Wall Construction Detail

[Retired and Happy]

I'm looking for information on how the wall in the MH rear bedroom is constructed. The web addresses I have for Winnebago/Itasca don't let me in any more. It appears to be solid/plywood. I think I found one stud just to the rear of the window, but the whole area seems pretty solid.

I am planning on mounting a 19/22 inch LCD TV above and to the rear of the curb side bedroom window. The right or rear edge of the TV would be close to the rear cabinet and the left or front end would be over the window cornice board. Wiring will go into that cabinet where the existing CRT TV is located.

I've seen suggestions that if a stud cannot be found, a piece of wood could be attached at several points on the wall to distribute the weight, but I don't want to bring the TV out any further than necessary. I found a two-piece mount at Wally World that allows a TV to be mounted either low profile vertically (1 9/16 in) or tiltable (2 1/8 in) with a small latch to secure it in the chosen position. It only requires two mounting screws into the wall and will hold up to 50 pounds...if the wall will....

[Clay L]

Exterior walls are made of a sandwich of fiberglass, luan,foam,luan,and the interior wall covering. The luan is thin - maybe 1/8 inch thick.There are aluminum studs in the wall. The studs are several feet apart.
Winnebago puts steel or aluminum plates in the walls where cabinets or other heavy items are connected.

There is an aluminum extrusion running the full length of the motor home at the top of the wall. It's about two or three inches wide. I used that to hang a second medicine cabinet in the bath room.

[namwob]

Strange but true... In the right conditions and at the right time (always in the morning) I can see the outline of the wall construction grid by way of condensation forming on the outside of rig. I think this has to do with due point temp, atmos temp and temp inside MH. I have thought about taking a picture of this for future reference.

[tderonne]

Winnebago has the drawings for all (ok, recent - 10 years?) their motorhomes. They will send you pdf copies. Just tell them your year and model and what you want.

I have the wall drawings for mine. They show the aluminum structure, as well as where they place plates for screwing into.

I have noticed the frost and/or dew outlining the wall structure too. But I realized somthing after I had the wall drawings. You can also see wiring channels. They look an awful lot like structure, but you certainly wouldn't want to try to screw into them!

[namwob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tderonne I have noticed the frost and/or dew outlining the wall structure too. But I realized somthing after I had the wall drawings. You can also see wiring channels. They look an awful lot like structure, but you certainly wouldn't want to try to screw into them!

ohhhhh!

[Retired and Happy]

It's looking like I may wind up using the wood panel load-spreading method. Now my problem is how to get a TV that just fits above the valance to connect into a mount behind it. Most mounts require room to lower the TV part of the bracket onto the wall part. Any suggestions? Maybe a right angle screwdriver to mount one part of the mount after everything is in the right place?

[DAN L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Retired and Happy I'm looking for information on how the wall in the MH rear bedroom is constructed. The web addresses I have for Winnebago/Itasca don't let me in any more. It appears to be solid/plywood. I think I found one stud just to the rear of the window, but the whole area seems pretty solid. I am planning on mounting a 19/22 inch LCD TV above and to the rear of the curb side bedroom window. The right or rear edge of the TV would be close to the rear cabinet and the left or front end would be over the window cornice board. Wiring will go into that cabinet where the existing CRT TV is located. I've seen suggestions that if a stud cannot be found, a piece of wood could be attached at several points on the wall to distribute the weight, but I don't want to bring the TV out any further than necessary. I found a two-piece mount at Wally World that allows a TV to be mounted either low profile vertically (1 9/16 in) or tiltable (2 1/8 in) with a small latch to secure it in the chosen position. It only requires two mounting screws into the wall and will hold up to 50 pounds...if the wall will....

get an electronic stud finder from wally world, lowes, hd, etc.

[Retired and Happy]

Yes, Dan. I have a stud finder, but it is somewhat inconclusive. It seems to find a stud about half way between the window and the cabinet, but also registers part of the rest of the way to the window. It is probably seeing the aluminum Winnebago says is around the window and cornice board. If so, that will probably help support the board with multiple screws I am planning to put in that area to spread the load.

I got the TV yesterday at Sam's Club. The TV is very light, maybe 9 pounds, so I'm not too worried about the load, except for being sure it is secure while traveling.
It's a 22 inch Sharp with a built-in DVD on the left side so it will be accessible with the TV against the rear cabinet. Also it was on sale because it was missing a cable, which I don't need anyway. The built-in DVD will eliminate the need for the separate unit I had in a cabinet, freeing up more space and eliminating more extra wiring. DS13 watches a lot of DVD's back there.

I'll see about some pictures when I finish.

[Daysu47]

Another possibility......
Had the same problem, couldn't find stud where they needed to be.
Sooooo, the way I installed my bedroom TV, 20", was to aquire a piece of paneling to match the cabinets, build a custom frame of 1 x 2"s to fit exactly between the two cabinets on either side of the area where the TV will go. Also, the frame was made just high enough to mount TV to frame. Fortunely the distance from the end and wall cabinets were only 6" wider than the TV.
I mounted the TV to the frame, and then mounted the frame on the wall by securing the frame to the "cabinets", by screwing from the inside of the cabinets into the end of the TV frame. Cables were put in cable shield and run into end cabinet just below TV.
Looks great, kind of looks like an extension of the cabinets.

Good luck,

[Retired and Happy]

Let's see if I understand...You had cabinets on each side of the TV location and you built a rectangular frame around a piece of matching paneling. The frame is wide enough to reach to both cabinets, but just tall enough to match the mounting holes in the back of the TV. So all of your support is into the two cabinets, with nothing into the wall behind the TV?

This sounds like something I might be able to modify for my location, except I only have a cabinet on one side. Mine would have to probably have a frame from cornice board to ceiling, but it would eliminate the need for a commercial mount and allow fastening closer to the wall above the window. There is reinforcement across the top of the window and at the ceiling that I could connect to and it would be easy to extend the framing to the window center line, helping to make it look better. A couple of shims would make it angle down for easier viewing from the bed. Did you countersink the bolts going into the back of the TV? Hmmm...