Stud & Plasterboard walls
How do I go about mounting my TV bracket onto a stud wall?
A potentially frustrating issue that we occasionally come across is around stud/plasterboard walls and the problems they present when it comes to successfully mounting a TV bracket.
In summary, plasterboard walls are really good for insulation, speed and cost of installation not requiring time for mortar to set and therefore not surprisingly they are very popular in modern house building. Unfortunately for us they aren’t very good for mounting certain type of TV bracket onto or for that matter mounting pretty much anything heavy on!
For simple lightweight TV brackets for TVs up to 21” or 8Kgs with just two or three fixing screws such as our popular ITB101 or ITB501 series you just need to screw the TV bracket directly to one of the upright wooden studs that run behind the plasterboard.
If you have a flat or flush fitting TV bracket or indeed one that tilts, stud walls are potentially pretty straightforward too. With these all you have to ensure that the bracket wall plate is screwed through the plasterboard and into at least two vertical wooden studs. As long as the ends of the TV bracket overlap a stud by a minimum of 50mm you are ok and you can safely get your TV on the wall. If however you don’t overlap by at least 50mm or it only reaches one stud you have 2 options to resolve the problem:
- the easiest solution is to just buy a bigger, longer TV bracket that will make the required span and then if you so wish you can always cut it down so its not longer than you need.
- the other solution is to cut some of the plasterboard away and fit another section of wood around 0.5m long to one or both of the existing studs. This will reduce the gap and allow you to securely fit the original bracket and of course you can always keep adding as long as each is properly fixed. It would be wise to ensure a horizontal stud is fitted at this point to add additional reinforcement to secure the TV wall bracket.
On arm type cantilever TV brackets, these represent a trickier situation. The beauty of these TV brackets is the ability to swing the TV out into the room when needed and fold back to the wall when not. When opened out there is tremendous leverage on the bracket and then onto the wall, so if wishing to use on stud walls, the stud will need strengthening.
Firstly choose a TV bracket that has a wide wall mounting back-plate section to maximise the spreading of the load. Next cut away the plasterboard sufficiently to expose 4 vertical studs for around a metre in height centred on the position of your TV.
Next fit extra studs for around a metre length to either side of the 2 central studs and to the inside of the outer studs. Where securely screwed, fit 3 horizontal stud sections of extra width such as 4” x 2” equally spaced between the uprights.
When completed , redecorate remembering where the centre is.
Fit your TV bracket so it is central to the reinforced section and is very securely screwed onto the two central studs.
While we have written this article in good faith we can not be responsible for the strength of your stud walls used to fit TV brackets too. In all cases customers should satisfy themselves their walls are sufficiently strong to safely hold the wall mounted TV bracket.