Mounting radiator on lathe and plaster wall

[TheLastMan]

One of my truly delightful children climbed onto a radiator to reach a light switch and the radiator brackets came away from the wall taking large chunks of plaster with them. The radiator is now leaning away from the wall at a precarious angle and needs to be secured.

The wall is lathe and plaster over timber studs and, frankly, not up to mounting a radiator on. I am reluctant to simply repair the plaster and re-mount the radiator as the same thing could happen again.

What are my options?

I thought of floor mounting the radiator, or cutting out some plaster between the studs and screwing in a bit of wood horizontally on which to mount the brackets. Or I could cut out a section of the plaster behind the radiator and put in a bit of plasterboard secured to the studs instead.

What about a new floor mounted radiator? However, these tend to be low level and even more tempting to stand on.

All helpful suggestions gratefully received.

 

[JohnD]

1) close the rad valves and take the rad off before it damages the pipes (more)

2) have a look through the hole and see where the studs are. A good solution would be to put a couple of battens between them at a suitable level to accept the rad brackets. If they are behind the rad they will not be very visible and you can paint them to mach the wall.

you will need to patch the hole with plasterboard, preferably spanning two or more studs

 

[TheLastMan]

1) close the rad valves and take the rad off before it damages the pipes (more)

2) have a look through the hole and see where the studs are. A good solution would be to put a couple of battens between them at a suitable level to accept the rad brackets.

you will need to patch the hole with plasterboard, preferably spanning two or more studs

Helpful tips, thanks. Will take the radiator off the wall tonight and inspect the damage properly.

Would you mount the battens on the surface of the plaster? Or should the battens go between the studs behind the plaster?

The holes are small, simply where the screws holding the brackets have pulled away from the wall taking small lumps of plaster with them, so no way to tell where the studs are except by hacking off the old plaster.

 

[JohnD]

if the holes are small, mount the battens on the surface.

Use your knuckles to find the studs, or poke a stiff wire through the holes. You can drill them a bit bigger if it helps, you will be patching them later.

Pull away any cracked or broken plaster to help you look.

 

[Diyisfun]

Suggestion, dont use battens use a piece of ply, you can use maybe 3 screws each side to fix to the battern, it will not need to be as thick as a batten, (will not restrict air flow). You can rub it down & paint it prior to fixing.
I did this years ago when I had problem in a bay window.

 

[DP]

JohnD took the words out of my mouth