I am hoping folks will have some general, or even specific advice. Here is my situation: I have a fairly old home. The house is masonry exterior with furring strips, wire lathe and plaster. No insulation. I would like to wall mount a new 37 inch sony lcd tv. The question is, can I? Any tips for dealing with the various obstacles such as the wire lathe? Also, any recommendations for running the wires inside that small of an area up the wall?

There are some fairly decent looking wire conduits available now. Most are paintable, so you should at least be able to hide them in a track.

Even lathe and plaster homes were framed almost like the homes today. Depending on the builder, often better than today.

If you can get a couple of lag bolts into at least one stud you are good to go.

As for what you will find in the wall you are going to need to drill a hole and look.

Try drilling a small hole where the wire would exit the wall behind the LCD. Drill it at an angle down. Try sticking a stiff wire down toward the floor if it makes it to the location of where you need the wires to exit the wall you have your answer. Piece of cake.

No studs for this. Just masonry, then firring strips, then lathe and plaster.

No studs for this. Just masonry, then firring strips, then lathe and plaster.


Where do you live? Is this Florida, I had a cinder block wall (masonry) that sounds similar to what you describe. Easiest is to just use an interior partition wall, but if you do an exterior wall you are going to need to get to the masonry part of the wall with suitable masonry hangers.

Most lathe and plaster houses still have studs.

Are you sure?

I don't know where he lives, but in Florida (at least the part of Florida I live in) furring strips on concrete block is common.

I had the same problem when I moved into my current house, except I had thin wood paneling on furring strips. I cut a hole in the paneling, used a wooden block to make it even with the paneling surface, and then Tap-Cons through the blocking and into the concrete block. I think I used 6 or 8. No problem at all for 5 years, and the Tap-Cons were tight when I removed them in prepation for a remodel.

If you have a concrete house you should become familiar with Tap-Cons. They are not the best for all applications, but in the scheme of things a 37" LCD TV is not that heavy.