Lesson 4
Reading the Wall
Tell solid, stud, dot-and-dab and lath-and-plaster walls apart, and see why the gap behind a board decides the fixing.
Builds on
Same paint, different walls
Two walls in the same house, both painted magnolia, both knocking fairly solid. Behind one is brick under a skin of plaster. Behind the other is plasterboard stuck to blockwork with blobs of adhesive. The same plugs, the same screws and the same shelf: one holds for twenty years, the other sags within a month.
Paint tells you almost nothing. What matters is the layer that will actually carry the fixing, and what lies in front of it. You'll meet four main kinds of wall, and each needs a different fixing.