I am curious to see how well a fish finder would work. The uneven density of lath and plaster prevents standard stud finders from detecting a change in density, which is how they are supposed to work. Even thought the spacing isn't even, measuring usually gets you close enough to locate the next stud approximately with a little thumping. How to Identify and Locate Wall Studs When Working with Plaster Most of the walls date back to before 1950 and are constructed of horizontal laths of hardwood, vertical studs, and plaster seams. A series of tiny holes localized to where the stud seems to be is a lot less impact to the plaster and less to repair. Once you get past the lath, there's no mistaking drilling into air versus into a stud. ![]() Take a concensus of whatever techniques you have to locate the highest-probability areas and then confirm using a drill. Vertical studs, wooden beams, and plaster make up the structure of older homes. Most stud finders are terrible, but they may help reinforce other results. Here are five ways to find a stud in a plaster wall: How To Find a Stud in a Plaster Wall. For me, thumping with my hand is usually the most accurate. The vibration from a power saw can be pretty good at loosening the plaster from the lath on some plaster walls. Assuming you complete that without breaking chucks out (which is easy to do), you are left with the plaster having a loose edge which is just inviting chunks to fall off later (if you are going to do that, at least patch over the groove later with patching plaster). The idea of cutting a slot seems like a bad one to me. I've got plaster walls too, and finding studs is a pain. They should have something on plaster repair if nothing on your specific questions. The timbers have been up for 120 years, with hundreds of nails in them. Just drill a pilot hole before screwing in screw. Instead of a stud finder designed for drywall walls, use a magnetic stud finder. It may seem like your plaster walls don’t have studs because lath and plaster can confuse traditional stud finders. You might also make a "story board", maybe out of cloth or string that wouldn't shrink, and mark the stud locations on it for future use on the same wall.Īnother place to search for answers would be the "This Old House" web site. As touched on before, if its lath & plaster its (typically) a stud wall, so unlikely to be brick. Use this stud finder to locate studs in a lath and plaster wall. So my guess would be plaster material, or something made for repairing cracks in plaster walls. If nothing else, it could help keep the two sections of wall from moving separately and creating other problems. Do you have a way to make sure there are no electrical lines running up and down in a wall cavity? Is the top of the wall in an attic where you could see if a wire is running down through the top plate? I wouldn't want to cut into one!! Do you need to fill back in the cuts? I don't know, but I'd think it would be a good idea to do so before installing the trim. Mark your line, but I would use a jab saw so that it stops at the stud, you could mark it, go to the other side, and cut to the next one, and so on. I think your idea of skimming to find the studs would work well. ![]() I'm not familiar with working with plaster walls at all, so take these comments with a grain, or 2,000, of salt.
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