4 Choosing the Right Anchors and Fasteners. 3 Fastening Heavy Items to Lath and Plaster Walls. Sometime they look very stable, but arent. What cable is it If it is a mains cable you may need to follow some installation requirements. Unless going to hardwire every room, best to demolish the plaster walls, update. As a general rule, you would cut only a hole at the top and bottom of the wall and above/below any noggins to get past those, then fish the cable through. Plaster walls will be either wooden slates nailed, denser material inferring with wireless signal or wire similar to chicken coup again wiring will interfere and reduce wireless signal. 2 Safety Guidelines for Hanging Heavy Items. Be very careful with old lathe and plaster walls. Recommend gutting the rooms and installing drywall. There are several ways in which to repair lath and plaster - using modern or traditional techniques, or by learning how to patch plaster. 1 Tools and Materials Needed to Hang Heavy Things on Lath and Plaster Walls. If, on the other hand, large chunks of your wall or ceiling are coming away, more significant repair work will be necessary. More photographs of plaster walls & ceilings built on metal lath: Our ceiling cavity photograph of a plaster on metal lath system (below left) shows how plaster applied to metal lath has considerably more adhesion security than plaster applied over wood lath. Simply check them regularly and keep an eye on any new cracks that appear - often simply skimming over them with a suitable, lime-based, plaster mix is sufficient. Of course, if your walls are still in good condition, there is no need to touch them. If you live in a house with lath and plaster walls (likely if your house was built before 1940) then you might be wondering how to repair damaged lath and plaster. Recently I found info that the metal mesh used in plaster walls contributes to a poor wifi signal, and this seems to be the likely culprit. How do you Repair Lath and Plaster Walls? These mixtures usually used a 1:1:6 combination of gypsum or cement, lime putty and sharp sand for the initial two coats, then equal parts of lime putty and gypsum for the final layer. Later on, it became common to add in gypsum or sometimes cement - this was to speed up the setting process between each layer. Lath and plaster can be identified by the presence of laths, thin strips of timber measuring around 25mm x 6mm, behind the plaster.
5 Alternative Hanging Solutions for Lath and Plaster Walls. The third layer was commonly made up of lime putty and a fine sand in a 3:1 mixture - or sometimes just lime putty. 4 Installation Tips for Curtain Rods on Lath and Plaster Walls. The first two layers of plaster that were applied to the lath were usually made up of lime putty and sharp sand in a 1:3 ratio - often with animal hair added in to help bind them. (Image credit: Getty) What Type of Plaster Was Used For Lath and Plaster? Lath and plaster walls were commonplace in house right up until the advent of plasterboard in the 1930s.