What fixings should I use............

[Alison556]

Going away to put a shelf on an old lathe and plaster wall. There's only going to be a small lamp on the shelf, so nothing heavy.

Are rawl plugs OK or do I need to use something different? I reckon I drilled about 2cm before I hit the gap behind the lathe.

Bloomin typical - every wall in the house is brick - apart from this one wall!

 

[JohnD]

tap the wall, or drill a small hole and poke stiff wire sidwways, until you have located the wooden studs that the laths are nailed to.

Fix your shelf brackets to these studs using ordinary wood screws.

Don't try to hang anything on the lath and plaster itself. Quite likely the nails have rusted, the plaster is cracked, and the laths are rotten.

 

[foxhole]

What type style of shelf?

 

[Alison556]

These are the brackets I'm using:

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.j...efview=lister&ts=1285536077359&isSearch=false

And it's just an oak effect conteboard shelf - 600mm wide and 25cm deep.

Bit of a bummer if I've to look for the studs................cos they're probably nowhere near where I want the shelf!!!!

 

[kevplumb]

have to agree with john

however you could try spring toggles

 

[Alison556]

Now I've actually got some of them but I'm damned if I know how to work them!!!!

Do you not need to drill an awful big hole to get the wing bits in?

 

[JohnD]

no because the wings fold in.

But as you have an lath and plaster wall, you will soon have a much bigger hole when it cracks and breaks away round the fixings and you have to replaster the wall.

You will have to use the wall studs instead. If your shelf is not the right length for the brackets to match, screw timber batten(s) to the wall, preferably spanning three or more studs, paint it to blend in, and fix the shelf brackets to the batten(s)

Alternatively, you could accept that sooner or later you have got to do it, pull off the L&P and have the wall replastered using plasterboard. You can clean it out, add any sound or heat insulation, radiator brackets, wall tiles, wiring or sockets at the same time.