Mounting on brick- lags/epoxy/?

[parnelli]

Once again I have to defer to the knowledge of the forum.

I have a brick fireplace in our family room and have been instructed to mount the television above it.

Bought a bracket that comes with lots of hardware for mounting- including screws and lag shields. The instructions say NOT to drill into the mortar, but into the brick. Unfortunately instructions aren't my strong point...

I'd really prefer to drill into the mortar, so that in the future if I or somebody else wants to get rid of this thing, there aren't 8 big 1/2 holes in the bricks.

Is the strength that much less in the mortar? I find people online that say brick is stronger, and others the opposite.

What if I drilled into the mortar but epoxy'd the lag shields in place? They'd hit the brick on two sides....

ideas? suggestions? help?!?

[chopnhack]

The mortar doesn't have the same strength as the brick does. You will notice when drilling the mortar that it crumbles much easier than the brick. Be on the safe side and install through the brick as is recommended. Mortar varies SO much, at least the brick is a little more uniform coming from a factory. As for concealing the holes, if you were to remove the tv, colored mortar would work. Have you considered heat coming off the fireplace effecting the tv?

[cabinetman]

Have you considered heat coming off the fireplace effecting the tv?

This would also be my first question. If it won't, there is a way around the big holes. Just use Tapcons®. Used correctly into the brick, a 3/16" Tapcon® only needs a 5/32" hole. A 1/4" Tapcon® only needs a 3/16" hole.
.

[tfischer]

We mounted a 46" sony over the TV about a year ago.

I drilled into the mortar for the same reasons as the the OP. I used some plastic anchors by "Toggler" which are rated for something like 100x the weight of the TV, per anchor... They claim the screw will sheer before the anchor will pull out of the hole... I scoured their site and didn't see any recommendation to not drill into mortar (the only guideline was not to drill less than 1" or so from the edge of a brick, because the expansion of the anchor could split the brick...) Now I'm terrified about plastic anchors -- I've had far too many fail, but this brand seems to work very well -- I've used them elsewhere around the house and they seem to be engineered to work and not pull out like the cheap brands...

As for heat from the fireplace, this has been a non-issue for us. Ours is a standard wood fireplace, and we find that the heat rises up about 2' in front of the TV. It can be blistering hot standing in front of the TV, but the actual surface of the TV (and your hand, when holding it near the TV) is room temperature.

By the way, there are some very good TV mounts on ebay by Assia for a fraction of what the local stores want. I paid about $40 shipped for my tilting flush mount -- Best Buy wants $150 for something similar...

-Tim

[scmhogg]

I have been contemplating installation of a flat screen above the fireplace in the den. The last time I had a BIG fire in the fireplace, I checked with my trusty HF IR Digital thermometer. I was amazed to find that the temperature of the wall, and various items on the mantle, did not go above the ambient air temp by more than a few degrees. As noted, it was very hot to stand in front.

Steve

[rnelson0]

You should not be worried about plugging the brick. You would have to plug mortar too and the substance for both would be the same. I would worry more about crumbling bricks and mortar. I would suggest a gentle tap against the bricks where you plan to drill to make sure they do not simply fall apart or have a hollow sound - your TV will not look so pretty if the brick collapses, and it is best to find out BEFORE you drill the holes that you need to replace a brick or three.

As has been said, the strength of the brick is going to be better than that of mortar. Not only is the substance typically more resilient, but water seepage will most likely occur at the cracks between the two, not in the middle of a brick, making the mortar more likely to be affected first. Tapcons work (buy a spare bit or more!) and a variety of metal and plastic anchors, too.

As for purchasing the brackets, I suggest Monoprice.com - get yourself some cables while you are there, all at a fraction of the cost of pretty much anywhere else. 3 foot HDMI cables for $6 instead of $60.

[tfischer]

3 foot HDMI cables for $6 instead of $60.

Since our A/V rack is about 25' "as the wire runs" (I had to run it up, along the ceiling behind some new moldings I put up, and back down to the rack), I was most interested in getting the cheapest cables that did the job well. I need 2 HDMI, a component, RF for antenna, composite with audio, and a few others... Those would have set me back about $1K at the big box stores, I think I spent right at $100 for them from dealers on eBay, and they work just great. Don't necessarily buy the cheapest cables but if the specs look good, they probably will work great. And for HDMI, it's digital, so it's either going to work, or not, there's no "sharper" or "less fuzzy" with digital...

-Tim

[gjat]

I've hung lot's of pipe and structures. The problem with anchoring in mortar or concrete is it doesn't have the strength that the fired brick does. An expansion anchor works by alway putting pressure on the surrounding materials. There are always vibrations and movement in structures caused by traffic, expansion, door closing, etc. Eventually an expansion anchor will work itself loose.

You can drill and anchor into the mortar, but you want to use epoxy anchors and use a few more anchors just incase the mortar fails. The technique for epoxy is to have a hole a little larger, make sure all dust is blown/cleaned out, and let the epoxy fully cure before installing the bolt or screw. If you ever have to remove the TV, you can cover the anchors with a dab of mortar. Take a look at the Hilti website to get an idea. For your small project, a few decent plastic anchors and good epoxy should be sufficient.

I would not worry about the heat. The brickface should not be getting hot unless something is wrong with the flue system or you're hanging the TV inches above the fireplace opening.

[tfischer]

These are what I used (referenced above):
http://www.toggler.com/products_swa.html

Been holding for just shy of a year now, but I'd hate to jinx myself and find the Sony in pieces on the floor tomorrow . As noted above I scoured their specs sheet and my application seemed to be magnitudes less than the rated stuff for these...

-Tim