![]() ![]() If the shelf comes with its own custom screws, you could use expanding drywall anchors. This would depend on the type and thickness of wood used for the lath. If you hit lath, the toggle may not be necessary, and a simple screw might be fine. ![]() Toggle bolts are designed to withstand such pull out force. To mount such a shelf on lath & plaster you need to make sure that the shelf is thick enough and that the screws can withstand pull out from relatively brittle boards or underlying lath. Fastening to a stud would be highly recommended to permit loading with anything more than the shelf itself and some light nick-nacks. If you have an L bracket (or shelf strip), the top screw of each bracket is loaded by pulling, and the bottom screws are loaded by a combination of press force and downward moment (a.k.a downward torque or moment force).Ī floating shelf, that is without an L bracket but with cleats or rods, places a high moment load and pull force on the fastener, somewhat abetted by the thickness of the shelf. Screws for shelves are loaded differently depending on the mechanical arrangement of the bracketing. (No, no predrilling, no anchors, no nothing, just screws.) One column's worth might have hit a stud, but since this house was built in the 1890s and has very hard studs, I don't think so - I don't have any recollection of having to work the drill too hard to drive them in. Some, I'm sure went into plaster only, others went through the plaster into lathe. I used drywall screws through the round screw holes directly into whatever they happened to hit behind. I used stanchions like this (I guess maybe they're called "standards" or "uprights" - at least that's the term that came up at my local big-box):Ĭlick to embiggen. When I went to install it, I attempted to find studs, but a normal stud finder won't work through plaster & lath, so I just put up the stanchions and hoped for the best. It was heavily loaded with books and papers for nearly all that time and never gave the slightest hint that it was going to fall. *I created an 8' tall x 8' long section of shelving supported by stanchions and shelf-support brackets that hung on a P&L wall for nearly 30 years. Then drive the rest of the screws to line up with the mounting holes in the shelf and hang it. If this is correct, and since you do know where studs are, I would put two screws into the two 13.75" spaced studs and center the shelves on those studs. You also happen to have 2 studs spaced 13.75" while the rest are standard 16" spacing. If I understand correctly, you have 3 or more holes on your floating shelf, all spaced at 13.75". ![]() Personally, I would be comfortable simply driving the the screws into the wall and hanging the shelf directly off the plaster & lath. In my experience, I've found P&L to be very strong and capable of supporting considerable weight, whether screws have gone into studs or not *. You indicate (in a comment) that you have plaster and lath walls. ![]()
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