VOT - Wall mounting a flat sceen TV - advice needed

[Nigel Watts]

My wife wants me to move the TV from our living room, where it is increasing being monopolized by the kids' W-box sessions, to the wall of our spare bedroom.

There are two problems I need to solve. The first is that the wall of the spare room is nine inch solid external brickwork which has been lined with polystyrene-backed plasterboard (the polystyrene, which is for heat insulation, is about two inches thick). Do I just use very long screws for the bracket or should I cut out some of the plasterboard, fix wooden battens directly to the brick and then fix to the wood?

The second problem is wiring. All the sockets are in the wrong place (ie not half way up the wall, in the middle). Three wires will be needed: mains power, UHF coaxial and hdmi for the X-box. I have been toying with the idea of surface mounted trunking, but concluded that there is no option but to embed the wires. A fused spur for the mains I guess, with UHF and hdmi embedded alongside. I have discovered that one can get hdmi wall sockets, but dont yet know to wire them together.

Finally, what might be needed in future? I dont really want to have to do this again. Should I add, for example, some cat 5 ethernet cable too?

 

[FamilyWiggs]

I'd cut the board and mount on something solid.

I'd also cut the trunking into the board and put conduit in before replastering. Then when the cleverclogs invent something new like fibreoptic magic cables, you can just pull them through the conduit.

 

[MdB]

If it is actual polystyrene then you must put the cables in trunking. Polystyrene attacks the plastic in the cables and can cause it to fail. Not good if it is a mains cable - especially if it causes the polystyrene to catch light.

 

[Feltwell]

I'd cut the board and mount on something solid.

I'd also cut the trunking into the board and put conduit in before replastering. Then when the cleverclogs invent something new like fibreoptic magic cables, you can just pull them through the conduit.

If you're doing that I'd be inclined to leave a drawcord in place in the trunking, unless it will be very easy to push a cable through if it's a short, straight length. A hangover from my Civil Engineering days - whenever you lay a service duct under something like a road, you always leave a length of rope in place to pull through cables / pipes in future. And when you do pull a new cable through, you always attach another length of rope to it so you leave a new drawcord in place after you.

I doubt it's polystyrene Nigel - more likely to be Celotex or Kingspan foam board. What colour is it? Celotex/Kingspan or similar is usually either pink or a yellowy brown colour. Polystyrene would be bad news, it's nasty stuff in the event of a fire.

I'd also be inclined to cut the board and mount onto something solid by the way. You could always cut a bracket-sized hole back to brick then build back up again with ply.

 

[biffvernon]

This is the second thread about fixing TVs. What's going on? How come people in period properties have got time to watch TV?

 

[Nigel Watts]

This is the second thread about fixing TVs. What's going on? How come people in period properties have got time to watch TV?

I don't. I just want the kids out of my living room, where I keep most of my books, so I can spend more time researching my next project!

 

[Nigel Watts]

If it is actual polystyrene then you must put the cables in trunking. Polystyrene attacks the plastic in the cables and can cause it to fail. Not good if it is a mains cable - especially if it causes the polystyrene to catch light.

Crikey! never thought of that. I am pretty sure the stuff behind the gyproc is polystyrene. It is in our small, modern extension which was done about nine years ago.

 

[Feltwell]

If it's nine years ago then I would have thought it would be Kingspan/Celotex rather than polystyrene. Can you see any? Is there a socket or lightswitch you can take off the wall and take the backing box out to take a peek?

 

[Flyfisher]

At least you've two inches of a soft material to channel into rather than the brickwork. For mounting the screen I agree with the previous posts about cutting the insulation back to the wall and then using plywood or similar to build back up to the required depth for the flatscreen bracket. If it's a very large screen you might be able to just cut out individual 4-inch (say) squares, depending on the fixing arrangement of the bracket.

As for the wires, I'd probably just leave them trailing, especially since you won't be able to hide the Xbox anyway, but having seen photos of your rather impressive attention to detail I imagine that approach would not be acceptable to you.

MdB's right about using trunking under the insulation, but I wonder if it's really necessary to cut a channel? Depending on the toughness of the insulation, would it be possibly to make a holes in the insulation at the bottom of the wall and behind the screen and then use something - a piece of flexible-but-rigid (if you see what I mean) plastic pipe perhaps, or that small oval conduit stuff? - to push/bore/cut a hole through the insulation without breaking the surface?

The insulation will end up inside the pipe/conduit but could be easily removed when the pipe/conduit was withdrawn. Then push a new piece of conduit through the hole and push the wire through the conduit.

Ahh - except this will only work if you can attach your own connectors to the cables. If you can't then you'll have to make a channel anyway. Just a thought though.

 

[Feltwell]

This is the second thread about fixing TVs. What's going on? How come people in period properties have got time to watch TV?

I don't. I just want the kids out of my living room, where I keep most of my books, so I can spend more time researching my next project!

I'd say it's a good idea by the way. I bought a cheap secondhand analogue flatscreen TV to hook up permanently to the kids' Wii console in our old scullery, which is now their playroom. Makes the living room a much more peaceful place to be. We also have a timer with strict time limits on how long they can play on it, and certain days when it's banned altogether, otherwise they'd never be off the damn thing! I confess to the occasional play at kart racing though - not against the kids, they wipe the floor with me!

 

[Lime]

Rather than take large lumps out of the wall surface, why not screw directly onto the wall a large piece of plywood (smaller than the tv) and fix the brackets onto the plywood?

With my wall mounted TVs I have wrapped all the cables together in a cable wrap dropping down to the floor
http://www.homestead.co.uk/productcategorydetail.aspx?categoryid=55574
which makes for a flexible and relative tidy solution.

Also can I recommend that the tv is fitted with a slight angle towards the floor (i.e. top of tv further away from the wall than the bottom) of about 5 degrees?
This way the screen never needs cleaning because the dust does not settle on it.

 

[AMc]

Thought I was seeing double for a moment there...

I have 2 wall mounted TVs. Both attached to solid walls covered with thick insulated plasterboard.
I fixed marine ply across multiple studs behind the plasterboard before fitting the insulated plasterboard.
The TV mounts are fixed using coachbolts (bought in bulk from screwfix) through the plasterboard, insulation and into the ply and the wall using th rawlplugs that came with the mounts. The insulation and plasterboard can cope with the compression.

I had power sockets mounted high up behind the TVs.
For the TV aerial lead, HDMI and cat6 cables I sunk a length of standard sink soil pipe into the insulation.
I put plasterboard mounting back boxes at either end with the side cut out to allow you to poke cables through them into the pipe.
The fronts are finished with brush plates that tidy up the exits and allow you to change the cables though it tends to be easier if you take them off.
Generally AV cables are stiff enough that you can simply drop them down without pull strings.
I also ran old fashioned SCART cables next to the "conduit" -the SCART plug is so big you can't duct it so I bought 3m £5 leads and figured I'd chop the ends off if I needed to remove them. As they've never been used this is probably worth dropping.
Of course this was all easier to do as the wall was being built then finished

CPC sell the brush plates the other bits came from screwfix and the plumber's offcuts..
http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp;jsessionid=5WTRL1SWYXNTACQLCIPZKBQ?N=411&Ntk=gensearch&Ntt=brushplate&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&suggestions=false&ref=globalsearch&_requestid=1139221

If you really want to use "proper" HDMI faceplates then CPC sell them too. They tend to have an HDMI socket on the back which you connect an existing HDMI lead to. The connection is very fiddly and not worth trying to DIY wire. You'll need 2 and an HDMI lead which could work out pricey. I would STILL use a conduit in case you need to replace the cable or add another.
http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/browse.jsp?N=411+206934+110150392&No=0&getResults=true&appliedparametrics=true&locale=en_CC&divisionLocale=en_CC&catalogId=&prevNValues=411+206934&mm=1001418||,&filtersHidden=false&appliedHidden=false&originalQueryURL=%2Fjsp%2Fsearch%2Fbrowse.jsp%3FN%3D411%2B206934%26No%3D0%26getResults%3Dtrue%26appliedparametrics%3Dtrue%26locale%3Den_CC%26divisionLocale%3Den_CC%26catalogId%3D%26prevNValues%3D411%2B206934

You can also get faceplates with RJ45 sockets for networking and coax for aerials and satellite but if you go that route get them all from the same manufacturer so they match (CPC have a number of choices).

http://www.CPC.co.uk are also worth a look to buy AV cables - they're £3-5 leads are as well made as the £30 leads they try and flog you when you buy a TV in a shop - but don't forget to add VAT and P&P to the prices. I find them much cheaper than lots of places but ebay is also worth a look.

Excuse the quality of the pics from my phone the case is so scratched it looks like I've been using a soft focus effect




In Nigel Watts situation I would carefully cut a channel out of the wall about twice the width of the soilpipe then cut a recess in the insulation to accomodate the pipe and fix it back in place and polyfilla the cracks. For mounting the TV if it's light enough then I would just drill as many long holes as I could and insert coachscrews in big rawlplugs right through into the wall. If it's a bigger 40" or more then I'd cut a square out of the plasterboard and insulation - fix some ply to the wall with lots of fixings then refinish and screw the mount through into that.

I would also make a newspaper template of the TV and bluetac it to the wall then pretend to watch it from where you sit for a few of minutes. I've seen no end of TVs mounted above fireplaces or half way up walls that would give me neckache after a short space of time.

 

[AMc]

I'd say it's a good idea by the way. I bought a cheap secondhand analogue flatscreen TV to hook up permanently to the kids' Wii console in our old scullery, which is now their playroom. Makes the living room a much more peaceful place to be. We also have a timer with strict time limits on how long they can play on it, and certain days when it's banned altogether, otherwise they'd never be off the damn thing! I confess to the occasional play at kart racing though - not against the kids, they wipe the floor with me!

As a life long computer gamer I'm just saying...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/8868033/Video-gaming-children-more-creative.html

 

[Feltwell]

Like everything else I guess AMc - OK in moderation. It's when you see teenagers with "panda eyes" from staying up for 24 hours solid playing Call of Duty Alien Invasion Death Ray 3 or whatever it's called that it doesn't look healthy! I played "Elite" on a BBC B for hours on end as a yoof, but haven't really played anything since, bar the odd game of Tetris or Minesweeper on the PC.

My kids have a Wii, and being young the games are strictly moderated, no violent ones. My son, although very bright, had problems with his fine motor control - he was quite clumsy and struggled with tasks requiring fine co-ordination, even his school had picked up on this. Use of the Wii seems to have really helped this - lots of the games he enjoys require quite precise co-ordination of the controller. He didn't enjoy the manual tasks he'd been given before to help him improve as his lack of ability frustrated him, but with the Wii it became fun and he improved naturally without any upset. I've seen reports of the Wii being used in residential care homes for the elderly to good effect, with the moderate exercise & coordination effort that games like golf and ten pin bowling give.

I wouldn't give my son one of those handheld DS things though - he'd never be off it or speak to anyone ever again!

 

[AMc]

Like everything else I guess AMc - OK in moderation. It's when you see teenagers with "panda eyes" from staying up for 24 hours solid playing Call of Duty Alien Invasion Death Ray 3 or whatever it's called that it doesn't look healthy!

All good things in moderation The people I know who do that are in their 40's but the same rules apply to them too!
The "problem" is computer games are fun, even my parents in their 60s play the odd game.

I played "Elite" on a BBC B for hours on end as a yoof, but haven't really played anything since, bar the odd game of Tetris or Minesweeper on the PC.

I "wasted" a whole summer holiday on that game on the BBC but I still went out on my bike and 30 odd years later I don't think it did me any harm.

I wouldn't give my son one of those handheld DS things though - he'd never be off it or speak to anyone ever again!

One big advantage of the handheld console is it does allow you to sit in a restaurant and have a grown up conversation.
My kid had a DS which disappeared - we think - from the table in a pub when we were out for lunch. Very upsetting all round, her the loss of the console, me the £100 it cost!
She now gets to borrow my PSP on the strict understanding that it's not hers and I keep control of when and where it can be played. She also plays a bit on my PS3 and phones when we're out and about.
Left to her own devices I'm sure she'd stick her face in the PSP continuously but we don't let that happen any more than we turned a blind eye when we caught her up in the middle of the night reading books about fairies and unicorns a while back

 

[Flyfisher]

I've never liked those shoot 'em up computer games, far too violent for my delicate sensibilities, though I used to have a multi-screen flight simulator set up about ten years ago, complete with a proper flight control 'yoke', engine controls and pedals. It was great fun and, from my limited experience of flying lessons, was pretty accurate - for light aircraft at least.

This is the sort of thing that home pilots get up to these days:

 

[Feltwell]

Blimey - you do wonder at what point it becomes easier & cheaper to just get in the real thing!

 

[Flyfisher]

Yes, that's a bit of an extreme example, but the great thing about flight simulator (or was ten years ago, but I doubt it has changed) is that it can run on multiple PCs. So, for example, if you have an old PC that's fit for very little, it can be set up to just handle one of the instrument panel displays, which requires very little processing power. Also, old CRT screens can be barely given away these days of flat panels so a multi-screen set up need not be expensive.

It would, of course, need a lot of space, though think of the central heating savings with all those CRT monitors. :wink:

As for the 'real thing', many compulsive home pilots actually built complete replica cockpits of their favourite aircraft. I recall one magazine article describing the Boeing 737 cockpit someone had built in a spare bedroom. I couldn't find that one the web but I found this similar one while searching: http://www.hanskrohn.com/

I suppose it's no madder than buying a wreck of an old house and repairing/restoring it.

 

[Feltwell]

I suppose it's no madder than buying a wreck of an old house and repairing/restoring it.

I'd argue that it's considerably madder, but then we're hardly impartial on such matters :wink:

Speaking of a lack of impartiality, the Torygraph ran this a while ago, which beats turning your spare room into a Boeing cockpit in the stakes of "expensive and futile things to do that will make your house impossible to sell and guarantee a lack of contact with women for the rest of your life" I suspect. Perhaps just as well that his wife divorced him before he did this.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/new...k-fan-turns-flat-into-replica-space-ship.html

Whilst the whole idea is clearly barking mad, I have to admit the workmanship looks very good.

 

[tobydog]

No prizes for guessing why his wife probably divorced him!!!