--- title: Stucco, Adobe and Metal Walls: Why Wi-Fi Fades url: https://hdiss.net/guides/stucco-adobe-and-metal-walls/ business: High Desert Internet Services (HDISS) phone: 775-575-9593, 775-391-5660 email: info@hdiss.net mailing_address: Home base: 200 S Virginia St, Suite 760, Reno NV 89501 (dispatch office, not a walk-in store). Mail: Billing Dept., PO Box 11353, Reno NV 89510 hours: Office open 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, seven days a week. Network watched around the clock. type: Fixed wireless internet service provider (homes and small businesses), web hosting, customer email, domain registration service_area: Northern Nevada - Washoe, Lyon, Storey, Churchill and Douglas counties and Carson City; availability is checked address by address (line of sight to a tower) plans: Bronze $50/mo up to 500 Mbps down, up to 200 Mbps up; Silver $75/mo up to 800 down, up to 200 up; Gold $99/mo up to 1 Gig down, up to 200 up; ask about the up to 1 Gig / 1 Gig ultra-low-latency service no_online_purchase: true (check your address or call; existing customers pay at https://www2.fernley.net/hdiss/onlinepay/paymentform.cfm) since: 2002 --- - [Home](https://hdiss.net/) - [Guides](https://hdiss.net/guides/) - Stucco, adobe and metal walls: why Wi-Fi dies between rooms # Stucco, Adobe and Metal Walls: Why Wi-Fi Dies Between Rooms Radio loses strength passing through walls, and dense or metal-backed materials take the most. NIST's lab study found plywood and drywall let most of a signal through while brick, concrete and steel grids took far more, and higher frequencies lose more. Sagebrush prairie in the high desert. Stock photo: Adobe Stock. [Photo credits](https://hdiss.net/photo-credits/) On this page - [What did NIST test?](#what-did-nist-test) - [What were the results?](#what-were-the-results) - [Why do stucco, adobe and metal matter?](#why-do-stucco-adobe-and-metal-matter) - [What should you do about it?](#what-should-you-do-about-it) - [A shop or metal building](#a-shop-or-metal-building) Many Northern Nevada homes are built of stucco over block, adobe, brick or steel framing, and many shops are metal. Wi-Fi that is fine in a wood-framed rental can fade in the next room. This guide uses a National Institute of Standards and Technology study to explain why, then gives placement rules that work with heavy walls. ## Takeaways - NIST IR 6055 measured signal loss in brick, masonry block, concrete, reinforced concrete, glass, plywood, lumber and drywall. - In the study, a 13 mm plywood panel dissipated only 10% of the signal power, and a 19 mm glass panel dissipated 30%. - NIST found that, in general, signal attenuation increases with frequency. - Higher bands (5 and 6 GHz) fade faster through walls than 2.4 GHz. ## What did NIST test? NIST Interagency Report 6055, “Electromagnetic Signal Attenuation in Construction Materials,” is a laboratory study from NIST's Construction Automation Program. Researchers placed samples of building materials between two antennas and measured power loss at 2 MHz intervals from 0.5 to 2 GHz and from 3 to 8 GHz. The materials were brick, masonry block, eight concrete mixes, glass, plywood, lumber, drywall, reinforced concrete, steel reinforcing bar grids, and combinations such as brick-faced block. The study did not test stucco or adobe by name, so this guide does not quote numbers for them. It does show how materials of similar kinds behave, which is enough for placement decisions. ## What were the results? NIST reports that plywood, lumber studs, glass and drywall let signals through easily: a 13 mm plywood panel dissipated only 10% of the transmitted power, two layers of solid fir planks 76 mm thick dissipated 30%, and a 19 mm glass panel dissipated 30%. Concrete is a harder case: the study notes that a signal passing through a 305 mm concrete wall would lose about 90 dB at 8 GHz, a large loss that NIST says can be recovered from background noise in a laboratory but cannot be counted on in a busy real-world setting. The report also says that, in general, attenuation per millimeter increases with increasing frequency. That is why the 5 GHz and 6 GHz Wi-Fi bands reach less far through walls than 2.4 GHz, as in our [band guide](https://hdiss.net/guides/2-4-vs-5-vs-6-ghz/). ## Why do stucco, adobe and metal matter? Thick masonry, such as block, brick and adobe, behaves like the dense materials in the study: a lot of material for the signal to cross. Stucco is often applied over a wire mesh, and a metal grid blocks or scatters radio in a way wood does not; NIST tested steel reinforcing bar grids for this reason. A metal roof, metal siding or a steel-framed building adds a shield around the whole space. The same logic applies to objects inside the house. A router behind a large appliance or a mirror, or in a cabinet with a closed metal door, is in a poor spot. ## What should you do about it? Put the router in the open, near the middle of the house, and up off the floor. Count the heavy walls between it and the rooms you use most, and move it to reduce that count. Use 2.4 GHz for devices far from the router, and 5 GHz for devices close by. Where one router cannot reach, run a cable to a second access point, which beats any wireless repeater; see [Ethernet for the things that matter](https://hdiss.net/guides/ethernet-for-the-things-that-matter/). Our [placement guide](https://hdiss.net/guides/where-to-put-your-router/) and [mesh guide](https://hdiss.net/guides/whole-home-wifi-and-mesh/) go further. ## A shop or metal building A metal building needs an access point inside it. A signal from the house will not pass through the walls in a usable way, so run a cable or a wireless bridge, as in the [shop and barn guide](https://hdiss.net/guides/wifi-to-a-shop-barn-or-guest-house/). For a wireless link into a house from outside, the roof antenna sits outdoors for this reason, and its position is chosen by a path survey rather than by what is convenient inside. To see what a High Desert connection would involve at your address, send the address through the check form. A person looks at the path from the nearest tower and calls you back, and you can describe your walls on that call. ### Sources - [nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/IR/nistir6055.pdf](https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/Legacy/IR/nistir6055.pdf) (NIST IR 6055, Electromagnetic Signal Attenuation in Construction Materials, read 10/15/26) - [wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/wi-fi-6](https://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/wi-fi-6) (Wi-Fi Alliance, band overview, read 10/15/26) ### Talk to a person - Call [775-575-9593](tel:7755759593) [775-391-5660](tel:7753915660) Open 9-5 every day - Email [info@hdiss.net](mailto:info@hdiss.net) [Check my address](https://hdiss.net/check-availability/#check) Local since 2002 Fixed wireless from towers in Northern Nevada. Three plans, no contracts, local support, 4.8 on Google from 36 reviews. [About High Desert](https://hdiss.net/about/) ### Keep reading - [Where to put your router](https://hdiss.net/guides/where-to-put-your-router/) - [2.4 GHz vs 5 GHz vs 6 GHz Wi-Fi](https://hdiss.net/guides/2-4-vs-5-vs-6-ghz/) - [Whole-home Wi-Fi and mesh: when you need it](https://hdiss.net/guides/whole-home-wifi-and-mesh/) - [Wi-Fi to a shop, barn or guest house](https://hdiss.net/guides/wifi-to-a-shop-barn-or-guest-house/) - [The internet is fine but the Wi-Fi is slow: how to tell](https://hdiss.net/guides/internet-fine-but-wifi-slow/) ## More on wi-fi and home network - [The internet is fine but the Wi-Fi is slow: how to tell](https://hdiss.net/guides/internet-fine-but-wifi-slow/): Plug one computer into the router with a cable and test it. If the wired result is close to your plan's up-to speed and the Wi-Fi result is far lower, the line is fine and the problem is inside your house. - [Where to put your router](https://hdiss.net/guides/where-to-put-your-router/): Put the router as high and as central as you can, in the open, with a clear line toward the rooms you use most, and away from metal, mirrors, fish tanks and the microwave. High Desert's cable comes in at the indoor - [Whole-home Wi-Fi and mesh: when you need it](https://hdiss.net/guides/whole-home-wifi-and-mesh/): You need mesh when one router in the middle of the house cannot reach the far rooms with a usable signal, and a cable to a second unit is the way to get the most from it. For a small or open house, one well-placed router ## Questions people ask ### Will a repeater fix a dead room? It can, but a repeater shares one radio between two jobs, which can lower the speed. A cable to a second access point is steadier. ### Is Wi-Fi in an adobe house hopeless? No. It needs the router placed with the heavy walls in mind, and often a second access point connected by cable.