A couple weeks ago, a cabinet maker put in a cabinet with a false back. It was three-quarter inch MDF. I was supposed to mount a 75 inch QLED television to it. I was uncomfortable with that. I finally put some reinforcements behind the MDF until I thought it was solid.

There’s a huge difference between lagging into a 2 x 4 stud wall, and a three-quarter inch MDF back. At least they used to use inch and a quarter to inch and a half plywood. I could use some additional bolts. But this has got me a little bit spooked.

When I used to do a lot of cabinet designs, I would always draw up the backer with 2x4 studs screwed to the cabinet and up the backer to simulate studded walls.

And have to do pilot holes. I have seen so many tvs lagged into MDF or plywood cabinets without pilot holes and you can see the wood blowing out.

You can use zip toggles if it makes you feel better. Also remember if you’re not doing a full motion mount it’s mostly sheer weight and if it’s not even a tilt mount you don’t have to worry about anybody messing with it.

Here you go Tom.  280lbs in drywall.

[Link: homedepot.com]

I put 3/4" plywood behind the MDF if you can get to it or in front of the MDF if you cant. Plywood should be as big as the opening. Glue and screw plywood to the MDF. Then you have something solid to mount to.

The most recent one is not even a full back. It’s 14” wide and 37” tall, 1-1/2” thick.

And yes, it’s an articulating mount. This time a 65” Frame TV.

You'll probably always ask or specify how the back of a custom cabinet is to be built. If you're dealing with a cabinet and some cheesy piece of 1/4" crap that's a half inch off the wall, then you've got a problem .

Even there, you could take a hole saw to the rear panel in those locations where you're going to support the TV, then use those fliptoggles or togglers (I only use 1/4"-20 togglers myself) with spacers. This could give you a mounting surface at each location that's further from the wall than the cabinet back. Voila, the wall supports the TV and the backing is out of the picture.

Just use Togglers, MDF has incredible compression strength

So your first MDF back didn’t cause you to even think twice?

No, I knew immediately when I drilled for the lag, ran out and got the togglers. I’ve done it countless times. I even have one job with an articulating mount, granted it’s only 12-14” from the back but it’s been ok.

If you have ever tried to even break a scrap piece of MDF it takes some work.

Toggles fine, Lags are a nono!

This cannot be said too many times: not toggles, but toggleRs. Those are completely different items.

See, you know it's togglers, and I know it's togglers, but if you write toggles, sooner or later some newby will read this, think you're using exactly the right term, and they'll follow your instructions to the letter: they'll try to install using toggles. Let's save them the resulting hassle by being precise.

[Link: toggler.com]

My preferred version of strap toggle, toggles, toggler, toggleR.

If on a steel stud wall, I always like to get at least one stud. Not trusting the 8 drywall screws per panel production builders rely on.

Hilti makes a version of this that looks identical. I think the first ones I ever saw were from Grattan.

I used to buy bags of these from Home Depot, but there were two problems: I thought they should cost less and the Phillips head bolts were made of soft steel such that the driving bit would sometimes slip out.

The thought then occurred to me, I'm doing this professionally, why not act like it? So I found a source for boxes of 50 Togglers without bolts, selling at a price well below the Home Depot bags of seven or so. I then bought several hundred each of different lengths of 1/4-20 hex head bolts to go with them. I always have Togglers and bolts with me. I added washers, nuts, and lock nuts to the kit and I'm ready for bolting or togglering.

My life was actually made easier by making up this kit because the worry of whether I had togglers was reduced to just keeping the kit box full of stock from my garage.

You did not just say that out loud! Say it isn't so.