It s always best to consult a professional if you aren t familiar with the structure of your home but in most cases you shouldn t have any trouble hanging something heavy from the ceiling.
How to hang something heavy from plaster ceiling.
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.
The plaster surface of your ceiling isn t strong enough to bear the weight of a heavy object.
Lastly plaster wall is more contour friendly and allows home builders to create curves around the ceiling and the edge of the wall.
If you re hanging heavy objects use screws with anchors for added protection.
Pre drill the holes and use fairly long screws to ensure a secure fit.
A lag bolt has very deep grooves in the threads for maximum grip.
A pot rack fan or other large item needs the support.
If your ceiling is hollow you can use toggle bolts to support your heavy object instead.
How to hang heavy things on plaster walls using a wall stud.
It s actually not too hard to hang things on plaster walls however as long as you use screws and work slowly and carefully.
The method for hanging something from the ceiling varies according to how heavy the item is.
Though there are several methods of locating studs or supports behind the wall the most reliable is using a magnetic stud finder.
How to hang something heavy from a ceiling beam.
Heavier items need more support and so i recommend screwing into a stud with a 2 screw.
When that happens i am stuck using anchors.
If you need to hang something very heavy from a ceiling such as a ceiling fan you always should attempt to hang the object from a ceiling joist and with a lag bolt.
The lath in old lath and plaster ceilings and walls isn t intended to support anything but the plaster.
Stud finders rarely work on plaster but you can find the studs using the magnet trick.
Hanging anything heavy from it will rip it right out.
Once plaster is cracked you re kind of screwed.
Even fairly light things can cause it to bend which will crack the brittle old plaster.
Unfortunately it seems that every time i need to hang something heavy there is never a stud where i need one.
If you cannot use a joist to secure the heavy object the next method is to use a toggle bolt.