# Mounting a mantle piece



## Whippet (22 Mar 2006)

Hello!
Could anybody give me any tips on the best way to fix a 6"x2.5"x5ft oak beam to a brick chimney breast? I think I need a pattern for a pair of sturdy brackets - I should have enough wood left over from the beam to make them. Cheers


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## Paul Chapman (22 Mar 2006)

Hi Whippet,

I had to do a similar job for a friend a long time ago. It wasn't oak but the size of timber was similar to yours. I used quite large Rawlbolts into the wall with some threaded rod - from memory the rod was 10mm.

I drilled the beam to slip over the rods (I think I used three or four) and then secured it all with washers and nuts countersunk into the beam. I filled the holes in the beam with decorative wooden plugs.

I seem to remember doing it this way because they wanted the beam over a fireplace and there wasn't room for sufficiently sturdy brackets.

It worked very well and up to the time they sold the house it hadn't fallen down :roll: 

Hope this is of some help.

Paul


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## martyn2 (22 Mar 2006)

If you looking for an invisible fix get some threaded rod about 8"(20cm) long about 4 of them drill in to the fire place about 5"(13cm) and fix using glue or cement. drill the oak mantle then bolt on and plug the holes with oak plugs sand an seal it work for me and lasted years 

martyn 

you beat me


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## Paul Chapman (22 Mar 2006)

Martyn,

Great minds think alike, eh :wink: 

Paul


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## jasonB (22 Mar 2006)

Better than seeing plugged holes is to drill in from the back of the board 75% of the depth then use resin to fix the board to the projecting studs which are also set in resin. If you use say 14mm holes & 12mm studs you get a bit of play to fine tune the board for level before the resin goes off.

Jason


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## martyn2 (22 Mar 2006)

Paul Chapman":1s0ynxb3 said:


> Martyn,
> 
> Great minds think alike, eh :wink:
> 
> Paul



Or fools fail to differ   

martyn


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## engineer one (23 Mar 2006)

in my distant youth, we used to fit marble and granite mantles and surrounds. we generally used a kind of key hole mounting drilled into the 
back of the overmantle, that way you could sort the level, then we put the pillars in after to ensure the levels and security. they were cemented, but then in those days we did not have all the adhesives ,

seem to remember noah saying we should have moved on after building the ark, but you know metal workers, still working in the dark ages.

paul :wink:


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## Offcut (23 Mar 2006)

Did something similar myself. After putting up some stud work I screwed some flat plate to the back of the oak beam - 25mm wide x 600mm long running vertically. I then screwed the plate to the studding and plastered over the plate.

You could screw the plate directly to the wall. Then plaster over.












Andy


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## Lord Nibbo (23 Mar 2006)

Whippet":1ly4tz2o said:


> Hello!
> Could anybody give me any tips on the best way to fix a 6"x2.5"x5ft oak beam to a brick chimney breast? I think I need a pattern for a pair of sturdy brackets - I should have enough wood left over from the beam to make them. Cheers


 
This took three of us to lift into position. Its held in by two 25mm threaded studdings hammered 4" into a concrete lintel, then 25mm holes were drilled into the back of the beam and filled with polyurethane before hammering it on to the studs. Don't know how heavy it was but to give you some idea its over nine feet long nearly a foot high and about seven inches thick, the ends were cut to fit around the stone.


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## jasonB (24 Mar 2006)

Fitted a couple of floating shelves today, the principal is the same just use a few more fixings:






The shelves were laminated from 12mm oak veneered MDF with a layer of 12mm MR MDF in the ctr, just right for the 12mm bars. The bit of CLS in the background was drilled on the drill press to use as a jig to get the holes square & level. 4No 12mm black mild steel rods(cheaper than studding), diamond core drill for tiles and 31/64th drill gave a better fit than my 12mm lip & spur drill






Studs were placed in the correct position when I built the wall, so just drilled the tile & studs and set the bars with a drop of gripfill. Did manage to hit a drywall screw  






Finished shelves, Will post the whole bathroom/ bedroom/dressing room when its all done but if you want a look (big pics not resized yet)

http://photobucket.com/albums/v156/jaso ... ille%20rd/

Jason


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## Whippet (28 Mar 2006)

Thanks all for the great advice. We had wanted an invisible fixing but couldn't get our heads round how with such a heavy beam. Seems like a much simpler option than brackets.
Cheers!


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## Chris Knight (28 Mar 2006)

Jason,
Looks like a terrific job in progress there!


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