loving albany: Corner Wall Mounting a TV to Drywall Only

Just the title makes my palms sweaty again.

But that's exactly what I did. And it turned out incredibly well.

Back in this post, I talked about our living room TV dilemma/decision.

Before

So after having the outlets moved & then old outlet holes patched, I got going on the next step: search for a wall mount.

My first visit was to Best Buy. Where I found a mount with full motion and at least 20" extension (minimum criteria for my TV in our corner) for $379.99. Plus tax.

Yeah....no.

My second visit was online to monoprice.com, where I found a better mount for 1/10th of the price. It specifically outlined why this mount is great for a corner - all steel construction (no sagging like plastic), single arm (vs limited motion of dual arm), etc. Not to mention hundreds of positive customer reviews filled with suggestions on mounting, adjusting and corner specifics.

Yes.

I was ready to pull the trigger until I came to the shipping fees. Oh Canada.

Lucky for me, (the very limited) Amazon Canada carried the same mount. The increase in price was less than the other website's shipping fee, so I bought it. Begin the sweaty palms.

The mount arrived immediately, and was heavier than the TV. !!! So I avoided the corner wall mounting idea completely. What box in the hallway?

Then my parents came to visit last weekend. Thank God for dads.

Where's the Studs?

We read the box and my palms got sweaty again. Must be drilled into wood studs. Yes, we have wood studs behind the drywall. But when I removed the baseboard to find them, they're 4" away.

(Backstory: courtesy of a very old semi-detached house, we have problems with our outside wall -not the shared wall- shifting and settling into the room. So when we removed our living room mantle 2 years ago, the lath & plaster wall was replaced with drywall hung on metal studs. To make the wall true, the metal studs are 4" into the room at the baseboard but less at the top.)

So off to the hardware store we went, thinking we needed 7" bolts to reach and grab into the wood studs and a drill bit to match.

Thank God for The Home Depot.

"Each Holds Up To 238 lbs"

And the Toggler. "Superior holding in hollow walls, ceilings & floors." I don't know who invented these, but I am over-the-moon thankful to them.

The TV and the mount together weigh less than 238 lbs. That's how much one Toggler holds. Using simple math, 4 would more than do it. But I used 6....

Step One: drill a hole with 1/2" bit.

Step Two: insert the Toggler by sliding the anchor down the zip-like ties.

Step Three: pull ties until the anchor is flush behind wall, then slide plastic cap along ties until the flange of the cap is flush with wall.

Step Four: snap ties at wall by pushing them side to side until they snap off level with the flange.

Do this 6 times. Done.
Now attach the wall mount.
The sweat turned into a serious stomachache.

But my dad pressed on...

And I used the drill. By the time I tightened the second screw, I knew these Togglers were heaven sent. The stomachache was gone. This was going to WORK!

Added Touch

Before we hung the TV, we decided to put holes in the drywall from the TV to the console to hide the wires.

Threaded!

Then the moment of truth. I hung the TV.

Adjusting Safety Screws

I didn't have to do any leveling. The wall plate of the mount has a built-in level, so since I was able to hang it dead on, it meant the screen was level, too.

HDMI? Check.

The bottom of the mount arm has a clip to hold all the TV wires in place, so you don't see them at all.

98% Complete

This is where I stood back and admired my handiwork. Inside, I was jumping up and down while staring at myself in amazement that I actually did it. With help, of course, from my dad.

Today

And here it is today, crap baseboard back in place (another project to tackle) just waiting for a floating console to be installed (yet another project).