There are 3 methods for fixing to a lath and plaster wall and ensuring you create a good, solid mounting point and that is to fix a batten to the front of the studs, cut into the laths, fix a batten between studs and plaster over it and finally to fix directly to available upright studs. If you are just fixing to a plaster board surface then see our project on fixing to plasterboard for exactly how to do this. This inevitably involves making a hole in the wall to access two studs to fix across or between. The only solid fixing therefore is to replace some of the lath and plaster with a solid surface to fix to or provide a solid fixing behind it. Many years of experience has taught us not to take chances with wall plugs, toggles and other types plasterboard fixings, they simply don’t work and when the slightest bit of force is applied, they pull out the wall.

The plaster is thin and has no holding strength and the same goes for the laths that support it, so fixing in to either isn’t an option.Įven with the volume of fixings that are available today, as far as we are aware, no fixing is available for a good, solid, reliable fix to lathe and plaster. The major problem when fixing to lath and plaster is the fact that there isn’t anything strong to fix to. Image coutesy of Museum Resources The Problem of Fixing to Lath and Plaster When this happens, holes can easily form and the surface becomes very unstable and often becomes powdery to the touch.Ī section of a lathed wall with plaster removed.

As the laths are very flexible they allow the wall to move, and as the plaster has degraded it often crumbles behind and in between the laths. The gaps between the laths allow the plaster to be pushed in, where is spills out behind each lath and once set, clings there forming a flat and solid surface.ĭespite this however, most lath and plaster walls and ceilings in homes in this country are at least 60 years old and due to this are well past their “sell by” date. It became widely used and started to replace lath and plaster by the 1930’s.Īs mentioned, to create a lath and plaster finish, the plaster is pushed onto and into the timber laths, which have been nailed to upright studs.

Plasterboard took a while to catch on and was introduced to the UK in 1917. Lath and plaster is an extension of the wattle and daub idea and was used long after the invention of plasterboard by Augustino Sackett in approximately 1888. The daub was pushed, usually by hand, into the web of branches to forming a weatherproof surface, protecting the inside of the dwelling. Wattle was the name for twigs and branches that were interwoven between the upright timber posts that formed the framework of a dwelling.ĭaub was the name given to the various forms of mud, clay, lime, manure or other locally available, easily workable fillers that could be applied and smoothed onto the wattle. Lath and plaster was used as a wall finish long before plasterboard took over from the centuries old Wattle and Daub finish. It uses thin strips of timber spaced and fixed an inch or so apart that’s then fixed to a stud work frame that provides a surface for plaster to be applied to. Lath and plaster is a type of traditional wall finish, similar to plaster, that was first used around the 1700’s all the way up to the mid 18th century. Fixing to lath and plaster walls has always been a tricky problem and one that has always puzzled first time DIY’ers, however there are several solutions to this conundrum which we run through below.

Lap and plaster walls