Well, I've had no problem hanging light weight artwork on old plaster walls using a nail through one of those nail picture hanging brackets. I did find that the 1920's stucco walls in one room are hard as concrete and I had a lot of trouble--nails just wouldn't go in! Thus I had to use a drill with a smaller bit to first carefully drill a hole, and then I was able to hammer a nail through the picture hanging bracket into the pre-drilled hole. We haven't put up heavier pictures or shelving yet, but I'm assuming you'd want to locate studs first and then proceed in some manner to hang from the studs. Hopefully someone will jump in who knows more about that.

I never use nails--all that pounding cracks plaster!

I use screws, usually drywall screws, to hang things on my walls.

Carla in Sac

Drywall screws for us, too. Never nails for the reason sautesmom mentions.

The point is well taken, and sounds like a good alternative. Nevertheless, I don't have to 'pound' to get a nail into plaster; I tap it and it's fine.

I swear by a brand of picture hangers called Ook. I get them at my local Ace Hardware. I bit different that the standard as the nails are all hardened blue steel which seems to penetrate the plaster better w/o having to pound. I only use them in the rooms without a picture rail.

Diane

Pre-drill the hole for the nail.
It ruins the drill bits pretty quickly, but a set of wire gauge (numbered bits) will have a size suitable for the nail.
You want just a little smaller.

I would never rely on just plaster to hold any significant load.
It has a rather nasty habit of suddenly cracking and letting things fall.
Molly bolts can help spread the load out for more moderate weights.
Very heavy items should be fastened into the stud using at least 3 inch screws (since there is around 3/4 to 1 inch of plaster before you even get to the stud).

Any carbide tipped masonry bit will go through plaster like butter and last a long time.
The problem is they are often difficult to find in sizes below about 1/8 inch.
A plain old steel twist bit (even the cruddy soft Chinese drill bits) will for a while before the edge is shot.
They are so cheap it is almost not worth buying the carbide unless you have a number of holes to drill.
Having a 1/4 inch masonry bit for molly bolts and plastic anchors might be worth the trouble.

I have used plain old common nails (8d works well) in a drilled hole (drill slightly downward) for many years for typical light weight pictures (anything up to about 10-15 pounds).
Heavier pictures get a pair of molly bolts (be sure to get some long enough for plaster), while mirrors get fasteners into the studs.
Mirrors and other heavy objects may require a ledger strip (1x2) fastened to the studs and then hanging fasteners into the wood if the studs are not aligned at the correct location.
Note that if you use two anchors for a heavy item that is also using wire the anchors do NOT have to be centered correctly behind the object.

My plaster and lathe are older than yours :) but I have been really lucky with just using small nails and tapping in lightly for lightweight items (includes most pictures/frames and some shelves) being hung. We have never had any luck to find a stud. For some reason, I don't think they were quite as precise on placing studs back in the 1800s! For items that have definitely needed a stud, we have either gone into the basement or the attic and looked up (or down) through the unfinished area to measure exactly where the studs are. Plastic anchors have been basically useless on our plaster. On really heavy items, we have used the toggle type anchors.

We do have a few walls that have been replaced with drywall and I actually prefer the plaster walls to hang things on! Drywall just feels so soft to me!!

I have used nails tapped lightly into my plaster walls - for light pictures and artwork. I haven't hung anything heavy like a mirror. I read somewhere to use masking tape prior to tapping the nail in. So I tear 2 pieces of masking tape about 1.5 inches in length and place them crossing one another to make an X, then tap the nail into the middle of the X. Next I carefully remove the tape from the wall. The tape keeps tiny bits of plaster from crumbling around the nail hole and the hole and surrounding area are indeed neat and clean.

Also - for all wall types - I saw this on one of the hgtv shows: to easily find the hook on the picture hook once on the wall, place a straw on the hook. Then take the picture wire and place it behind the straw until it reaches the hook and then remove the straw. Soooo much easier than trying to use your hand blindly behind the picture you are trying to hang to find the hook!

Our home was built in 1947 and has plaster board walls.
What is the best way to hang drapery rods?

For light pictures, I use carpet tacks--only bent one or two, and not destroyed my plaster or lath.

Aqmodra: attach the brackets to the window casings. There is going to be a stud behind the casing extending from floor to ceiling to frame the window...could screw into that above the casing.

What do you thnk "plaster board walls. "

are?

It is a name for the trademarked 'Drywall' gypsum.

Do you have 2 coat plaster? It uses gypsum boards as the base.

I didn't know what plaster walls were when I bought my 1923 home ten years ago. I tried to hammer a nail into the wall for a picture, and it bounced and hit me in the face. I called my dad and said, "Dad, my walls are made of concrete." LOL

I use a tiny drill bit and then screws. If the spot is sandy or crumbly when I drill it, I use the plastic anchors with the screws. So far so good.

I second (or third) the Ooks recommendation. Besides the composition of the nails, they are very sharp, so they don't batter the plaster to get in, they cut through it. I have hung a heavy mirror with, I think, three of the 30-lb rated Ooks. Maybe overkill, but nine teeny weeny holes compared to a chunk of plaster ripped out when the one or two nails are pulled free seemed a good bargain to me! It's still there, 8 years later.

All plaster walls are not constructed the same way, so it helps to figure out exactly what you have. Plaster over wood lathe has a wood strips as backing, while plaster over rock lathe has an early version of gypsum board (drywall) as backing for the plaster. There are also houses that used wire mesh as backing for the plaster.

I have plaster over rock lathe and I've found that predrilling for anchors helps prevent cracks in the hard plaster final coat. If I don't predrill I will get cracks around the hole that go farther than I want.

I have also been installing new outlets and I always make the first cuts about 1/2" inside the final cut line just in case the plaster cracks around the cut. If you use any type of moly bolt or electrical old work box that has tabs or wings behind the wall, you need to adjust for the extra thickeness of plaster. Many of these fasteners assume a wall is no thicker than standard 5/8" drywall, while my plaster walls are up to about 1" thick.

If the wall breaks more than I need and I need to fix it, the dry plaster repair mix works fine. However, its short working time (not more than about 12 minutes, by the label) means you need to mix small quantities.

Working with plaster requires techniques you develop with experimentation, so just start somewhere that is not as visible and begin learning.

Bruce

I have just moved into a studio and am having one heck of a hard time driving anything into the walls. It appears plaster on top with a solid wood surface underneath, possibly lath. I've never seen anything like that. Can only pound nails into it, tried drilling, broke a bit and quit. It just won't go in, period. Methinks that the plastic anchors are useless here. In my old place where I lived years ago (built in the 1950's), I had no problem with drilling & hanging things with plastic anchors but I guess these times are long gone.

I am pretty much stuck. Initially planned to hang metal hooks for my pots & pans but can't put a screw into these walls so it became a next project...

Am puzzled to what my options are :(

You should be able to drill. How did you break a bit? Old, worn tip and too much pressure? What diameter bit? Did you possibly have the drill in the reverse position (meaning the bit was spinning counterclockwise)? I need a little more info here to help figure this out.

The bits were brand new. No I didn't drill in the reverse; I was going straight forward when this happened. I might have applied a tad more pressure but was just trying to get it in. It was one of the smaller bits but not the smallest, can't remember the size exactly. Am pretty sure this would've happened with a bit of any size.

The problem is, I've never seen this kind of walls. The place I used to live in years ago, I would just drill into the plaster walls with no problem, put in a plastic anchor following with the screw and voila. There is no way to do this here. It feels like studs are EVERYWHERE. I mean. all over the place. I just don't get it.

Thus my DIY projects go right out the window. Grrrrr :(

I googled, looks like there's wooden lath under the plaster.... something like that. This place was built in 1948 according to the county auditor.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Much appreciated.

Maybe the walls in your previous place were plasterboard (i.e., sheetrock). That could explain the easy time you had. Plastic anchors are easy to install in sheetrock and not ideal for plaster. I have drilled plaster, just like you are trying to do, and thee was a slight learning curve, but not much. You are correct about there being wood lath under the plaster as that is the standard construction technique...and that is why I prefer drilling first instead of nailing, since just banging away with a hammer can chip the plaster, or the banging can cause the lath to flex and then the plaster can crack or loosen up if it's fragile.

With small diameter bits, like 1/16" or 3/32", it is very easy to snap them if you lean a bit too hard or you exert a little bit of sideways pressure. However, I encourage you to try drilling again. Get a new bit, and take it slow. There is no reason that a bit won't go into plaster. Once it's through the plaster -- maybe 1/2" -- it's likely you will encounter some more resistance as it contacts the lath. Just go slow and steady. I'd use a small diameter bit for a pilot hole for a nail...that is, use a drill bit that's a slightly smaller diameter than the nail. If you want to put screws in for heavier things, use coarse thread sheetrock screws and drill a pilot hole using a drill bit that is about the same diameter as the inner shank of the screw...that is, the solid part that is smaller than the outer threads. Once the hole is drilled and you install the screw, it should be pretty secure if it is long enough to bite into the lath. However, if you are going to hang really heavy stuff, like pots, you may want to attach a pot hanging rack to the wall rather than hanging individual pots on screws. That's a discussion for another day after you try to make some basic progress here.

One last thing, and I don't mean to insult you, but when I was talking about the drill being reversed, I wasn't talking about the angle you held it at; I was asking if your new drill has a reversing switch and if you had it in the correct position. I once got a call from my daughter who was having trouble drilling into wood, and I finally figured out she had accidentally set the rotation to reverse, without realizing there was even such a switch on her drill. The reverse rotation was burning up the drill bit tip without it making any progress on the hole.

Thanks a lot for taking the time to reply. What you're saying, makes lots of sense.

Now please tell me whether I need any special drill, like hammer drill or impact driver... I hate buying more tools that are being used only for a few projects but oh well. I am using B&D corded drill that according to the reviews, is good for the small projects. And whether I need some special drill bits; mine are high speed.

Thanks again. I love this site.

It sounds like you have what you need, and that you just need some practice. Any corded drill (or cordless) can handle this job. It sounds like you have standard, inexpensive bits which are usually high speed steel (HSS), and those are fine, too. You may want to get some better quality bits (like titanium coated) in the future. Unless your walls are actually concrete, you have no need of specialty tools, like a hammer drill or masonry bits. Impact drivers are wonderful specialty tools for driving fasteners into tough materials, but it would be the wrong tool to use on this project. (It would be nice to have a cordless drill-driver if you are driving screws, but you don't absolutely need that, and you need to master the use of a regular drill first.)

Plaster drilling dulls bits faster than using them in wood, so you might want to have some extra bits on hand. And even though I have been using tools for over 50 years, I, too, occasionally break small diameter bits, so I keep cheap spares around. While I tend to buy high quality power tools, when it comes to disposables, like bits, I look for bargains since I do a lot of drilling; for your drilling needs, you might want to look at a place like Harbor Freight tools: Drill bits

You can get decent bits there for cheap, including things like a set of half a dozen 1/16" or 3/32" or 1/8" bits for a couple of bucks. They have stores in many areas of the country and you can buy online. Too many homeowners have one set of bits that get dull early on and never get replaced, so I suggest you pick up some extras and toss them out when they quit performing well.

Good luck, and tell me what happens when you try this again. Do you think it would help your skills development if you practice drilling into a scrap of wood first, just to get the hang of handling your new tool? I also assume that you have a standard variable speed drill, and it would be better to use it at a slower speed when going in to plaster. And did you confirm that the forward-reverse switch was in the correct position? :-)

Thanks for the reply. I think that the switch was in the forward position... too late to confirm now. Suggestion to practice is a terrific idea, will do. Will visit a local Harbor Freight store, too. Thank you, thank you, thank you

Good luck...ask again if you continue to have problems.

aqmodra and columbusguy, I directed a lot of bad words towards past owners who made 100 years worth of nail holes in my window casings. Much better to nail into the studs just above the window as columbusguy suggested or into the plaster away from the window and then use some kind of anchor. It is lots easier to hide a patch in plaster than in (stained) wood.

Plaster walls are great but a pain for hanging pictures. That's why picture rail were used. A picture rail is not just a piece of trim. It is designed with a curve on the back to strongly hold a special hook which are available in Home Depot although there are fancy ones online. Get the wood from a good lumber company, stain and refinish it and have a pro install it. Depending on your ceiling height it should be about 1 foot from the ceiling or to follow the formula for frieze boarder height. I have also seen picture rails installed historically right below the ceiling. This is best for lower ceilings.

Once the picture rail is installed all you need to do is to attach a wire or decorative cord to your picture and hang it. Easy to move around and redecorate.

@kudzu9: UPDATE. Today turned out that some of my walls are hollow plaster, and the others have cement underneath. I guess some of them have wood under plaster too. A handyman came in to install something into the tile wall and answered all my wall questions. I was even able to actually drill into the wood under his supervision. I used my corded B&D drill and DeWalt bits.

The thing is, I live in a condo apartment style, so the walls between the units as well as the outside walls need a masonry bit, and the rest can be handled with just regular bits. Yepper.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

3Ms Command products work very well! I've never used them for very heavy things but up to 5-10 lbs no problem.

I have a home built in 1920's. It is plaster and lathe. Here is what I learned: (1) pounding on plaster & lathe will cause the "fingers of plaster" (that hold onto the wooden lathe) to break away. Entire sheets of plaster can shift away from the wall. Pounding is never a good idea. (2) Finding the studs can be a challenge if there isn't any nails in the studs. I drew a pencil line across the point where i wanted to hang the pots n pans shelf. Then I used a small drill bit (smaller than the wooden screws by about 1/2) I drilled a hole every inch or so. If the drill bit spit out or came out with wooden shavings on it-then I knew i was at a wooden wall stud and I would circle the hole with a pencil mark. This helped me find out how far apart the wooden studs are that are behind the wall. (3) when i had a chance to see behind the plaster on the wall, i discovered that the wooden studs normally begin in the corners of the walls and seem to be about every 12" to 16" along, but some rooms have proven not to be the case. (4) there is a way to repair the "sheets of plaster" that have come away from a wall. Look into "plaster washers" If anyone has any recommendations on finding wooden wall studs, please post them for me. Thank You.

Wanted to add that when the drill bit hits the wooden wall stud you will know because you can feel the difference in resistance because the drill bit is now going through 1" or more of hard and very old wood! My first attempt at finding the wooden studs behind the plaster and then lining everything up and hanging the pots n pans rack....took me one full Saturday of work. But the 8 or 10 pans that hang from the rack are still there after one year of use and nothing has come loose from the wall!!