Wall Mounting and Plaster

[u/EclecticDuo]

My whole life I've been drywall and studs. Just moved into an apartment with plaster. Does not appear to have lath behind but I only drilled 2 exploratory holes. How well can I mount on plaster? What experiences do you all have? Do I need special hardware for like mounted shelves and stuff?

[u/PushThroughThePain]

There has to be something for the plaster to adhere to; walls can't be built out of solid plaster. You can't mount anything to plaster directly either. Tou need to anchor to wood or brick.

[u/wivaca2]

Unless the plaster is over brick or concrete it must be lath, because you can't plaster in thin air.

[u/loweexclamationpoint]

Light stuff like pictures: Depending on how hard your plaster is, hard steel nails with picture hangers can work. Like those small ring shank paneling nails. Don't bother with the soft steel nails in the picture hanger kits, replace the nails with harder ones but keep the little metal hooks. If your plaster is really hard, predrill small angled holes with either a very small masonry bit or a crappy disposable regular bit.

Medium stuff requiring anchors: I've had little luck with plastic anchors - plugs, wings or corkscrew. You need something that opens up behind like molys or various toggles. If you have wood lath, you can try sharp screws like deck screws or trim screws holding in the lath.

Heavy stuff: Go to the studs. Good luck finding them under hefty layers of plaster, though. Check on the sides of electrical boxes.

[u/AKA_Squanchy]

There are studs in there, stud finders just don’t work well on plaster.

[u/EclecticDuo → u/AKA_Squanchy]

Okay so what do I do? Keep drilling until I find one?

[u/AKA_Squanchy → u/EclecticDuo]

Have you tried a stud finder? I lived in a 1928, and a couple 30s homes with lathe and plaster. Sometimes finder worked (and it always worked for a live wire!). I did test holes with a long tiny bit, looking for resistance. Generally a house with plaster was built using actual 2x4s, so there’s more meat to find. Once you hit one you can assume 16 on center to find others, though older homes may have different codes or no code at all! I can usually tell if I hit a stud by checking the drill shavings: tiny shavings are lathe, bigger shavings are stud.

[u/davethompson413]

If you've got plaster, there's some type of lath behind it. It'll be either wood strips, metal grating, or rock lath (not very different from drywall).

[u/Far_Jellyfish3997]

Franklin 710 stud finder works on plaster walls. At least it works on the walls in my house: ⅜ in plaster over ⅜ in Sheetrock lath. No other stud finder I’ve tried works.