On Feb 9, 9:54*am, dpb wrote:
On 2/9/2013 8:16 AM, Greg Guarino wrote:









This is not really a woodworking question, but I figure someone here
can answer it.

My Dad is 92 and needs to grab onto things to climb the stairs. But
for a short section of the stairway in their house, there's no
sensible thing to grab.

Their house is plaster on lath if memory serves. Wood strips, I think,
not wire. [This is an ancient memory. My parents had a larger closet
made when I was a very young boy and I was allowed to bash away at the
plaster for a little while. I remember being disappointed when I came
back from school and found that the rest of the demolition had already
been completed. ]

Anyway, I have no experience finding studs in that kind of
construction. The walls are too rigid for me to just sound them out
with my fist. I don't own a stud finder, but I might buy one if it's
of any use in that kind of wall. I'm not eager to drill a series of
holes that I'll need to repair, and then match the paint. If it comes
down to it, I suppose I could remove the base molding and drill holes
at the bottom of the wall, but the molding is finished oak, and a
little complicated, and would be very hard to replace if an oaf like
me were to damage it.

Suggestions? I imagine I'd use oak railing parts from the Borg, by the
way.

Don't suppose you know how regular the wall stud spacings are, even, do
you? *Sometimes in those old houses they're as regular as a Swiss watch;
sometimes not so much...if they are regular and there's a good corner at
one end from which to measure, you've got a reasonable chance.

I've not used one so can't say firsthand but reviews of some of the
better (as in higher-$$) Zircon and Bosch sounders worked reasonably
well w/ plaster walls in a Fine Homebuilding review -- not sure otomh
which issue; think it was about first of maybe 2011 based on a quick
view of comments...

There are those who say the rare-earth magnet "StudTHUD" is supposed to
be the cat's meow...

www.diamondresource.net/index.php?page=products-stud-thud

I've not further info other than that on it, though...

One thing is that if the plaster is in good shape on a wood lath paster
wall you can use a moly bolt and by getting across and behind the lath
it'll be very strong even if you do miss a stud...

--

I'd like it to be VERY strong. He doesn't just steady himself on the
railing, he practically seems to pull himself up the stairs. I'll
feel better, if nothing else, if I get the brackets into the studs.