Best method of fixing into crumbling plaster?

[TonyK]

Hi

Having got the new window in and ripped out a 10 tonne skip full of showers, loos, sinks etc I'm back to a bare shell and ready to start the studwork on my shower room project (sigh)...

A bit of digging has turned up timbers on 16" centres on 2 of the walls but the other two are rough stone which has been plastered directly onto. The plaster is the "old type" (still don't know its name), ie. turns to loose sand as soons as the surface is broken.

Normally I'd put a two inch hole (deep!) in it stick in a No.10 plug and screw through the timber (smothered with gripfill) and fix with a 3.5" screw. Repeating every 400mm. Its a bit of a pain though and you invariably "lose" a few fixing points. I usually end up emptying half a tube of gripfill into the holes are screwing straight into it the next morning.

I need a quick, simple and effective way of fixing lengths of CLS to these walls. Has anyone else got any bright ideas other than above?

Thanks

Tony

[N. Thornton]

lime plaster. It lasts longer than the modern gypsum stuff btw.

I dont see how you could fix to anything but the underlying solid wall. That leaves 3 options: drill and screw, nail with masonry nails, or drill and use a hammer fixing. A hammer fixing is like a long screw in a plug, but is intended to be put in position and quickly hammered home. Masonry nails are good, but it is not impossible to damage the brick or stone wall with them, and you _do_ need eye protection.

Regards, NT