How To Hang Something Heavy From Plaster Ceiling

It s always best to consult a professional if you aren t familiar with the structure of your home but in most cases you shouldn t have any trouble hanging something heavy from the ceiling.

How to hang something heavy from plaster ceiling.

Pre drill the holes and use fairly long screws to ensure a secure fit. The plaster surface of your ceiling isn t strong enough to bear the weight of a heavy object. The lath in old lath and plaster ceilings and walls isn t intended to support anything but the plaster. Though there are several methods of locating studs or supports behind the wall the most reliable is using a magnetic stud finder.

When that happens i am stuck using anchors. Very light objects hanging decorations that weigh virtually nothing doesn t require special consideration. Hanging anything heavy from it will rip it right out. If you need to hang something very heavy from a ceiling such as a ceiling fan you always should attempt to hang the object from a ceiling joist and with a lag bolt.

Heavier items need more support and so i recommend screwing into a stud with a 2 screw. The method for hanging something from the ceiling varies according to how heavy the item is. Even fairly light things can cause it to bend which will crack the brittle old plaster. Once plaster is cracked you re kind of screwed.

One of plaster wall s downsides however is that it s more brittle than drywall and it can break a lot easier. Unfortunately it seems that every time i need to hang something heavy there is never a stud where i need one. In my experience it s impossible to invisibly. It s actually not too hard to hang things on plaster walls however as long as you use screws and work slowly and carefully.

Lastly plaster wall is more contour friendly and allows home builders to create curves around the ceiling and the edge of the wall. Simply hanging something heavy on a plaster wall can result in damage to the wall and the object if you don t tap into the supporting structure behind the plaster. Stud finders rarely work on plaster but you can find the studs using the magnet trick. If your ceiling is hollow you can use toggle bolts to support your heavy object instead.

How to hang heavy things on plaster walls using a wall stud. A lag bolt has very deep grooves in the threads for maximum grip. If you cannot use a joist to secure the heavy object the next method is to use a toggle bolt.