I do agree with vwpower on this one though. Can,t go wrong and flush fit.

Iago, what is on the other side of this wall?

As VW said, get as much wood back their as possible and fix the drywall afterwards. Their is a lot of torque when an articulating mount is extended. Be carefull with the Omnimount, we have had problems with 2 of them. You might need the duct tape to stop the forwrd lean to the display:).

Good luck

I like the idea of having a flush finish and it seems secure enough. With that much wood in there, the whole building could come crumbling down except for that wall and the plasma. It will definately be a lot of work tearing out all that plaster, but i think I can pull it off. So, tear out the plaster slide a stack of well fastened 2 x 12 boards between studs, screw them with deck screws......Are deck screws strong enough? Ah, your the pro right. So we screw, put wall back up and add a little paint to finsh it off.....good enough. Thanks man.

By the way Larry the wall has a 2 x 4 frame. So we have about 2" of plaster followed by empty space and then more plaster which is the wall for the room on the other side. Got any other ideas? Love to hear them.

Thanks for all the help guys. I really appreciate it and it's not that I am to cheap to get a pro or that I feel spending the bucks isn't worth while, I just really enjoy the satisfaction of doing this sort of thing.

The solution is obvious move to the UK we have solid brick internal walls covered in plaster in most houses.
You guy's never heard of the three little pigs story with the wolf that huffs and puffs.
The brick one at the end is the one to choose.

oh Iago..i would hire a professional i am sure there are many other jobs your partner will find for you to do if they are anything like mine.

If it is plaster lathe, cut the plaster with a rotory saw. THen cut the slats of wood with a cordless sawzaw. I didn't see that it was plaster. I freakout whenever we have to cut into plaster. If the plaster has come loose from the slats, the whole wall could come down.

I would definetly suggest getting some help. If it is drywall you have a different story.

Mike

Mike, I think I am going to go with your idea. There is no wood behind the plaster except for the wooden studs. The plaster seems to be embedded with 14 gauge metal cables running vertically from floor to ceiling and 1/4" vertical metal belts running from end to end. The walls are damn sturdy so I highly doubt the whole thing will come down if I cut out a small section. The place originally came with one of the walls cut out and made into a silly looking bookshelf. I ripped out the shelves and noticed the cut up cables and belts in the plaster. Nothing a good pair of wire cutters couldn't handle. Shouldn't be too hard to remove a small section install the wood and cover with drywall.

Thanks for all the help. I feel confident that all will end well.......I hope! :o)

Iago, Bart,J's approach is probably the best. HOWEVER,There are a couple of other options for your install.
\Hire a commercial contrator to install a 1/2" steel wall plate to the
entire wall you are installing your new pasma tv on. This is much more secure than the wood mounting options discussed earlier. They could fasten this new substrate using 20 or up to 500 mounting points. The tv will be secured to a solid steel wall and will never come down (unless you use your deck screws to mount it to the wall). Or there's an other option< the one I prefer when mounting to 24" studs. First, return your 16" Omnimount Call your loca,l A/v custom installer. Ask them if they carry SANUS TV wall mounts?
Sanus has articulating wall mounts for 24" stuud pattern's. ( nice & SIMPLE).\
Articulating mounts from SANUS can hold up to 175lbs. Extend up to 25" . Check it out. www.sanus.com. By' Guy's. I Think it"s going to start Snowing next week.(Lake Tahoe), HAPPy HalloWWeEEn, BC

That was part of the lore over here, too, before (I imagine) political correctness made it improper to imply that a wolf might eat a pig.

Sigh.

But speaking of fairy tales, I would really like to hear from anyone who has the Steve Allen book from the early fifties "Fairy Tales for Hip Kids." In its version of the three little pigs, the pigs are musicians, and has something like

"at the last possible moment, the cool little pig made a real purple-light shack out of clarinet reeds and scotch tape."

Later, the wolf knocks a brick down the chimney, and it hits the pot of boiling water.

"The wolf said, 'what was that?' and the cool little pig said 'B-Flat, and it's your chorus! Fall in!' And fall in he did...."
I would love to see that book!

24" stud centers? Ok, well that is odd, at least around here in CA. But don't stress about it. Your idea of using solid oak is better than plywood, go for it. I would use 2 pieces of oak (not any hardwood will do. maple is super strong too.) each piece being long enough 24" and about 3" wide assuming standard 3/4 inch lumber. Sand it smooth and paint it the same color as the walls. Go ahead and lag bolt the oak to the studs and also use a couple hangers in the middle of the span for extra hold, or you could you liquid nails for a more permanent attachment.

Then bolt the mount to the 2 pieces of oak using large lag bolts.

Oh yeah and liquid nails is a good idea, but if you don't want it that permanent, use silicone.

Negative. solid hardwood has a tendancy to split

I was under the assumption that predrill resolved the whoel spliting issue......

Seems to me, if you ike doing projects to keep you busy, then why not take the drywall down, place the studs as you need them and there you've got it! Hire a professional. We are professionals telling you to do so and yet you're doing the one thing we frown upon the most. You will end up diging yourself into a deeper hole and wishing you had heeded our warning later. Good luck!

I second this. Especially if you have a Plasma - CL. It will not hold your TV. Return it, even just recycle it, and get a Sanus VMDDB. Believe me, this is the only way to go. I spent 3 hours trying to make the Omni work, only to watch it sag. Customer had supplied it. Since they had 3 kids under 6 years of age, they heard my pleadings to change mounts. The Sanus went up in a hurry and is solid as a rock.

BTW, I think it spans your 24" studs. You just saved yourself a half day's work.

[Link: sanus.com]

Hopefully I'm not breaking any protocol here, but I have a quick f/u question on the omnimount cantilever mount. I currently have one on order, and the problems oulined here have obviously raised some grave concerns over the safety of my 42" plasma. I have a 2 part question:

1) Has anyone experienced these problems with the Omnimount CL-L plasma mount, as opposed to the CL that seems to be mentioned here? Omnimount lists the CL-L as the "Step Up" cantilever wall mount, with higher weight ratings, etc., including a "wishbone" arm design.

2) What's the best way for me to go about locating a reputable pro installer in my area? (as this seems to be the underlying moral of most wall mount stories listed herein....)

I need to decide if I should attempt to cancel my order and go with a Sanus, or if the Omnimount issues have been limited to the basic CL model.

Thanks for any help / advice!