As you may guess, I want to mount my tv on the wall. It isn’t huge – 37″ – and I just want to mount it flat. I’ve seen it suggested to “get a man in”, but is it really so difficult? What are the pitfalls for the diy klutz?

And – any recommendation for a mount? Do you get much more from an expensive one?

Thanks!

It’s really easy just be sure to use a spirit level (some wall mounts even have levels built in) apart from that just mark the drill holes well and drill as straight as possible.

I would go for a fairly inexpensive one of amazon that gets good reviews as no I don’t think you get much more for an expensive one.

Look out for buried cables and pipes.

It’s easy. Hiding the cables isn’t so easy.

No it’s not difficult. If you can use a tape measure, a spirit level and a drill then you do not need to get a man in. If you have trouble with any of those then maybe.

Even though you just want to mount it flat I would still get a mount that allows the TV to be pulled away from the wall, it’s unlikely that you’ll use the facility often but on the odd occasion you need to get around the back of the telly, it makes it worthwhile. The only drawback of this is that the mount will be a little deeper than a pure ‘hang on the wall’ type. I think the little extra depth is worthwhile your opinion may differ.

I’ve fitted one for myself three for friends and they were all at the budget end of the range, I’ve not heard of any problems with any of them.

I have done a couple.

The first one I built the wall so i just made sure there was wood behind the anchor points and used appropriate big wood screws.

Second was on a chimney breast, just used the include bolts and plugs.

both walls were chased ( and re plastered ) for power and ariel, which is harder than the actual mounting. After posting a question on here, I also made an extra channel to future proof ( this has came in really handy ).

One thing that was a problem on both was I used a regular socket for the TV plug, as I used low profile mounts I have a bit of trouble getting the position right due to the plug sticking out too far. To solve this you can get a mount which sits further from the wall, or use a fused spur outlet directly to the tv power cable.

Something like this

I’ve done three. Mounting is the easy bit, although that will depend on the wall surface. My walls are plasterboard but I drilled through to the block and use rawlplugs and long screws.

The hard bit is hiding the cables unless you want to chase the wall which I did with one install. I always run a spur and put a double socket behind the tv as its not a good idea to run the tv power cable behind the wall.

It depends what your walls are made of. If they are stone, brick or breeze blocks then it’s just the same as putting up a shelf, masonry drill, rawlplugs and big screws. If it’s an internal stud wall (knock it and see if it sounds hollow) you need to find the joists and wood screw it to those. Don’t under any circumstances screw it to the plasterboard or it will fall off and kill someone!

As an aside, the last one I put up, was one I got off ebay for £40 ( 37″ Panasonic) no HDMI so was cheap, I added a an old Wii I had hanging around. Instant Semi smart TV ( NETFLIX ) wall mounted for £60 ( it was £20 for the mount ) I was well pleased with my top bodging.

Mounting to a stud partition wall I had to fit a piece of plywood to the wall first 💡
Cut the ply tall enough to fit a shelf above TV to take video/DVD players(it was that long ago)!

don’t mount it above the fireplace or a radiator.
don’t mount it too high so you finish looking up at it.

don’t mount it too high so you finish looking up at it.

I mount mine high. Much better for reclined/lounging viewing.

What are the pitfalls for the diy klutz?

I couldn’t get the drill through my wall. After several attempts and a new drill bit that the DIY shop said would sort the problem I gave in…..luckily I had a picture big enough to hide my failed attempts. So my advice is to have a picture ready to hang and hide the failure (or buy a SDS drill)

Thanks everyone! And good tip to get a movable one “in case”.

I personally wouldn’t bother with a movable one unless you think you’ll use the functionality – they can stick out from the wall quite a lot so you might struggle to get it close in, and they can bend/lean over when you cantilever them out which you have to correct for. Also you need extra cable to allow for the screen to be moved around. It just makes an easy job slightly more complicated.

If you’ve got a block wall with plasterboard dabbed or buttoned, so a small gap between the blocks and plasterboard then use Rigifix fittings – absolutely brilliant. Kept my 60kg 65″ plasma screen firmly in place…so far. Just measure many times and drill once. The wall mount I got from Richersounds came with a template, which made it easy peasy.

I mounted one using a French cleat – cost nowt, worked a treat.

Basically, take a wood baton and spilt lengthways at 45 degrees.

One half goes on the wall with the chamfer toward the wall. The other half goes on the TV so the chamfers mate.

I bolted the wood to the TV with some old caliper bolts! Had a solid wall to hang to. Simple, easy, cheap!

My wall was a false ply wall in the workshop so cables dropped behind simply. I’d be tempted to do this for a nice room – just stand a flase panel off the wall and fix baton to and hide cables.

It’s perfectly fine to hang from plasterboard without screwing into the batons, you just need the right fixings. Plasterboard is pretty strong.

Good enough for radiators, a 37 inch TV should be no problem.

AS others have stated it’s pretty straightforward, hard bit is hiding the cabling!

Out of interest what is the wall made of?

It’s perfectly fine to hang from plasterboard without screwing into the batons, you just need the right fixings. Plasterboard is pretty strong…..Good enough for radiators, a 37 inch TV should be no problem.

please don’t do this. There is absolutely no need.
If you have a plasterboard wall.. then you have studs. Or if you have a plasterboard wall, you likely have the ability to run your cables in behind in which case you will be cutting holes for cable pass throughs in which case you could use some short 2×4 sections to give you much more reliable strength.

Did mine a while back, the mounting part is easy, cable management is a pain in the arse.

Out of interest what is the wall made of?

Good question. I move in tomorrow! It’s a 1930’s flat and it seems like plaster over brick. Does that seem likely?

As others have said – wall mounting is easy, its the cable management that’s the hard/important part.

After wall-mounting mine in my old flat – my conclusion is that if you are going to have a cabinet underneath anyway (like Daniel, above) you’re not really gaining anything by wall mounting it, the footprint is exactly the same. you are just giving yourself the b*ll ache of having to chase cables.

I know this particular example is gopping, but if you don’t want the TV sitting on top of the cabinet directly, you can get ones with a built-in “mast”

One other thing to bear in mind is that mounting a TV on a shared wall can bring misery to your neighbour if the wall conducts the sound through. My wife used to live in a place with a little old lady next door, who had her TV on loud a lot (being deaf as a post) and the persistent noise was enough to make living there a misery.

Probably not an issue if you keep the volume down, but something to bear in mind that rarely gets factored in.

New 65 inch OLED TV falls off the wall through a glass cabinet..

https://www.avforums.com/threads/new-65-inch-oled-tv-falls-off-the-wall-through-a-glass-cabinet.1958124/

You might get away with those metal expanding plasterboard fixings with a relatively light TV on a plasterboard wall – I’ve used them before on radiators as the shonky builders just screwed my radiators into the plasterboard with normal plastic raw plugs and they were coming loose, so I went around and replaced them with those heavy duty expanding metal plugs. However my daughter still managed to rip a rad off the wall pretty easily with 4 of those fixings so it seams to me the fixings are perfectly strong, but he plasterboard isn’t and they just make a bigger hole in the plasterboard for you to repair.

Personally in a studded plasterboard wall i’d take the trouble to add additional wood buttons/noggins and screw into the wood frame. Sounds like a horrendous job, but actually will only take you about half a day or so and would give you the opportunity to install some trunking to drop the cables down.

If a block/brick wall with plasterboard battoned or dabbed on then those Rigifix plugs are designed for that type of wall and are designed not to transmit any load whatsoever though the plasterboard – they sort of cantilever off the part of the fixing that is attached into the block wall. they were recommended to me by a chap who installs commercial screens. He swears by those fixings.

what you need is a good electrician from the 1970’s, like the half wit that managed to install every single one of the sockets in the house with an obvious slant…spirit level?? no mate I use a cup of tea level. either that or done during a blackout