We've got an old house with lathe and plaster walls. I'm wondering if a stud finder would work. I'm thinking not because I think they work by sound wave (bouncing sound off the wood) anyone know?
We've used them here with the same walls. Stud finders work by sensing the difference in the density of the areas it is moved over. When it's over a stud, the area is denser than when it isn't, and the difference shows up on the readout. Whether your wall board is plaster or sheetrock shouldn't matter. They are a little more sluggish to give you a readout, so you need to move the finder more slowly over the plaster wall while searching than you would with sheetrock.
Or you could use a cheap stud finder which is simply a magnet on the end of a pointer. When the stud finder passes over a nail in the stud, the pointer will move which means that you are over a stud.
the cheaper one will wrk on the walls but may not on ceilings if they used the wire mesh to help hold the plaster up Kirk
A stud finder may or may not work depending on the thickness of the plaster.I usually back up my findings with a nail. If you want to prove to the Ms. how studly you are just run the stud finder across the fly of your pants. ( It may help to have a zipper). mikell
