How to hang a floating Oak Mantle

Trying to get my head around whats the best way of fixing my floating mantle to the wall.

Bought a lovely piece of oak, 6″ x 4″ x 4ft which I plan on hanging on the wall. Wall construction is plasterboard dabbed over insulation block.

Looking on line a number of tutorials and you-tube videos explaining the method, but no detail of the metal bars that I should use, some say Re-bar is fine, others say it bends, some suggest tube, or cutting the heads off coach bolts.

Went to B&Q and carried out unscientific bend test on their various steel sections and tube but all seemed to have a little bit of give.

Has anyone mounted a heavy mantle using this method and what bars did you use?

Cheers….

Doesn’t sound super heavy (unless it is wet). Split batten should do it, either timber or aluminium profile. Need some long fixing that go into the block.

I hung mine on some 15mm zinc coated steel threaded bar i had in the shed.

4 bits epoxied into tthe wood. Drilled through wall and spreader plated and nutted on other side

Been up for 5 years an i would be more worried of the wall coming down than the wood

I put 5 120mm concrete anchor bolts into the wall drilled corresponding holes in oak beam. Stuck some builders adhesive in the holes and banged it on.

I did it with a couple of very big round-headed screws in big Rawlplugs then chiselled out the back of the beam to take a couple of recessed brass mirror plates. The beam hangs on these and can be lifted off for redecorating.

Just fitting my fire, it’ll have a floating shelf above it. Bought a 200 year old beam for £25, sounds about the same size as yours.
I plan on drilling some bolts into the wall (as above), and drilling / routing some holes in the bottom of the plank.
So, drill bolts into wall, drill corresponding holes around 50mm deep into the beam so the bolt end goes into the beam, then, under the beam, drill a wider hole, maybe 25mm by 50mm wide to be able to get a spanner in to put on a nut/tighten the bolts, and clamp the beam to the wall.
Bolts/screws, something like this, though maybe a bigger size:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/easydrive-machine-thread-to-wood-thread-dowel-screws-m8x75mm-pk10/7618h

The other option is to rout out a section of the beam back, maybe 50×50 for ~200mm at each end, then fit 2 corresponding bits of wood screwed to the wall, slide on the beam, then either dowel or screw the beam to the pieces on the wall.
That may be better in your case as you have a plasterboard wall – it’ll give you more leeway to screw to the wall battens behind the plaster.

I got some bolts which had an eccentric bit on, so you could adjust the level of the mantle.

Last one I seen done for a mate, another mate who’s a very good joiner, routed out the back to accept a bit 2×2 nearly the entire length. Mount length of 2×2 to wall using whatever fixings are appropriate (screws/bolts/magic), then slide the mantle over and secure on with a couple suitably hidden screws (or if you really don’t want even hidden screws, glue it on)

I got some bolts which had an eccentric bit on, so you could adjust the level of the mantle.

I may have a few of these in the shed going spare if the OP is interested…

Hope i never need to take it off the wall.
Started life in a barn 300odd years ago.
[/url]Untitled by chris[/url]

I do quite a few at work, all I do is screw a cut down pan strap (like a flat metal bar with holes in) to each end, chisel the wall where the straps will go and just patch in or re plaster the wall. noramlly cut where the oak goes so its actually sunk into the wall too. Then plug and screw or use frame fixers if its a heavy bit

Random bits of oak beam stuck on walls always makes me chuckle 😀

At least make it earn its living and make it structural, in a random bit of oak beam lintel kinda way. At least then there’s a valid reason for having a random bit of oak beam in an otherwise oak beam free house 😉

Going over a fireplace Slackalice, so cant build it in. I know what you mean though, would have preferred it to look structural. The mrs needs something to put her knick knacks on!

Some good ideas there, I’m probably over-thinking it!

Keep the solutions coming.

Why make it structural? Its a shelf.

Similar thing made from a scaffolding board.
[/url]image by chris[/url], on Flickr\

Why make it structural? It’s a shelf

A fireplace needs a lintel of some sort to support the masonry above the opening, which is why and how it could be made structural.

It’s all subjective, so please do whatever you like OP and everyone else; personally I find random oak beams incongruous in otherwise oak beam free houses. Very much like bits of softwood stuck onto the exterior elevations of houses, typically gable ends and front elevations that have been positioned and painted black to make them look like the property is of a framed construction when it clearly isn’t. For me it smacks of aspirational desires to affect value or perceived status/lifestyle.

But part of me is a snob and knows that class can’t be bought 😉

My shelf…..

Aspirational you may think, i just think it looks better than the cigarette stained/smelling whitish painted mdf shelf i was left with by the previous owner , not to mention how close all that mdf is to the stove.

Well this has descended into chaos in true STW…..

So a shelf on which to put ones family pictures and a couple of items important to the Mrs and I has now become “aspirational”.

No, the timber is not integral to the structure of my house but it looks better than a sheet of Melamine strung between a couple of brackets.

Not going to raise the subject of wall lights…. is that as bad as having a leased car on the drive?

Steel stains oak black when used outdoors, even fine metal filings from another job that I was doing caused black stains. I don’t know if this is likely to be a problem over a fireplace where it’s dry
Research coatings carefully, maybe powder-coated bars would work??