rear projection 54" DLP including a stand for less than the LCD. With all that's involved in putting the LCD on the wall and my lack of time we decided on the 54" with the stand. Thanks for all the help I wish I would have asked earlier. I'm an avid reader of Finewood working posts and didn't think about this forum till today. Again thanks to all for the advice.
I'm with the guys who advocate installing a piece of plywood first. A 42" monitor should bridge at least 2 studs. Screws through the studs, as well as some construction adhesive, should do the trick.
If you want to get fancy (and if the conditions are favorable), you could make the plywood a bit smaller than the tv, and the same thickness as the drywall, and recess it directly against the studs. The tv would cover the drywall/plywood seam. No paint required. But I would tape it.
Plywood blocking between the metal studs. Drywall has to be removed. Sorry.