Why does nobody talk about plaster walls killing wireless alarm signals?

I've been doing more jobs in older neighborhoods where the thick plaster walls (you know, the old horsehair kind) totally block wireless signals. I found that placing a cheap repeater near any exterior door frame can bounce the signal around better. Has anyone tried using different frequencies to get through these walls?

4 comments

4 Comments

robertlane1mo ago

Actually plaster itself isn't too bad, it's the metal lath mesh behind it that really kills the signal. Those old walls are basically a faraday cage. A repeater helps, but you gotta get it outside that metal box first.

charlieb271mo ago

But is the signal loss really that huge? I've lived in a few old places with plaster walls. The WiFi might get weaker, but it usually pushes through unless you're far from the router. It could depend on how tight the metal mesh is or other stuff in the wall. Idk, maybe it's just me, but I haven't seen it be a faraday cage level problem.

miles_burns1mo agoMost Upvoted

Yeah I had to run a long ethernet cable right through the wall to a second access point in the hallway. Signal couldn't even make it ten feet otherwise. Good luck with that mesh.

the_alice21d ago

A buddy of mine in a pre-war apartment had his smart home gear go totally dead. The router was in the living room, and the smart lock on the front door kept dropping out. He finally cut a small hole to run a wire and found that metal mesh right behind the plaster. It was like a perfect signal shield around the whole place. His fix was to put a tiny access point in the actual hallway, just outside the main room with the router. That little hop outside the metal cage made all his devices work.