Mount a TV Bracket With Sanus VLF728 in 6 Steps for a Flush Wall Fit

Why the 3.4 inch closed depth matters before you drill anything

The VLF728 advertises a 3.4 inch profile when fully retracted, but that number assumes the wall plate and the monitor arms nest correctly against a flat surface. On a typical UK cavity wall finished in 12.5 mm plasterboard over 89 mm timber studs, the screws bite the stud face and the plate sits proud of the plaster by the thickness of any skirting trim or coving return near the mounting zone. Measure the gap behind a 65 inch LG OLED, roughly 50 mm panel depth plus the retracted arm, and the screen centre lands close to 90 mm off the finished wall. That is the flush fit the mount is named for, and it only holds if the wall plate is dead level across its full 16 inch span.

Two anchors decide the rest. The first is stud location, because the VLF728 wall plate is engineered to span 16 inch on-centre framing, the dominant spacing in North American construction and increasingly common in modern UK timber-frame builds. The second is payload margin: at 125 lb rated capacity against a 65 inch panel weighing 25 to 30 kg with stand removed, you sit at roughly half the rated load, which is the comfortable zone. Push toward an 85 inch screen near 45 kg and the lag bolt torque becomes the limiting variable, not the bracket steel.

Step one and two: find the studs, then mark the plate

Run a Bosch GMS 120 or a Stanley FMHT77407 stud detector horizontally across the intended height, marking both edges of each stud with a pencil and finding the centre by halving. Confirm with a 2 mm bradawl probe at the marked centre before committing to a 4 mm pilot. Plasterboard alone will not carry a 30 kg panel on a full-motion arm where the extension lever multiplies pull-out force at the top fixings, so the wall plate must catch solid timber or, on masonry, expanding sleeve anchors rated above the load.

Hold the wall plate at the target centre height. For a seated viewing position with the sofa 2.8 m back, a 65 inch screen reads best with its vertical centre near 1.05 m off the floor, which puts the plate top edge around 1.15 m depending on the panel VESA pattern. Set a 600 mm spirit level on the plate top, or better a self-levelling line laser such as the Bosch GLL 2-15, and adjust until the bubble centres. Mark every fixing hole that aligns with a confirmed stud. The VLF728 plate carries multiple hole options precisely so you can skip a hole that misses timber and use the next that hits.

Step three: pilot, fix, and torque the wall plate

Drill 4 mm pilots into timber studs to roughly 60 mm depth, then drive the supplied lag bolts with a hand ratchet for the final turns. A cordless impact driver overdrives lag bolts into softwood and strips the surrounding fibre, dropping pull-out strength sharply. Snug each bolt until the plate sits firm with no rock, then quarter-turn no further. On a solid brick or dense block wall, switch to 10 mm masonry fixings into the brick body, never the mortar perp joints, since mortar pull-out values fall well below brick. Hammer-drill with an SDS bit, blow the dust clear, insert the sleeve anchor, and tighten to the manufacturer figure.

Recheck level after every bolt. A plate that was true before fixing can twist a degree as the second bolt pulls it tight against an uneven stud face. A one degree tilt across a 65 inch panel shows as roughly 14 mm of height difference corner to corner, visible the moment you stand back. If the bubble drifts, back off, pack the low side with a thin plastic shim, and retighten.

A note on the VESA adaptor plates

The VLF728 ships with adaptor arms covering VESA patterns from 200 x 200 up to 600 x 400. Match the arm spacing to your panel before lifting the screen, because adjusting bolted arm brackets at full extension with a 30 kg panel hanging is the single most awkward moment of the whole job.

Step four and five: hang the panel and dress the cables

Lift the panel onto the arms with a second person. The VLF728 monitor brackets hook over the arm rail and lock with a retention screw at the base of each bracket; verify both retention screws are seated before letting go, because the hooks alone hold the screen but the screws stop it lifting off if the arm is later pushed upward. With a 65 inch OLED this is a two-person lift at minimum, and an 85 inch panel needs three hands or a panel-lift jack.

Now extend the arm fully to its near 28 inch reach and dress the HDMI and power leads through the integrated cable channels along the arm. Leave a service loop of 150 to 200 mm at the wall plate so the cables flex as the arm swings without tugging the connectors. A common error is routing cables tight at full retraction; when the arm extends, taut cables either unplug or kink. Test the full swing arc, retract to retract, before tidying. If you want the leads invisible, a recessed brush plate set into the plasterboard behind the wall plate carries them into the cavity, which is the cleanest finish on a stud wall.

For power, a recessed socket such as a flat-profile mains outlet sits behind the panel without forcing the screen off the wall on the retracted setting. A standard protruding plug adds 30 to 40 mm and defeats the flush geometry the VLF728 is built around.

Step six: level the screen and set the swing tension

The VLF728 includes a post-installation roll adjustment, a fine level correction at the bracket so you can true the panel without touching the wall plate. Set a small spirit level along the top bezel and turn the adjustment until the bubble centres. This corrects the residual tilt that survives even a carefully levelled plate, because panel VESA holes are rarely perfectly square to the screen edge.

Finally, set the arm friction. Most full-motion Sanus mounts use tension screws that resist drift so the screen holds any angle instead of swinging back to centre. Tighten gradually and test: the arm should move under deliberate hand pressure and stay put when released. Over-tighten and the swing becomes a two-hand fight; leave it loose and a panel angled toward the kitchen drifts back overnight. The correct tension is the point where one finger of steady pressure moves it and a knock does not.

One unresolved question sits with every full-motion install: the flush 3.4 inch retracted depth and the 28 inch extension reach are the same mount tuned for two opposite uses, and a wall that suits one viewing geometry rarely suits the other. Which of those two figures your room actually needs is worth deciding before the first pilot hole, not after.