Lath and plaster walls.............need a studfinder

[Charlie Allen]

I have recently purchased a house built in 1926. We will break ground on a shop/garage this summer but until then, I need to take care of a few things in the house. The walls are lath and plaster. Not only does that make the WiFi quit at times but it also makes finding wall studs a tough job. I am in need of a good quality, accurate stud finder. Any thoughts??

 

[eschoendorff]

Good luck in your quest. I’ve never come across a stud finder that was worth a damn at any price point

 

[mike93lx]

If you are just mounting stuff, i would just recommend some good anchors. I really like these for heavy stuff.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_118084-50425-10337_4294937087?productId=3183831

 

[ozyborn]

Rare earth magnet on a string. Find the. Lathe nails into the studs.

 

[mjs3350]

Rare earth magnet on a string. Find the. Lathe nails into the studs.

The best stud finder I have is a small magnet one.

 

[Irish Mike]

Open the cover on a switch or receptacle. You can usually see what side has the stud....16" OC and you're golden....

 

[dscheidt]

One thing to remember with houses this age is that if they're made of mass masonry, it's very very likely there are no studs on external walls. The plaster is either rendered directly on the brick, or furring is nailed up (often rather at random) and the laths nailed to the furring. If you have internal brick walls (fire breaks, expansions) they are done the same way. Interior walls are mostly framed in a conventional way, but don't assume 16" on center.

A super strong magnet will sometims work, depends on the how thick the plaster is. Best quality jobs were done with zinc nails, so a magnet won't work.

 

[mike93lx]

Open the cover on a switch or receptacle. You can usually see what side has the stud....16" OC and you're golden....

16OC is not something you can count on at that age

 

[Super Mech]

16OC is not something you can count on at that age

Absolutely. I’ve seen many an old rip out and you would be surprised how inconsistent stuff was laid out. The stuff lasted forever but just seemed to be thrown together how ever they felt.

 

[Ray-CA]

Open the cover on a switch or receptacle. You can usually see what side has the stud....16" OC and you're golden....

Our home was built in’36 and have the same trouble. Solved the WiFi issues with TP-link WiFi extenders. As for the studs, I check inside the outlets and hope for 16” oc.

Ray

 

[Bert_]

Open the cover on a switch or receptacle. You can usually see what side has the stud....16" OC and you're golden....

Often times the electrical boxes are not attached to a stud, especially the outlets. They were added after the house was built. And the spacing usually changes around windows and doors.

You can mount a lot of stuff with some toggle anchors. The lath is pretty solid.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

The magnetic type finders work. A strong magnet on thread works even better.

 

[MarvinBerry]

Pulling an outlet or switch, peering in is a good trick! Stupid simple...why didn't I ever think of that?

Generally, unless you really want to preserve the old plaster my best stud finder is either a sledgehammer or 23oz framing...

Destroy & rebuild!

Never know what your going to find behind those walls...and indeed most were well off 16 center. 20 or 22 isn't uncommon, as is truly dimensional lumber which is gonna throw everything you know off whack.

Best thing ever found behind a wall ?

Old buddy who used to flip houses, bought one circa 1920... Run down & down more. Multiple dumpsters, gutted to studs in Armonk ny.

Swinging away and hit something solid. Way solid. Clang!!!

Metal on metal...

Got a few smaller bars out to peel away & uncovered a cast iron stove/fireplace that had been walled off in expansion.

They completely changed gears, swapped the entire floor plan, restored & made it a focal point of the house, more like the original layout we figured.

I've uncovered dumb waiter shafts, unknown electric & all kinds of stuff...ya just never know.

 

[Tunar]

I love old houses and my last 4 houses have had plaster walls. What are you needing to do? I've tried magnets to find studs with no luck in plaster walls. I bought a zircon studfinder. It's many years old, but was the best one offered at Lowes at the time. I'd give it about 50% success rate.

A couple of tricks I've come up with are if you have access to the basement or attic, you can get an idea of studs by finding pipes and electric runs and measuring from there. You can drill small hole and push a thin wire into the cavity to try to feel where the studs are. You could also remove the baseboard to 'experiment'. Then your patches are hidden behind the base trim. Nice smooth patches on plaster walls look a bit out of place. To help replicate the texture on any patches. I heard you can thin out drywall mud and roll it on the patch with a medium nap roller before paint, though I've never tried that.

Sent from my SM-N960U using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Doug19]

I got a stud finder from Costco that works great on my plaster walls. I believe it is made by Franklin Sensors and is the ProSensor. You'll see it's rebranded often and you should be able to get it for $30. I highly reccomend it.

 

[Larryjones]

I have an older Zircon stud finder that I "think" will find thru plaster and lath, I never used it for that but I can find the web in a concrete block with it.

 

[mike93lx]

Another option is to just try not to hit studs, which is a near guarantee you will find them.

Seems like they are hidden when i need one and everywhere when i don't

 

[cmandp]

I've had no luck with a stud finder on our plaster and lathe walls. Our house was build in 1871. Going by outlets is of no help either as the electrical boxes are not attached in any consistent way. Studs are rough cut not a standard size and not a standard spacing.

Best way was mentioned above, drill a small hole and fish a wire over till you hit a stud.

Good luck.

 

[PJNJ]

A good ear and small to medium hammer have worked better for me than any stud finder. My house was built in 1916 and I have never found a stud finder that worked well. I have tried cheap and expensive too.

 

[Fluxion]

I have an older Zircon I think model 440. It works on lath and plaster walls, also works to find rebar in concrete if it isn't too deep. Finding rebar saved my *** a couple times before knocking the carbide off a drill bit.

 

[DGersic]

I have plaster over rock lathe here. Have tried several stud finders, all of them were returned because they couldn’t find studs. Worked great on sheetrock though.


Sent from my iPad using The Garage Journal mobile app