Mounting bracket for 65" plasma

reinnie

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to mount the bracket for my plasma tv (~130lbs). Two of the right side bolts are screwed into the center of the stud. The other two bolts (left side) are not.

I used a stud finder with a laser pointer that I paid over $50 and it's not accurate!! After screwing the bolts in, I read about testing for the center by hammer small nail into the dry wall.

Since a stud is 1.5" thick then center would be .75" The two bolts that are screwed in are at .25" of the stud.

Anyway, I'm trying to figure out what I should do.

1) Should I unscrew the two bolts and screw them into the center of the stud? Would this hurt the integrity since it's only .5" away from existing one?

2) Leave it alone and not worry about it. What's the chance of the two bolts coming off?

3) Leave the two bolts and buy two more bolts and screw them into the center.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Mr Chips

can you explain a little better, or provide a picture? I am having problems trying to visualize what you have

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reinnie

Mr. Chips let me try to make this more clear. A stud is 1.5" thick therefore the center of the stud is at .75".

What I did was I missed the center of the stud, instead it's closer to the side of the stud.

What I'm trying to figure out is, if I should leave the bolt alone, considering it's screwed into the stud, but not the center of the stud.

or

If I should unscrew the lag screw and this time put it in the center of the stud.

Thanks!

epson

Well a year or so ago my friend purchased a big plasma t.v and it was a heavy sucker and what I did was find the center of (3) studs marked them and cut a peace of ¾’’ plywood mounted it to the studs painted the plywood to match his wall and then applied the plasma brackets onto the plywood where I needed and we were set.

Scuba_Dave

Based on the cost of a 65" plasma I'd make sure it was mounted correctly

Mr Chips

Ok. I think I understand now. I don't think i'd move the ones that missed dead center. If they are not too far off, it may not matter at all

is there room to add another bolt? If so that's what I'd do. Try to to space it away from any of the other bolts.

I don't think ASTM has any standards for lag bolt shear, so to some degree you are at the mercy of the mount manufacturer and their fastener supplier

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reinnie

Thank you very much Mr. Chips! My apology for not being clear the first time. Yes there is room to put in another bolt.

I actually went to Home Depot and bought new lag bolts. What the mount manf. didn't look strong enough.

I followed the directions according to the instruction of the mounting bracket, screw bracket into two studs. The only thing I missed was center of the stud for two lag screws.

My other idea is to get another 2x4 and put into horizontally on the wall and mount the 2x4 into 4 studs. Then mount the manuf. bracket on the 2x4. The tv might stick out too much though.

Thanks to everyone else for your input.

DangerMouse

I agree. It would look a bit odd. So are you saying that the new lag screws bit stud and all is well?
Please accept our apologies for the 'other problem'. It's common in forums to get input from 'anyone', normally it's acceptable criticism, other times not. Rude posts are always removed.

DM

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reinnie

Thanks DM, apologies accepted, not your fault though. I was caught off-guard from the previous post, considering I was new this this website. Others have been quite helpful.

I started reading your other forums and have learned a lot, great site!

DangerMouse

It sure is, half of this house was built with (many, many) questions answered by the friendly folks here.
I'm here so much, they had to either charge me rent or make me a moderator and make me work...lol
Believe me, that post was nothing compared to some of the things we've had to clean up. Po)
I hope you don't mind my editing your post as well, for continuity.

DM

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Mr Chips

You were actually very clear, For some reason I just couldn't get my head around the actual issue at the time when i read your initial post, and I was picturing your brackets being mounted horizontal ( parrallel to floor-- that's how mine are) so i wanted to be sure we were both talking about the same thing.

You mentioned your studfinder not working properly. If it came with a DVD ( a lot of the more expensive ones do), it might be worth watching. They show a lot of tips to increase the accuracy. Many times you need to go back and forth over the stud several times to really "zero in" on the center.

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reinnie

Thanks Mr. Chips, I'll take a look at that DVD again.

In the end, I ended up buying a pretty expensive bracket that was 49" wide and was able to screw the bracket into four studs. I think that will give my 65" plasma plenty of support.

The previous mount was only $30 and weighs only 8 lbs. This new Omni mount is more solid and weighs 48lbs.

Learned my lesson and used the stud finder and small nail technique to find the sides of the stud.