# Hanging a TV Off An MDF Panel



## cabinetbuilding (Jan 9, 2016)

We're making a high gloss lacquered MDF panel (18mm MDF).
- the panel is going to be wall hanging

On that panel I'd like to hang approx 30kg+ of TV.

1. Would hanging the TV be problematic?

2. Would I need special screws/ anchors for the job?

3. Or would it be better to go with something like ultrafine chipboard to get the gloss lacquer with increased strength?


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

That sounds like a great way to destroy a tv to me. I wouldnt trust mdf, or any particle-based panel material, to hold a load by screws or other anchor. Any reason you couldnt use plywood? Be a little more work to get the high-gloss finish, but the extra half an hour would be well worth the anchors for the tv not ripping through and dropping what im assuming is a large, expensive flat panel on the ground


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

MDF wouldn't be very good to hang the TV on however if you would install Tee Nuts in the MDF from the back side it would hold as well as anything.


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## cabinetbuilding (Jan 9, 2016)

Hadn't really considered plywood. Just thought MDF was the way to go for the best finish.
(Not a joiner)

Tee nuts sound like a good idea. I'll look into all that.

Thanks


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## MT Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

So the question is how are you going to mount the high gloss MDF panel to the wall? It will be heavy, right? MDF is not light. Just sayin'.

I agree on the T nuts installed from the back side for attaching the TV mount.


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

Why do you not just mount the TV right to the wall studs?

George


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## NickB (Sep 24, 2013)

I think you'd be surprised. Screw withdrawl/pull out strength of a #10 screw in 3/4"(18mm) MDF with a properly sized pilot screw is over 200 lbs (90kg) *...per screw!*[citation]

Most flat screen TVs don't weigh 30kg (65+lbs), but even if yours does, I seriously doubt that you'll pull a bracket out of the MDF with just a TV. Maybe if somebody uses it for chin ups....


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## cabinetbuilding (Jan 9, 2016)

The panel is slightly off wall with a hidden/ recessed frame 30mm or 38mm thick board. The plan is to mount the panel to the wall using something like these rebar rods in the frame:
https://www.sdslondon.co.uk/conceal...ealed-floating-shelf-bracket-wall-fixing.html

So I recon wall mounting shouldn't be a problem.

Just holding the TV/ frame on the panel.

Great find on that article - was wanting to see something like that =)
- where'd you find that, off Google scholar?

So 211lb (/95.7kg) of force for just 1 10A screw in 3/4" board.
- nice!
- tempted to try that with just MDF now...

(Technically I guess I could hang off it with just 2 screws!)

Might be able to increase the Internal Bond strength (IB) with a bit of adhesive/glue after drilling a pilot hole.

Interesting...

So a number 10 screw works out at 0.192" (/4.88mm) wide diameter.
- AB type screw probably be slightly better
- length of screw: 15mm?

Let me know if I'm screwing something up here.


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## cabinetbuilding (Jan 9, 2016)

Panel is for aesthetic purposes and also hides electric stuff like radio transceivers for controlling the TV, LEDs etc.
- (so also don't want to drill screws too far into electric equipment - although equipment can be moved around out of the drilling line)


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## cabinetbuilding (Jan 9, 2016)

Also very quickly - for densities I'm getting

MDF - ~750 kg/m3
- low-high LDF-HDF - 500-1000 kg/m3
Chipboard (aka particleboard in US?) - 650 kg/m3
Plywood - 600 kg/m3
OSB - 580-640 kg/m3

So MDF is approx 25% more heavy than Plywood


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

cabinetbuilding said:


> The panel is slightly off wall with a hidden/ recessed frame 30mm or 38mm thick board. The plan is to mount the panel to the wall using something like these rebar rods in the frame:
> https://www.sdslondon.co.uk/conceal...ealed-floating-shelf-bracket-wall-fixing.html
> 
> So I recon wall mounting shouldn't be a problem.
> ...


I don't agree with the article saying you can put screws directly into MDF. I've seen way too many screws pulled out of MDF. It doesn't just pull out, it tears out a chunk of MDF with it. I once worked for a company that repaired store fixtures and have seen just how well MDF holds up. We usually filled the hole with bondo and put a piece of solid wood behind it with tee nuts to be able to continue using the fixtures.


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## cabinetbuilding (Jan 9, 2016)

tricky one..

I guess without actually hanging the (rather expensive) TV on it to test it out I'm not going to know for sure.

For my own peace of mind it seems like plywood is the better option.

Do you think the hidden 30mm thick frame (where the rebar rods go)
- would that be ok to use MDF or chipboard?


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

cabinetbuilding said:


> tricky one..
> 
> I guess without actually hanging the (rather expensive) TV on it to test it out I'm not going to know for sure.
> 
> ...


The folks that make the TV mounting brackets take it lightly. I installed one this week and the kit came with drywall anchors to install it to sheetrock. I threw those away and found a stud to mount the bracket to. No TV is coming off the wall on my watch.

Plywood would certainly be a better product to mount to. If you use birch or maple plywood it should paint as well as MDF. 

The rebar rods, I've never used anything like that so I couldn't say how strong they are. A lot would depend on what material they were mounted into and how many of them are used. I'm sure they have a recommended load range. I would install enough of them where you could put a heavier load on them than what you are doing. More than likely if they failed the frame for the TV would start sagging, not fall off the wall. Still I would hate to install it and then have to take it back down in six months to install some more rebar rods.


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## cabinetbuilding (Jan 9, 2016)

scientific studies provide a good reference point although typically are very specific for the methods that they use
- i.e. in this case - screws pulled out only longitudinally/ perpendicular to board

So without experimenting myself (since I'm only doing the 1 unit) - I'm giving a bit more weight to Steve's years of empirical observations


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## cabinetbuilding (Jan 9, 2016)

thanks Steve, I'll overspec the rebar support since that's relatively straightforward & hopefully should be good on the MDF frame, joined to the plywood front panel


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## MT Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

Yep, I screwed my bracket to the stud. I could hang from it and it won't come down. By the way, how heavy is your TV? Mine is a 40 incher and it only weighs 15 pounds.

What kind of mounting bracket are you using? I guess I don't understand (or missed the explanation) what the MDF is for, and rebar? huh?

Look at this pic. It is my 42 inch TV in the living room mounted on the brick. The mounting bracket is attached to the brick via the plastic grommets glued into the grout with liquid Nails construction adhesive. That TV is fairly heavy. But it has been there since 2009.

And power and cables? They are hidden. I used power and low voltage boxes and cut opening in the brick to run them over, under and through the wall to the stereo equipment. It did help that part of the drywall had been removed. We were repairing damage from Hurricane Ike. I had water damage in every room from shingles being ripped off the roof. :-(

I used something *similar to this*, but not exact. Mine had a power supply and a low voltage opening to route the cables.


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## cabinetbuilding (Jan 9, 2016)

Nice job on that TV & cable work.

The mounting bracket would be straight on the gloss panel. The panel is part of the interior design scheme but also houses other electrics e.g. radio transceivers

Which means that I can't mount straight into any stud work.
- actually it's concrete construction with a layer of bonding & plasterboard on top.
- so walls are pretty solid

We're looking at mounting a 65" TV so weight including bracket is approx 30kg.

The panel will be held using rods (rebar) driven into concrete which go through a recessed 30mm thick frame holding the panel (hidden LED effects in recess)


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## MT Stringer (Jul 21, 2009)

I see what you are saying about the weight.

Good luck. Post some pics when you get it installed.
Mike


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## NickB (Sep 24, 2013)

Sorry, I've not been around to respond. 

Yes, I gave scientific evidence. It is true that sometimes practice doesn't fall in line with research because of unseen variables. That said, if MDF is the right product for the application, I'd screw my TV and sleep well at night. If plywood makes more sense, than use plywood knowing full well that peace of mind is invaluable.

TVs nowadays just aren't that heavy. If you're using a stationary bracket (not one that extends), there's just no leverage to pull these things out. The weight pulls more downwards and less outwards, which means that the MDF would likely need to fail catastrophically as Steve described. Again, there's not much force acting here, so it wouldn't concern me for my TV.

If there are other variables such as an extending bracket or if you're going to be mounting a soundbar or other equipment to the TV, then that needs to be considered. I'm picturing a bracket like this:









If I'm understanding correctly, there is a masonry wall directly behind this panel? If so, you could easily shoot some Tap-Cons straight through the bracket into the masonry for that added peace of mind. I believe they are available up to 4" or so.


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## egtvm (2 mo ago)

NickB said:


> If you're using a stationary bracket (not one that extends), there's just no leverage to pull these things out. The weight pulls more downwards and less outwards, which means that the MDF would likely need to fail catastrophically as Steve described. Again, there's not much force acting here, so it wouldn't concern me for my TV.
> 
> If there are other variables such as an extending bracket or if you're going to be mounting a soundbar or other equipment to the TV, then that needs to be considered.


Hate to be reviving an old thread, but I just happen to have the same issue. The carpenter assures me that the MDF will be able to hold the 65" TV I'm installing. 

I'll be using this to mount the TV though, which is adjustable: TV wall mount (rotate & tilt), 32”-70”, 40 kg (WM-70RT-01)

I'd only be adjusting the TV occassionally to plug/remove a cable, but the discussion here has got me a bit worried. The TV + the mount would be no more than 27kg.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

egtvm said:


> Hate to be reviving an old thread, but I just happen to have the same issue. The carpenter assures me that the MDF will be able to hold the 65" TV I'm installing.
> 
> I'll be using this to mount the TV though, which is adjustable: TV wall mount (rotate & tilt), 32”-70”, 40 kg (WM-70RT-01)
> 
> I'd only be adjusting the TV occassionally to plug/remove a cable, but the discussion here has got me a bit worried. The TV + the mount would be no more than 27kg.


You might have the carpenter cut enough sheetrock off the wall to install some wood blocking to the framing. Position the blocking so the TV bracket would attach to the blocking with lag screws instead of the MDF. They can take a jab saw and cut out a square and when done put the same piece back on. Maybe someday someone may want the rock wall again but that would be just a little tape and bed work. 

With blocking in the wall you could hang an antique console TV on the wall and it would hold.


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## B Coll (Nov 2, 2019)

Steve Neul said:


> MDF wouldn't be very good to hang the TV on however if you would install Tee Nuts in the MDF from the back side it would hold as well as anything.


Yup


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