Screws and screws with masonry anchors for heavy items are your best choice for hanging things on plaster walls without picture rail.
Hanging heavy objects on lath and plaster walls.
Plaster walls have a tendency to crack and crumble if you attempt to hammer a nail directly into the wall.
Heavy objects of art will need big size nails for hanging.
Adhesive picture hooks are the best way to prevent damage when hanging a picture but pre drilling the hole will usually prevent cracks and chips from forming as well.
All you need to do is pre drill a hole slightly narrower than your screws then use the drill to drive a screw into the hole.
Therefore it s the strongest part of the wall and the ideal place to hang pictures from.
Make sure you leave half an inch out of the wall so you have space to hang your artwork.
The best option mostly.
Generally speaking it s best to hang heavy pictures on a wall stud.
How to hang heavy things on plaster walls using a wall stud.
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.
Even more so if you live in an old house with plaster and lath walls.
You may not notice the damage but as plaster comes loose from the lath it will eventually begin to sag and soon fall off the wall if the sagging continues unchecked.
Though there are several methods of locating studs or supports behind the wall the most reliable is using a magnetic stud finder.
This home and garden video tutorial shows how to hang heavy art on lath and plaster walls.
If you can hang your heavy object in line with a stud and screw a long screw directly into the stud that s always the best option.
As mentioned earlier the wall stud is where the wooden lath attaches to the wooden frame behind the plaster.
Hanging things on plaster walls is easy if you have a drill and screws.
This is really very easy and simple to do.
Then what do you do.
There s a really very simple and easy method of hanging heavy art.