making holes in plaster

[tkostal]

Whats the best way to make a small hole in plaster for setting an anchor? Most attemtpts create spidering and leave a crater. Thanks for the ideas.

[roger g]

If you are talking about lathe and plaster I wouldn't anchor anything to it. If you are talking about plaster over wallboard, I would use a wingnut insert after drilling a hole. I would of course try to locate a stud and use that but it all depends on what are you anchoring and do you want to see a nut or a bolt head and a whole bunch of stuff. Your local hardware usually knows what type of buildings are in the area and can help you a lot. I really believe in the theory that locals usually know what is needed and used.


Roger

[tkostal]

This case is plaster over lathe. A friend is trying to hang some window treatments and was complaining about the cracking plaster. I agree with you Roger about not wanting to anchor anything in plaster but how did they hang drapes and blinds in the old days? I know some window treatments can be heavy but it seems almost routine. I'm guessing his best bet maybe to drill his holes and then go back and spackle. Thanks for your advice Roger.

[Rich]

I would assume they put solid blocking behind those areas. If you try and anchor through the plaster into the lath I don't think the lath would be strong enough (depending on weight) and would bend - cracking a large area of plaster.

[roger g]

Construction techniques have changed over the years and some of it stinks. At one time the lintel over a door or window used to continue a distance PAST the opening and the lintel used to be as thick as the wall but now outside walls are thicker and the lintel is not flush with the inside wall. Soooooo you don't have anything solid to attach your curtain rail to other than a stud which usually isn't in the right place. Now it isn;t rocket science to figure that every window will have some sort of covering and that these covering will be attached to something. Surely a bit of extra wood at the top of each window won't break the contractor. Same with bathroom towel racks. Every bathroom has a towel rack and it is only going to be placed in one or two location in a bathroom. Towel racks are not usually 16",32" or 48' wide and therefore you are lucky to hit even one stud to hold up the rack. Why on god's green earth they don't scab a piece of wood in the area of where a towel rack might be located.
I get angry at general contractors who are there to look after and make sure building are built properly for the owner who generally knows little about construction. That's why they took the job. Definite not easy but they are paid for it.

Roger

[Rich]

Imagine a 700,000 sf office building for city workers. Everyone of them wants something different on their walls - we spent months and months of coordination to make sure we had all the blocking, backing, and strapping in for them. It was a major PITA...
But we had happy end-users. It's all about coordination. I agree with your comments 100% - especially in the residential market where most of the non-custom home builders have about 6-10 different plans that they build. You would think they would be able to get some blocking in there somewhere.
Another thing we do that many others don't is video tape all underground duct and pipe. Nothing worse than smelling some old rotten sandwich an ironworker left in there or having a pipe backup during startup because someone thought it would be funny to stuff a shirt in there.

[roger g]

Funny you should mention ductwork. Last summer I was using a small stubby screwdriver inside a vertical duct. The idiot who put a screw in there should have been shot but anyways I was in the process of removing it when the screwdriver slipped out of my hand and down it went. Clunk, bang, bong. I have no idea where that little sucker went but it didn't go in the furnace because it hadn't been installed. I told the contractor about it and he just shrugged and walked off. I wasn't going to start taking ductwork apart because you don't start removing someone elses work. I hope it doesn't rattle.
You are so right about things in ductwork. Many years ago I read an article about this fireproof building which had caught on fire. The investigation revealed that workers had put their lunch bags (back when they were paper) inbetween the walls which enabled the fire to spread.

Roger

[Rich]

hah.. You can find some weird stuff back in some of them. We had an acoustical contractor come in and put insulation above a dropped ceiling. After he was done we couldn't get any air to come through some transfer grilles. Got up into the ceiling space and he had thrown all his bags from the insulation up there and it ended up getting sucked into the air grilles.

[dyiderek]

quit bitchin, if ya don't like it do it your self, only way you know its done right, and to the homeowners who look over your shoulder the whole time your doing a job, if you knew how to do it and have the time to be here for the same amount of time that i'm here why the hell don't you do it yourself and not hire mr, i get paid either way
FTW

[Rich]

Huh? Who's bitchin and what about?

[Dano]

Renovating 125 yr old house and all I can say is "PLASTER WALLS SUCK". Tried everything and than some in anchors in these blasted walls..drilling into wood lathe and using butterfly anchor I found works the best (for awhile that is)...I either remove all plaster and lath/replace with drywall or laminate drywall onto plaster walls.

[Rich]

haha.. it never seems the lathe is strong enough. Even if it's 6" o.c. backing behind it - it eventually cracks around there somewhere.