Mounting a TV on a Concrete Wall in Halifax
Downtown towers, Spring Garden Road, the Dartmouth and Bedford waterfronts: if your building is taller than four storeys and newer than about 1970, the wall behind your TV is probably poured concrete or precast panel. Drywall anchors have nothing to grab. Here is what we do instead.
From $188 before HST, pay after the job.
What we bring
An SDS-plus hammer drill with carbide bits, 3/8-inch sleeve anchors for block and precast, wedge anchors for solid pours, a HEPA vacuum with a drill shroud, a laser line and a long bubble level. Each anchor is rated for several hundred pounds in sound concrete; four of them hold a TV that weighs sixty.
What we do not bring: toggle bolts and plastic plugs. Toggles need a hollow cavity to open into, and concrete has none. Plastic plugs crush under a steady load and the bracket starts to creep within months.
How the install goes
- Building rules. We ask about quiet hours, elevator booking and any hole policy before we drill. Most buildings only want to know; a few want a form.
- Mark. Centre of screen at seated eye level, about 42 inches off the floor for a sofa. We scan the area for conduit and rebar.
- Test hole. One shallow hole tells us what the wall is made of. If we hit rebar in the first inch we move the bracket an inch or two; the slots in the plate allow it.
- Anchors. Four holes, vacuum shroud on the drill, anchors set and torqued. Then Vlad hangs his weight off the bracket.
- Mount, level, cables. TV on, levelled with the laser, cables into a paintable channel or down to a cabinet.
Allow 60 to 90 minutes. Concrete is slower than drywall because every hole is drilled, not driven.
Condo rules we run into
Minimal holes. We use only the bracket's four slots and nothing extra. When you move out, we patch them for $39.
No in-wall wiring. Our $119 in-wall option needs a hollow wall. Concrete has no inside, so it is not possible, and we will not pretend it is. The honest route is the paintable on-wall channel for $49, or a console under the TV that hides the cables. The recessed power kit needs a cavity too.
Approval. Some stratas ask for notice before any drilling into a common wall. If yours does, we send a one-paragraph description of the work. Worth asking the concierge three things: elevator booking, work hours, and whether there is a conduit map for your unit.
Precast panels and concrete block
Not all concrete is the same. Poured walls in older towers take 3/8-inch sleeve or wedge anchors with no drama. Precast panels in newer buildings are thinner, with a rebar grid close to the surface, so we use shorter anchors and expect to shift a hole or two. Concrete block, common in low-rise buildings and basements, is hollow: anchors go into the solid webs between the cores, or we use a toggle made for block when the web is too thin. One test hole tells us which of the three we have, and the price is the same $59 for all of them.
Weight is never the issue. A 75-inch TV with a full-motion arm is about 50 kilos; four anchors in sound concrete hold ten times that.
Price
| Setup | Price |
|---|---|
| Up to 43 inch, your mount | $99 + $59 = $158 |
| 44 to 65 inch, your mount | $129 + $59 = $188 |
| 66 to 85 inch, your mount, two of us | $179 + $59 = $238 |
| 86 inch and up | from $249 + $59 |
| Paintable on-wall cable channel | +$49 |
| Full-motion mount from us | +$119 |
| Soundbar mounted under the TV | +$49 |
A real one from the main page: 75 inch on a concrete condo wall downtown with a full-motion mount from us, $357. Prices are before HST and do not change on site unless the wall is not what we both expected, and then we talk first.
Or text a photo of the wall to 782-446-6322 for an exact price in minutes. No deposit, you pay after the job.
Questions we get about this
Will it damage the wall?
Four 3/8-inch holes behind the bracket, nothing visible once the TV is up. If you move out, we take the TV down and fill the holes for $39.
Can you hide the wires in a concrete wall?
Not inside it, there is no cavity. We run them in a slim paintable channel for $49, or down behind a console. Painted to match, the channel disappears from across the room.
Do I need building approval?
Usually not for a TV, but check your bylaws. Some buildings ask for notice before drilling into a shared wall. We are happy to send a short description of the work to your property manager.
Can you mount a TV on a precast ceiling or slab?
No. We do not drill into ceiling slabs because of post-tension cables. Walls only.
Ready?
Or text a photo of the wall to 782-446-6322 for an exact price in minutes. No deposit, you pay after the job.