So as I mentioned previously, one of the recent purchases I made from Tafelberg was a nice, compact work desk for me to place in the braai room so that I feel like I’m in an actual work area instead of just sitting by the dining room table as what I was previously doing.
For a long time now I’ve been using my 40″ Telefunken LCD flatscreen television as my second monitor, and given the now reduced work space area, I’d finally have to take the plunge and wall mount the thing – a terrifying prospect if you’ve never before entrusted your TV to the wall I tell you!
Anyway, because I needed a simple, flat profile wall mount without any fancy tilt bells and whistles, I opted for the Ellies’ “large flat screen wall mount“, made of powder coated mild steel, which allows for flexible off-center wall mounting, and which retails for just under R500 at Tafelberg.
The unit essentially consists of a flat rectangular metal plate/bracket which you firmly attach to the wall, two metal arms which then screw to the television (most televisions and brackets all conform to the VESA mount point standards) – all of which then “hangs” on the wall fastened plate. The final part of the package is a slim, lengthy plate that slides in behind the mount once everything is up, allowing you to padlock the television in place as a bit of a security feature.
Helpfully, the box contains a huge selection of nuts, bolts, washers and screws, so you shouldn’t have to go out and buy any fasteners for this project. You do however require a 10 mm concrete drill bit to drill the holes for the wall plugs – luckily I already had one (unused) in my toolbox. (It’s not often I drill such big holes. Scratch that, I’ve never needed to drill such big holes before!)
The spot where I wanted to hang the television unfortunately features the main power box into the house (because the braai room is technically my converted garage), meaning that I first needed to pop the lid and make sure no power cables are exiting the box at the top – in my case they weren’t, meaning there was a pretty good chance that I good drill with impunity, i.e. no risk of hitting anything in other words.
Another plus for me was that I was mounting on a solid wall, meaning that I didn’t need to go to the trouble of hunting for studs against which to mount.
One thing I discovered while sinking all six bolt holes was that my house is built with so called air bricks – because every time my drill bit hit a certain depth, there was a sickening thud as the drill smashed into the wall thanks to a sudden lack of material to drill through!
Luckily for me though, with the added depth of the plaster, the holes were still deep enough to safely bolt into, and with the help of my useful ratchet tool, I soon had the back plate securely fastened to the wall with six big bolts.
Then for the terrifying part. With the two arms successfully attached to the mount points on the television, I hoisted up the television by myself (not recommended – it’s best if you are two people to be honest) and hung it.
I held my breath, said a little prayer and stepped back – with the television happily still hanging exactly where I left it!
A few photos later, I slid the little lock plate in, breathed a sigh of relief, and went to bed – particularly pleased to wake up the next morning and not find shattered glass, plastic and concrete dust all over the floor! :)
The end result? Perfection.
Related Link: http://www.ellies.co.za/brackets_mounts/BAMLFPWM