Serving Greater Hobart and southern Tasmania

View pricesContact us phone tbc
MountProHobart
The Hobart housing stock

Can your Hobart wall take a TV?

Almost always yes, but almost never in the way a mainland guide describes. Hobart holds some of the oldest housing stock in Australia, and the wall behind your plaster decides the fixing, the time and the risk.

Ask about your wall Phone to be confirmed, email usinfo@mountprohobart.com

The short version

Start here

Plaster of any kind carries no load. Whether your walls are modern plasterboard or 1910 lath and plaster, the fixing has to reach the structure behind. In a Hobart context that structure is usually old-growth hardwood framing at centres that do not match a tape measure, which is why locating it properly is most of the skill.

01Timber-framed weatherboard

Standard
Where in Hobart
West Hobart, North Hobart, New Town, Moonah, Glenorchy, and the Battery Point cottages.
Will it hold a TV
Yes. The hardwood studs behind the lining carry the load comfortably, including the largest screens sold today.
The fixing that works
Coach screws into the stud centre. Studs sit at 450mm or 600mm centres in newer work, but pre-1950 Hobart framing is frequently irregular, so every stud is located and confirmed before anything is drilled.
What goes wrong
Old-growth hardwood is dense enough to snap a screw or split along the grain if it is not pre-drilled. Electronic stud detectors also mislead on these walls, which is why we probe rather than trust the beep.

02Lath and plaster

Higher risk
Where in Hobart
Almost any Hobart home built before 1940, which covers most of the inner suburbs: West Hobart, New Town, North Hobart, South Hobart and Sandy Bay.
Will it hold a TV
Not on its own. Lath and plaster is a finish, not a structure. Every fixing has to reach the hardwood stud behind it.
The fixing that works
Locate the stud, pre-drill through the plaster and lath without levering on the plaster key, then fix into solid timber. Never a plasterboard anchor, never a toggle.
What goes wrong
Over-torque a fixing and the plaster keys break away from the lath behind the wall, so the damage spreads further than the hole you can see. We tell you before we start that a plaster repair is a genuine possibility on these walls, rather than after.

03Sandstone and colonial stone

Premium
Where in Hobart
Battery Point, Salamanca, the Liverpool Street heights and the older parts of Sandy Bay.
Will it hold a TV
Usually, but it is never a phone quote. Heritage-listed stone may not be drillable at all without approval.
The fixing that works
Masonry anchors set with an SDS drill, placed to avoid weathered faces and mortar lines. Dust extraction indoors.
What goes wrong
Hobart sandstone varies enormously in hardness within a single wall, and a hole in the wrong spot cannot be undone. If the property is on the Tasmanian Heritage Register we talk about it before we drill.

04Solid double brick

Standard plus
Where in Hobart
Interwar and early postwar Hobart homes across Glenorchy, Moonah and New Town.
Will it hold a TV
Yes, comfortably.
The fixing that works
Sleeve anchors into the brick face rather than the mortar joint.
What goes wrong
Very little, structurally. The practical issue is brick dust indoors, which is a matter of extraction and drop sheets rather than difficulty.

05Brick veneer over timber frame

Standard
Where in Hobart
Postwar and modern outer suburbs: Kingston, Blackmans Bay, Howrah, Old Beach and the Brighton growth areas.
Will it hold a TV
Yes, provided the fixing reaches the frame and not just the veneer skin.
The fixing that works
Fix through to the timber frame for anything heavy. The single most common failure in this niche is a large screen hung off a veneer skin that was never designed to carry it.
What goes wrong
A veneer-only fixing can hold for months and then let go. It is the classic cause of a television coming off a wall.

06Plasterboard on modern frame

Standard
Where in Hobart
New builds around Kingston Beach, Old Beach, Brighton and the Sorell growth corridor.
Will it hold a TV
Yes, into the studs. Not on anchors alone for anything of size.
The fixing that works
Studs for anything over roughly 25kg, which in practice means every television worth mounting. Toggle fixings are for light loads only.
What goes wrong
Steel-framed new builds need a different fixing from timber, and the two are not visually distinguishable from the room side.

07Rendered blockwork and panel

Assessment needed
Where in Hobart
Contemporary architect-designed homes and waterfront apartments.
Will it hold a TV
Usually, once we know what is behind the render.
The fixing that works
Anchor chosen to suit the substrate, since block cores are hollow and render hides what it is over.
What goes wrong
An anchor sized for solid block that lands in a hollow core has almost no pull-out strength. This is one to assess rather than assume.

08Heritage-listed fabric

Consultation
Where in Hobart
Registered places across the Battery Point, North Hobart and West Hobart heritage precincts.
Will it hold a TV
Often yes on non-significant internal walls. Significant fabric is a different conversation, and not one we have the authority to settle.
The fixing that works
Reversible where possible, and always the least invasive option that will safely hold the screen.
What goes wrong
Works to a listed place can require referral to the Tasmanian Heritage Council. We will flag it on site if we think you should call the free Heritage Tasmania advisor line before we start.

How to tell what your wall is made of

Three checks, none of which need a tool.

  1. Tap it. Plasterboard drums and sounds hollow. Lath and plaster sounds dull and dead, with a slightly gritty feel under the knuckle. Solid brick or stone barely responds.
  2. Look at a window reveal. A deep reveal, roughly 200mm or more from glass to internal wall face, points to solid masonry or double brick. A shallow reveal points to a framed wall.
  3. Date the house. In Hobart this is the strongest single signal. Pre-1940 almost certainly means lath and plaster over hardwood framing. Postwar to the 1980s usually means brick veneer or double brick. Anything since the 1990s means plasterboard on a timber or steel frame.

How we assess a wall before drilling

We establish the construction, locate the framing with a detector and then confirm it by probing with a fine bit in a spot the bracket will cover. On lath and plaster the confirming probe matters more than the detector, because capacitive detectors read the lath itself and report studs that are not there.

Once the framing is confirmed we set the height from your seated eye line, agree the cable route, then drill. Nothing gets drilled on the strength of a beep.

When a wall cannot safely take your television

It is uncommon but it happens. Hollow rendered blockwork where no anchor will develop real pull-out strength. Heritage-listed fabric where drilling is not appropriate. Occasionally a badly modified wall where the framing has been cut out for a previous renovation.

When we find one of those, we stop and explain it, and you are not charged for a mount we did not fit. There is usually an alternative: an adjacent wall, a different position, or a floor-standing solution. We would rather do that than leave a screen on something that will not keep holding it.

For heritage-listed properties, Heritage Tasmania runs a free advisory line and we will suggest you use it before we start rather than after.

Related reading

Reviewed: August 2026

Common questions

Useful answers before the appointment.

Wall questions, answered for the housing stock Hobart actually has rather than the mainland average.

Ask about your job

Not into the plaster itself. Plaster is a finish and carries no meaningful load. On modern plasterboard the fixing goes into the timber or steel stud behind; on older lath and plaster it goes into the hardwood stud. Either way the plaster is just something you drill through.

Start with the specifics

Not sure what your wall is?

Tell us the suburb and roughly when the house was built and we can usually tell you before we arrive. If it is sandstone or a listed property, we will come and look first.

Get a fixed price

What to send us

  • Screen size and model
  • Your suburb
  • Roughly when the house was built
  • A photo of the wall
Emailinfo@mountprohobart.comMon to Sat
Service areaGreater HobartSix council areas

Same-week installation across Greater Hobart. Same-day where the schedule allows.

Emailinfo@mountprohobart.comGet a quote