I'd like to wall mount a TV in my apartment, but not sure how to go about it. I know in the US most walls in homes are sheetrock over a wooden frame, and in that case, I'd need a stud-finder to locate the studs, and then drill into them. In a concrete wall, I could just drill into that directly anywhere and be ok. But I'm not certain how my apartments wall here are constructed.
I live in a typical Swiss apartment block built in the 90's. It's a concrete building structure. However, I'm not sure how the inside walls are done. I've drilled holes in the walls before to hang small things, like shelves, and when I drill in the wall, the drill goes in fairly easy and some kind of brown/white sawdust/powder stuff comes out, so I'm pretty sure I'm not drilling straight into concrete, but something else (some kind of drywall?). I noticed sometimes when I push the drill, maybe after 2cm or so it seems like there's air as the drill suddenly pushes in easily. Other times it looks like I hit something harder like possibly concrete.
Does anyone here know how the inside walls of typical Swiss apartment buildings are constructed, and how I would mount a TV on that (ie: do I need a stud-finder?)
You should use a cable finder though. I found cables in places I wanted to hang pictures.
We've never mounted the flat screens we have on a wall, just sat them on top of a dresser/bench using the inbuilt stand. IMO that looks nice and tidier than a TV stuck to the wall with the cables hidden under a bit of white plastic. The new TV we are looking at comes with nice, rotating stand exactly for that purpose.
Not sure there's any such thing as a 'typical' Swiss apartment, but it sounds like you don't have enough information/expertise to do this yourself, so maybe you need to find someone that can look at your walls and advise. One thing you can be fairly sure of is that the construction will be quite different from what you'd find in the US - some interior walls may just be plasterboard (==drywall) but it's not really a normal building technique.
More commonly (in Europe in general) a layer of render/plaster is put on top of a breeze block (==cinder block?) wall, and sometime is may be easier to use cut plasterboard instead. But there wouldn't normally get a gap between it and the wall, so I'd try and look carefully at what you've got. If there's no gap that a stud finder won't help you. Assuming that you don't mind damaging and making good the wall, you may find it useful to chip out a wide enough hole to investigate further.
If it is 'drywall' and it were just for mounting a picture or something then there are quite a few specialist fasteners for this, but the weight of a TV is considerable, and I'd be reluctant to do that if I wasn't absolutely certain of what I was fastening it to.
Yea, I'm already thinking to go buy a stud-finder today and check my walls. Due to lack of space, I need to hang it on the wall, putting a table or something isn't too practical in my case, altho, yea, would be easier.
I like a challenge
Yea, I need to know what I'm drilling into for sure. If there's a gap between the concrete wall and the drywall, the mounting may seem secure at first bull will probably not hold too long and everything will come crashing down. I'm hoping a stud-finder will point out the solid parts where I can drill into with more confidence. I'd really like to know how the walls are typically constructed tho, so I have some idea of whats happening back there.
Fermacell is used a lot in building to create internal partition walls, on a wooden framework. It comes in different thickness's, and 15mm is commonly used.
When drilled into, it does give a whiteish/grey dust - but you do also say it's brownish too, which might suggest something else.
I believe it's only been used within the last 20ish years - if your appartment is older, then it might not be this.
Fermacell is strong, water- and fire proof. For pictures, hooks can be screwed directly into it; for heavier items, rawl plugs should be used.
I use a combined stud, cable and pipe detector before drilling holes - strongly recommended.
EDIT: The hollow brick pictured brick above from Tom, is also relative easy to drill into, as the thickness between cell is relatively thin.
Thanks for this info. The wall I plan to hang it on is an "internal" wall, and may well be made of these hollow-bricks with some plaster facade. I know my "outer" walls are solid concrete, but I forgot to consider internal walls are probably not constructed the same way.
In this case, if it is indeed the hollow-bricks covered in plaster, is there still a gap between the plaster and the brick? ie: is the plaster directly on the bricks, or is it on some kind of 1-2cm drywall covered in plaster held up by studs connected to the bricks?
Oh. I've drilled alot of holes into my walls. Sometimes there is a cavity after 1-2cm, sometimes there isn't any cavity (maybe I'm drilling into a stud in that case?). In the cases where I remember there is a cavity, then there's a solid concrete wall maybe another 2cm after the empty space (ie: 2cm plaster, 2cm space, then concrete). I can't remember if this is the same for "interior" and "exterior" walls.
Or more likely, you're hitting a bit of the block/brick without a hole in it. There must be solid material around a hole by definition otherwise it's not a hole
Yea, good point, may well be he case...altho, when I think about it, the wall after the cavity seems much harder, which leads me to think it's not a hole in the hollow-brick, but maybe a different material (solid concrete). I think I'll look at one of the drill-holes I already made in the wall and try to examine it closer and see what info I can gain from that.
If it is this red hollow-brick type wall, can I still hang a TV on that? The directions that came with the wall mounting kit has 2 types of mounting instructions, one for fixing it onto wooden studs (with 5mm screws), and another for solid concrete (10mm screws with rawl plugs). Should the hollow-brick be considered as concrete then?
You should be fine. Once mounted, the force will be downwards which is effectively compressing the material.
I've hung heavy bathroom cupboards from the same stuff but I used brass-expandable plugs with bolts.
There are so many different fixings around that it's difficult to suggest anything unless we know exactly what the material is into which you are trying to fix.
You'll probably be fine with screws and rawls but as it's a TV which would be rather damaged if it fell, don't quote me on that.
Just drill the holes, insert the plastic thingies, and fasten the mount. The walls are indeed hollow bricks and very easy to work with (if you have the right drill).
I bought a cheap tv (thomson) and fastened it to the wall, but the whole back side pretty much came apart - so you need to make sure your tv is not a piece of plastic crap that falls apart when gravity is applied.
I drilled a hole in the wall and shined a flashlight in, and it was indeed that red hollow-brick (pointed out earlier in this thread) with a plaster covering applied directly to the brick. I drilled easily my 4 mounting holes and my TV is now (seemingly) securely hanging on my wall and looking good Very simple actually, looks like I got all worried about nothing
Thanks. Yea, my TV has the 4 VESA wall mounting holes in it, and fastened to the wall-holder with no problems. It's a new 40" TV, only 12kg and 4cm thin.. Maybe some fat and heavy older ones might have problems I guess.
Meh. I put up my TV for the first time last year and rounded it off by putting up a ceiling projector. There is always a first time.
I got a Bosch electrical current / water detector from Coop Bau Hobby to detect for any pipes wires. I got a TV bracket from Digitec though im sure you will get them at Interdiscount etc. I believe I had to drill 6 holes and the bracket supports up to 60 kg. I also got the cable boxes from the bau hobby and found that I had to drill holes to keep that up. The double sided sticky tape was not enough to keep it attached to the walls I have, a sort of bumpy white stuff. Mine is on an exterior wall and I had to use some masonry bits for the drill.
Youve done it before but make sure you turn the fuse for that room off when you are doing the drilling. I used an extension cord from a power switch in another room with the drill. Beyond drilling, getting the TV level is the only other part I can think of that takes some skill. Helpful if you have a friend for that and of course the mounting, although I did that myself too, but thats just the kind of guy I am
Oh, lastly, you might want to let the neighbours know you are going to drill. But only if you like them