Mounting a TV on internal walls are triple board rather than stud

[JT102]

Afternoon all,

When I moved into my house I started to look at mounting my TV on a bedroom wall, I couldn't find the studs when tapping and nothing was picked up with a detector. When cutting out the backbox for power and data, I found that this wall isn't a stud wall, it's 3 layers of plasterboard back to back, I have no idea where it gets it's strength from or how it's stuck together, assuming a piece of timber top/bottom/sides?.. This is an internal wall from the master bedroom that backs onto the stairs and I found the wall between the bathroom and 2nd bedroom is the same..

I guess I have 2 questions..

1) Why is it like this? It doesn't seem a very good method, assuming cost? The house is 22 years old.
2) Is there any way of me being able to mount a TV on the wall? Obviously plasterboard fixings aren't possible as there's no cavity for them to open up in and grab and I'm also worried about the weight.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

It sounds like a partition wall system - the sort of thing still used in offices and sometimes shops. They often use glass fibre reinforcing in the plaster and can have metal edges. Generally fitted into a steel channel section at floor and ceiling levels which get covered with the skirting and coving respectively - there are other systems where the partition is grooved to fix onto a hidden track as well. TBH I haven't seen them used in houses for a very long time (the well known version used to be called Paramount and had two skins of PB with what looked like a cardboard egg box in the middle). The one thing I know which will fix into them is a "curly whirly" plasterboard fixing like this Easyfix Self-Drill PB Fixing:

but I've found that you do need to pilot drill them carefully at about the same or just smaller diameter as the body because they always seem to run off line if you just screw them in (in other words self drill? phuey!), They will hold light weights and items which are flat to the wall, but they are a case of the more the merrier. I've used them in office partitions on one job to hold smaller flat screen monitors, but I used 8 or 10 per pattress to affix biggish 12mm MDF pattresses to the walls (with some grip adhesive on the back as well) and then attached the monitors (about 20 to 24in, from memory) to the pattresses. I can't see them carrying a 42in flat screen TBH, but maybe someone else has a better technique

A couple of questions - where are your light switches and are the power feeds to them in surface mounted plastic trunking? Also, how thick are these walls?

 

[foxhole]

The walls strong enough to drill and use a decent wall plug.

 

[Deleted member 292770]

They are called laminated walls. usually 3 layers thick with the middle layer thicker .
they are bonded with plasterboard adhesive.
common in local authority builds 80’s onwards.
Seen loads around Somerset - Taunton especially.

 

[JT102]

It sounds like a partition wall system - the sort of thing still used in offices and sometimes shops. They often use glass fibre reinforcing in the plaster and can have metal edges. Generally fitted into a steel channel section at floor and ceiling levels which get covered with the skirting and coving respectively - there are other systems where the partition is grooved to fix onto a hidden track as well. TBH I haven't seen them used in houses for a very long time (the well known version used to be called Paramount and had two skins of PB with what looked like a cardboard egg box in the middle). The one thing I know which will fix into them is a "curly whirly" plasterboard fixing like this Easyfix Self-Drill PB Fixing:

View attachment 261838

but I've found that you do need to pilot drill them carefully at about the same or just smaller diameter as the body because they always seem to run off line if you just screw them in (in other words self drill? phuey!), They will hold light weights and items which are flat to the wall, but they are a case of the more the merrier. I've used them in office partitions on one job to hold smaller flat screen monitors, but I used 8 or 10 per pattress to affix biggish 12mm MDF pattresses to the walls (with some grip adhesive on the back as well) and then attached the monitors (about 20 to 24in, from memory) to the pattresses. I can't see them carrying a 42in flat screen TBH, but maybe someone else has a better technique

A couple of questions - where are your light switches and are the power feeds to them in surface mounted plastic trunking? Also, how thick are these walls?

Thanks for the detailed reply. Sorry for the delay, crazy week.. So, the wall in particular that is triple boarded doesn't have power near, my light switch and double socket on one wall is an internal wall between the 2 bedrooms that is actually a stud wall, so runs in the cavity there. The other double power socket I have is on the other wall which is an exterior wall.

Thickness is an odd one, it seems like there's a 12.5mm board, then a thicker board of around 20mm then another 12.5mm board

The walls strong enough to drill and use a decent wall plug.View attachment 261855

Thanks

 

[JT102]

They are called laminated walls. usually 3 layers thick with the middle layer thicker .
they are bonded with plasterboard adhesive.
common in local authority builds 80’s onwards.
Seen loads around Somerset - Taunton especially.

Thanks for the info, I did wonder if they had some form of adhesive there.

It seems an odd method. This was a private developer estate 20 years ago and seems a little bit of a bodge, but maybe I just find it frustrating because on the walls that are like it, I wanted to mount a TV or build a niche for the bathroom

 

[opps]

Thanks for the info, I did wonder if they had some form of adhesive there.

It seems an odd method. This was a private developer estate 20 years ago and seems a little bit of a bodge, but maybe I just find it frustrating because on the walls that are like it, I wanted to mount a TV or build a niche for the bathroom

My stepson used to have a house like that in Aylesbury. Some of the walls were as you describe. Thus far it is the only time that I have experienced anything like that. I think that the inner plasterboard was 25mm, the wall used 1" by 1" timber (internally) screwed to the floor and ceiling to stop the wall falling over if someone leaned on it.

If I were you, I would consider cutting some 18mm ply to the size of the wall bracket. Glue it to the wall and screw in to the ply from the other side of the wall.