#Hanging pictures on lath and plaster how to#
#Hanging pictures on lath and plaster install#

The beauty of using this style of hook to hang your picture or other item is that you are ready for just about any situation. Notice that the screw hole has a removable knockout for larger screws. The composite photo below shows a molly hook profile and full on view. The place I buy them from calls them wall hooks. I thought Molly-Hook was a registered trademark but was unable to find a reference for it. With some pictures and other items you are forced to use this type of hanger or just a small nail.īut the best way of all is to use a Molly-Hook and a screw or the correct hollow wall anchor for your particular installation. Pounding it in with a hammer is the wrong way! Small repetitive taps from a moderately heavy screwdriver, tack hammer or any other tool will do less damage to the wall than a couple whacks with a big hammer. Do take note I said almost never.Ī small picture hook that will hold up to 20 pounds comes with a fairly small nail and that nail has a sharp point. If you can penetrate that short 1/8' you will almost never have such a disaster befall you. Only the first 1/8' of either wall is really hard, brittle and tough. Whether we are dealing plaster and lath or plaster over plasterboard, it doesn't have to end like that. Here it is the south or south-west side of a building.

The 'hard weather' side is the side of the building where the bulk of the hard weather originates and experiences the more prominent weather extremes. One should be more careful when installing stuff on an exterior wall on the 'hard weather' side of a building. Such things can happen but they are the exception rather than the rule. It was an older building where a little water had condensed or dripped for a many years.

#Hanging pictures on lath and plaster install#

I have actually experienced almost a square foot of ceiling falling to the floor while trying to install a single screw. If you have ever done it, seen it happen or viewed the aftermath from such a fiasco then I can understand your timidity. The biggest fear people seem to have about hanging stuff on plaster walls is that it will fracture or pop the plaster when they pound the nail into the wall. Whether it is drape, pictures or anything else the process is pretty much the same.

#Hanging pictures on lath and plaster how to#

We have already discussed how to install stuff on the masonry type in our article 'Installing Window Treatments on Masonry Walls' which is located in the Window Treatment section so we won't repeat that information here.

Hanging pictures and stuff on plaster wallsĪs we pointed out in other articles in this section, you may find three distinct types of plaster walls, masonry, lath, and plasterboard.