TIL that drilling into a stud isn't always safer than drywall anchors

Overheard a fire alarm installer say he drills into studs for every single panel mount, and then my boss showed me a job where hitting a stud cracked a window frame because the vibration transferred through the old plaster, so I'm rethinking my whole approach to mounting panels in older homes - has anyone else run into this?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor_patel4d ago

@gracethomas nailed it with "old plaster is a different beast entirely." I learned this the hard way on a knob-and-tube replacement job where a simple pilot hole for a junction box turned a hairline crack into a full ceiling river. What nobody's said yet is that even the plaster's LATH matters. If it's wood lath, studs can actually be less stable over time because the nails holding the lath to the stud rust and loosen, so your drill vibration rattles the whole assembly. On expanded metal lath, the stud is usually fine but the plaster keys between the metal break way easier. I check lath type first now, because a toggle in rotted lath is just as bad as a stud in crack-prone plaster.

stella225d ago

Old plaster is super touchy. Used toggle bolts instead on a similar job, worked fine.

gracethomas5d ago

Solidarity on this one. Old plaster is basically a different beast entirely, and it's a harsh way to learn. Had a similar scare last year where we mounted a simple smoke detector and the vibration from a drill into a stud made a hairline crack spread all the way across a ceiling. Toggle bolts or even those zip-it style drywall anchors feel way safer in that old stuff, especially if the wall has any give. Not every stud is your friend in a century home, that's for sure.