Installing the wall mount cleat
It’s D-Day and we will know for sure if things will go as planned. I built this space specifically to have an entertainment center on this wall but did not know at the time that I would be hanging the thing. If so, I would have put in some blocking to hold the lag bolts. I had Bryce take pictures of all the walls in the framing stage right before we closed them so I could see what we had in the future. He found the pics, printed them out and we hung them up on the wall. Now we know what size the studs and posts are and where everything is. I laid out the cleat and bolted that in. I have ½” x 5’ long lags through the cleat and into the studs to hang the bottom mount on the wall. I check level with the mating cleat mounted to the center backboard to make sure things are correct. Once that is done I put the 5/8” threaded L hooks to catch the eyebolts on the outer edges. It takes a while to get everything done and predrilled so we can just hang it up and through lag the unit when it goes in place.
Mounting system preassembled to backboard
Everything looks good so we go back to the shop and assemble the backs to the boxes. While we are at it I knock together some spacer boxes out of scrap to put on top of a couple of carts. The carts and spacer boxes will allow us to assemble the entire unit then just roll it back and drop it on the cleats and hooks.
Assembling the unit on carts
Alex and I drag the preassembled sides over to the house. They are heavy and awkward and make us realize we are not spring chickens anymore. Once set up on the carts we assemble the center back to the left side and then connect the right to that. It goes easy and as planned. Everything comes together and fits tight. Yeah! I love when that happens. I put in the eyebolts and then install the rope backlight. By now it’s pushing 4:30, normal quitting time. We can’t quit now so I ask Alex to stay and we keep going. 24 is on tonight and we got three hours to finish up so we can watch. We were going to take video of the hang up for your viewing pleasure or (America’s Funniest Home Videos if it fell down) but I didn’t want to stop everything to set up the camera. Bryce used the video feature in the digital camera and took a few seconds of the hang. It was pretty anticlimactic though. We pushed it back to the wall, located the eyebolts on the hooks, and then pulled the spacer box off the left cart. It dropped right into place. Now to the right and pull that spacer. Miracle of miracles the hook lines up and with a little push the unit drops home. Nice! Alex takes a seat where the TV goes and I was going to join him to test the weight. I thought better of that and figured I should through bolt the piece to the studs before trying that stunt. Four more ½”X 6” lags through the unit into the studs secure everything. It is the Rock of Gibraltar and I save the embarrassment and all the extra work if it failed.
I am not an idiot
