Well this turned into a learning experience for me. For this brand new build house, the full task list called for the wall mounting of three pictures, a curtain pole and curtains, a shiny new external house number plate, a wall mounted Sky Q Mini box in bracket and FOUR wall mounted TV’s including a 65″ on a full motion bracket. All went swimmingly until it came time to work on putting the big screen to the wall. Typically I like to mount these to a perimeter wall with six or more meaty anchors into the inner leaf substrate blockwork. But in this case, there was no inner wall – just what felt like about 12 inches deep of plasterboard and insulation and finally a 4 1/2″ external wall. It might be the latest greenwash thing in building warm houses – but not a lot of substance to affix a heavy TV to. First time I’ve encountered this and so off to have quick conversation with the deputy site foreman who happened to walk past the house. Even he was a little vague about the fixing options. Time for a rethink and some detective work to find the timber frame studs on the perimeter walls. Not usually that difficult but all that metal foil surfaced insulation confused the life out of all three of my stud finders – including my trusty Bosch PMD 10. Eventually found the studs on 24″ centres, mounted some serious batten work, eight SnapToggle fixings, four lag bolts and that sucker is now strong as a hangman’s gallow.
