Mounting flatscreen TV to exterior wall – concrete with faring strips and drywall

[Anonymous]

So we are trying to mount a flatscreen TV to the wall that is adjacent to the outside, it's a concrete wall, with furring strips running vertically about 16 inches apart, and then drywall on the inside mounted to the strips.

You get a kit from Best Buy, it says to mount to concrete directly with included anchors, or mounting to studs. But we don't have either of those. Am I supposed to cut the drywall away and then mount the frame to the concrete behind the furring strips and then basically had a huge hole in the drywall that I somehow cover over the mount, that makes a little sense and the TV will be behind the wall basically.

Or am I supposed to mount a board between the furring strips behind the drywall and basically distribute the weight between two or three furring strips , but I'm not sure how much weight they can hold, they're just one by twos. Or maybe install new stands between the joists and the concrete slab

Has anyone done this or have the electrician do this, and see the approach they take? I can do either of these, but they both seem more complicated than necessary and have big drawbacks I think there is an easier way

We will call a handyman or an electrician, but since it's summer is everyone seems to be out of

[Anonymous]

I would cut out the drywall, put a solid board where you want it with tap con screws (meant to go in concrete/cinderblock walls) and redrywall and attach the tv to the board. Not hard to do. Or, reframe. Furring strips are not going to hold a tv. Or, you need very strong long bolts to secure it and it may not be stable. You don't need an electrician.

[Anonymous]

Get a drill. Find the size of your anchors. make sure that the anchors are long enough to go through the drywall the depth of the furring strip (or space between the furring strips) and then into the concrete wall as deep as needed. Using a regular bit, drill a hole where you want to mount the TV through the drywall. Switch bits to a concrete bit. Drill through the drywall hold into the concrete. Mount the TV Mount on the wall using the concrete anchors. It will look like the anchor only goes through the drywall, but you will know that it is actually drilled into the concrete. You can buy these anchors at Home Depot or Lowe's.

PP is right that is generally safer to cut out the drywall, put in a board and go through the board, but then you have to remount the drywall, spackle and sand and paint the drywall. You can do it without the board, as long as you sink into the concrete deep enough to hold the weight. Then you don't have to spackle, sand and repaint the drywall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get a drill. Find the size of your anchors. make sure that the anchors are long enough to go through the drywall the depth of the furring strip (or space between the furring strips) and then into the concrete wall as deep as needed. Using a regular bit, drill a hole where you want to mount the TV through the drywall. Switch bits to a concrete bit. Drill through the drywall hold into the concrete. Mount the TV Mount on the wall using the concrete anchors. It will look like the anchor only goes through the drywall, but you will know that it is actually drilled into the concrete. You can buy these anchors at Home Depot or Lowe's.

PP is right that is generally safer to cut out the drywall, put in a board and go through the board, but then you have to remount the drywall, spackle and sand and paint the drywall. You can do it without the board, as long as you sink into the concrete deep enough to hold the weight. Then you don't have to spackle, sand and repaint the drywall.

I thought of this approach, but I was afraid the length of the anchor between the concrete and the drywall would be under too much leverage. Or are you saying thru a furring strip and then into concrete like 3 inches? I guess the furring strip? Either way, I feel that lever action would cause the anchor to fail eventually

So I can use a 2x4 between furring strips, tapped to the concrete and then drywall over and mount to that through drywall over. Yeah, that seems doable...

[Anonymous]

Furring strips are generally 1X2, so there is 3/4 inch between drywall and the wall.

Cut out drywall from mount area, use tapcons to place a 3/4 piece of plywood directly onto concrete wall, then re-attach drywall and mount using lag bolts into the plywood. 3/4 ply can hold the mount plus tv, especially if it's a newer model.

Alternatively, cut out drywall, frame around edges of opening, and mount to concrete directly. This would give the TV a nice recess into the same plane as the wall.

[Anonymous]

I would hire the geek squad so if it ever falls down, they will repair/replace.