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Best nails for plaster walls12/10/2023 There is a Floreat type hanger made by Frameware that we do use to hang very heavy things, but we use the hole in the center with an appropriate wall anchor that goes all the way through the lath and then we screw the hanger to it. What if you hit a bit of aggregate and your hole is oblong? You have no way of removing material as you drill into the plaster. This means that you most likely will loose the "interference" fit of the nail being snug in the plaster and you will be relying on gravity and the angle of the hook/nail to support the weight of the picture. This has to make a hole larger in diameter than the already narrow, thin nail. There are no flutes on the smooth shank of the nail, so the abrasive scratch coat is basically being pulverized as the tip turns in the hole. I also can't advocate/suport the "poor man's drillbit" idea of using the same type of nail with the head cut off to make a hole. Not so much of a problem with lighter pictures, but a potential failure for a larger picture, especially if you only use one hanger and a wire to hang. Sometimes shorter than the combined thickness of the plaster and scratch coat and the nail itself may never penetrate the lath itself - or may actually go into the space between the lath (meaning you have actually drilled through the keyways.) and you are relying on the density of the scratch coat in the key to support the shear weight of the picture. The problem is that if you have a weakened area of the wall, you are just exaserbating the problem by giving the hanger and picture more grip to pull the wall down. The last problem - and why I just won't use these hangers, is that to increase the holding power of these hangers, the same size nail is used in greater quantities. I have seen this many times when we have been called into a home and the hanger is there just supported by the stumps of the nails with no heads.Īnother problem is that the uncoated nail reacts with the lime in the plaster and corrodes making a rust spot or dissolves to the point of failure. If the head is struck at an odd angle, the nail may develop stress cracks and will eventually fall off. One is that the nail is tempered blued steel. In CA, earthquakes can cause this to happen years later.ġ00% of the failures that I have seen have been when a Floreat type hanger has been used. If the keys are broken, there is nothing supporting the scratch coat and the weight of a newly hung picture could be the proverbial "straw that breaks the camel's back" - the stress of the weight of the picture could be all that is necessary for the scratch coat and surface plaster to pull the plaster off of the lath. Age can also cause bond failure between the plaster and the scratch coat. In an older home, one does not know what was hung (or attempted to be hung) before nor can one see the keys or the condition of them. DO NOT POUND NAILS INTO LATH AND PLASTER WALLS.Īn installer can break keys but the symptoms may not manifest themselves for years. The majority of damage/failure to lath and plaster walls (note that I say lath and plaster walls as modern plaster does not use lath and you do not have the same problems) is from the keys breaking (or having already been broken). I agree with almost everything that has been posted except I CANNOT RECOMMEND THE USE OF FLOREAT (type) HANGERS. Wow, Larry- at first I thought you had a copy of the PowerPoint I use for the class as I have almost the exact same photo and diagram. I am curious as to what methods other use when there is no picture rail. I use a small tack hammer and gently tack it into the hole.ĭone properly, you won't damage the wall. I put the nail in gently after I drill a hole. I use a drill bit that is very small that will fit in the hole in the hanger and is about the size (but no larger) of the nail. I place the hanger against the wall where I want it to reside and then drill a hole using the hole in the floreat to drill at the proper angle. How to hang a picture on a plaster wall? Very carefully. I bought an old house this year and spent quite a bit of time repairing walls with broken keys.īut that is irrelevant except to note that any hammering of a plaster wall may break the keys and lead to serious repairs in the future. And when a plaster wall starts to fail, your work is cut out for you. If the keys are broken or cracked, then the wall will start to fail.
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