How To Tell If Your Walls Are Drywall Or Plaster

It’s important to know what kind of walls you have, especially if you plan to hang picture frames, shelves, and other items. Drywall and plaster look very similar and can be tough to tell apart just by looking at them. So, here’s how to tell if your walls are drywall or plaster.

Older homes built before 1940 tend to have plaster walls, and most homes after 1960 are drywall. If a pushpin goes into the wall easily, it’s drywall. Another way to tell is by looking for spiderweb-like cracks in plaster or flaking paint. Or, check behind the walls to see if the cross-section of the panel is drywall or plaster.

Both drywall and plaster are common materials for walls, so you likely have one or the other in your house. If you aren’t certain what kind of walls you have, you can find out relatively easily. With a little bit of detective work, you can determine if they’re plaster or drywall.

One of the easiest ways to answer your question could be by considering your house’s age. Homes built before 1940 primarily have plaster walls. In contrast, homes built after the 1960s most likely contain drywall.

But what about homes in between these years? For homes between the 1940s and 1960s, anything goes. You could just as easily have plaster or drywall, depending on where you live. (Some areas might have started using drywall sooner than others, etc.)

And granted, the age of your home is a really good indicator, but it still doesn’t give you a decisive answer. You can still have a home pre-1940 with drywall. What if the owners remodeled or had to replace walls because of damage?

And although drywall is the most common material in homes built after 1960, some people still opt to use plaster for various reasons. Plaster can be easier to work with on curved walls, and it provides more soundproofing due to its thickness.

If you bought the home, you could ask the previous owners if the walls are drywall or plaster. It might even be in the description of the house that the real estate agent has or in homeowners insurance documentation.

But what if you’ve lived in a home for years, such as a family home, and don’t have someone to ask? You can look at the building plans, which you might be lucky enough to have in your possession.

If not, you can try to track down and request house plans from local assessors, inspectors, or other building officials. You might also be able to find them in local historical archives, depending on your house.

Or, if your home is similar to others in the neighborhood, you could ask your neighbors. If they have a house that was built around the same time as yours, odds are it was the same builder. At the very least, it was likely built in the same way with similar materials.

Here’s a quick and straightforward way you can investigate your wall’s composition. Grab a basic push pin and press it into the wall. If it goes in easily, you have drywall, but if it’s difficult to push in or won’t go in, it’s plaster.

Drywall is softer than plaster, which is why it’s easier to hang pictures and items on it. You can hammer a nail into drywall much easier than into plaster. In fact, you would need to hammer quite hard to get a nail into plaster (likely causing it to crack).

Of course, there’s a disadvantage to drywall’s softer composition as well. It’s more prone to holes and damage than plaster is. But regardless, the pushpin test is a solid one.

Another way to determine if your walls are plaster or drywall is to inspect them for cracks or flaking paint. Drywall might develop a crack, but it would typically happen along a seam between two panels. Or, it would be a smaller crack that forms in the joint compound, not the actual drywall itself.

Plaster, on the other hand, can form spiderweb-like cracks in the surface as it ages. They could also occur if you try to hammer into the plaster too hard. So if you see cracks like this spreading across your walls or on your ceiling, it’s likely plaster.

Flaking paint is another sign of potential plaster walls. Of course, you can find peeling paint on drywall too. But, many plaster walls are from older homes, when people typically used oil paint.

If this paint was ever painted over with latex paint, it could lead to flaking unless an oil-based primer is used. Sometimes this might happen simply because people don’t know how to prep the walls properly.

However, sometimes, it’s simply because nowadays we’re so used to drywall and latex paint people may assume that’s what their walls are. So, this is yet another reason why it’s essential to know the facts about your walls.

A surefire way to tell if your walls are drywall or plaster is to look behind your walls. Drywall is installed differently from plaster. But don’t worry, you don’t need to go ripping out a wall to see what’s back there.

First, if you have an attic or basement area with exposed walls, check there. This will give you a quick view and tell you what your walls are made of.

Plaster walls are applied over horizontal wood laths. So, if you see these strips of wood, you have a plaster wall.

In many cases, you’ll even see some plaster in between the strips of wood. This is where plaster came through during the installation process.

Conversely, if it’s drywall, you’ll see uniform panels through the wall studs. Drywall is gypsum board sandwiched between paper, so you’ll see this paper backing.

If you don’t have a way to see the back of your walls, remove a switch plate or outlet. Get a flashlight and peer inside to see the cross-section of your wall.

If you can see paper, board, paper — it’s drywall. But if you see solid plaster with wood laths behind, you’ve got plaster walls.

Before you paint your walls or plan to hang pictures or shelving, you should determine if your walls are drywall or plaster. You’ll need to approach your project differently, depending on your walls’ composition.

In many cases, the age of your home will give you your answer. If your home was built before 1940, you likely have plaster walls. But, if it was built after the 1960s, it’s probably drywall. You can also consult with previous owners, building plans, or neighbors.

If you’re still not sure, press a pushpin into the wall to see if it goes in easily. If it does, it’s drywall, but if it doesn’t, it’s plaster. You can also look behind the walls by removing a switchplate to view the wall’s cross-section. If you see electrical boxes behind the walls, you also likely have drywall.

Both plaster and drywall have their advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, make sure you know what you’re dealing with before you start doing anything with your walls.