Can we talk about how wrong the "always drill pilot holes" advice is for old plaster walls?
For 5 yrs I pilot drilled every anchor hole in these 1920s Chicago buildings, then a crusty foreman watched me crack a whole corner and said I was splitting the keys by drilling too small. Now I drill straight with a 1/4 bit and toggle bolts, way fewer callbacks, who else has ditched pilots on lath and plaster?
Buddy of mine ran into the exact same thing. He was doing a kitchen reno in a greystones off Logan and pilot drilled every single hole for two weeks, then watched a corner of the ceiling crack wide open when he hung a cabinet. Old timer told him the same thing, that a pilot hole busts the plaster keys off the lath and there is nothing holding it after that. He switched to drilling straight through with a masonry bit and only used toggles after the fact. Way less mess, way less patching.