Avoid the temptation to drill through the lath as well as the plaster to make the hole deep enough to be able to actually insert your wall plug all the way in. This is the whole magic of this tip right here – one of those easy-now-that-you-know-it things. Once you have confirmed a good location, drill a hole the appropriate size for your wall plug ONLY THROUGH THE PLASTER AND NOT THROUGH THE LATH. OK, So I Now Know Where to Hang the Picture, But How? If not and you hit a gap, try again – about 3/4 inch up or down. So chances are you will hit a piece of that while drilling your small pilot hole. Lath tends to range from around 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide, and is generally spaced around 1/4 – 3/8 inches apart. In that case, you want to at least make sure you are attaching to a piece of lath and not to a space in between. However, studs can be difficult to locate in plaster walls, and sometimes they just aren’t in the place you need your picture to be. Drill a small pilot hole to confirm stud location (behind the lath), then screw directly to that. If you are hanging something heavy or something that will otherwise require maximum support, find a stud. Studs are the best places to attach a screw, as they provide by far the most structural stability. This is not a good area to insert picture hangers as there is not really any structural value to the plaster between pieces of lath. If your drill bit pops through the brown coat in to thin air, then you have hit a spot between laths. There is the initial resistance of the thin hard top coat, then the (usually) quick vaporization of the brown coat, followed by coming up against the lath, and possibly thereafter a stud (lath is only around 1/4 inch thick). When drilling through plaster and then lath, the different layers are easily recognizable by the feel of the drill. What We Encounter Drilling in to Plaster & Lath Your standard plaster & lath wall generally has 4 basic components that you may encounter: studs (vertical framing lumber), lath (wooden strips running horizontally, nailed to the studs), scratch & brown coat plaster over the lath (the crumbly stuff, often including animal hair or other fibers to help hold it all together), and the thin very hard top coat of plaster. The standard ‘picture hook with a nail’ simply does not work.įor hanging pictures, I generally favour plugs & screws with a special hook that gets screwed to the wall in any event, but even still, plaster & lath can be annoying even for drilled plugs and screws. While this option is easier to install and requires no professionals, it can be harder to source and install organic material.Got the plaster & lath blues? As you likely already know if you are reading this, plaster & lath walls pose a greater challenge than drywall for otherwise simple tasks such as hanging a picture. Batts are a thick fabric composite, usually made of fiberglass, cotton, or wool, that comes in large rolls. Batts, another option, are easily installed by homeowners and cost about $0.40 per square foot of material. The cost is around $1.50 per square foot, including labor. Only professionals apply this material, which is a good option for those who can afford to invest because it's a long-term solution that requires little maintenance. This material is a polyurethane or cement that goes on as a soft liquid and stiffens when dry. A typical insulation material homeowners gravitate towards is expanding foam. If you plan on adding insulation to your walls, there are plenty of options from fiberglass plastic, shredded paper, wool, and denim scraps. If a home's attic or roof is fully insulated, adding insulated walls will help bring lower energy costs (via This Old House).
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