Firstly fit the television bracket to the Television , forget the wall mount part at this time. Follow the bracket makers instructions on what screws to use and use any washers supplied. Ensure the screws are tight but not over tight. The brackets I use are the long rail type that may most likely span 2 beams in a stud plasterboard wall.
Next decide where about on the plasterboard wall you need to mount the Television . Mark the center position on the plasterboard wall and a line where you would like the base of the plasma to be.
I employ a spirit level to do that. If you are mounting it over a fireplace mark the middle of the mantelpiece and use the spirit level to take the line vertically up to where the middle of the wall mount will go. To get the peak of the wall mount, measure from the base of the plasma screen to the apex of the “hook” part of the Television bracket. Now transfer that measurement to the wall. Measure from the line where you wanted the base of the screen to go to the distance you measured. This can make certain you get the plasma TV at the height you wanted it to be. Now offer up the wall mount to the center line and the measured line for the height. Using your spirit level to make certain the wall mount is straight. Mark the holes on the wall. There are 2 kinds of plasterboard wall. One is “dot and dab” where the plasterboard is stuck to the blockwork using an adhesive. The other is stud wall. You can tell if you have dot and dab by drumming the plasterboard wall. If there are solid sounding parts of the wall about 600mm apart then it is dot and dab. This is the preferable place to drill the holes. The cause of this is that when you tighten the screws the plasterboard does not pull in and crack. Usually if the bracket covers two these solid bits then you’ll be OK. Ensure you fix the television bracket here. If the TV bracket does not span 2 solid dabs then perhaps you want a professional! If the plasterboard wall is a stud wall, when you mark the television bracket holes hopefully you’ll find one studs to mend to and so take the load of the plasma or lcd.
One is generally enough to take the load seeing as most flat screen TV’s are so light these days.
Put two additional fixings in anyhow to stop the bracket slipping out of level. I typically use the butterfly type fixings for this. Ensure you have a least 2 fixings into the wood though , if the wall was to become wet from a flood or leaking pipe and you did not have fixing into wood the plasma or LCD would hit the deck! When you’re sure you have good fixings and the wall bracket is level you can hang your Television up.
