Looking to borrow: a stud finder, also: advice?

[jbsegal]

We're wanting to mount things to our walls... and we need to figure out how best to deal.

If there's a studfinder out there that can differentiate between metal and wood, that'd be even better.

(I suspect any originally-located walls are turn-of-the-(last-)century wood stud, but seemingly covered with sheetrock - probably when brought up to modern electrics, and I have no idea when the last major renos and wall-moves were and thus what they're likely to have been done with. So then the questions are: What's the best sheetrock anchor out there? Do you use different hardware on metal vs wood studs? What else do I need to be taking in to account that I haven't thought of?

Thanks!)

Comments

[thespian.livejournal.com]

I have a stud finder, if someone wants to walk over and get it. Just let me find it and make sure the batteries are working.

[thespian.livejournal.com]

huh. was expecting some digging, but it was sitting on top of the electric tool bucket.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

i would be shocked if you had metal studs in that house.

as for anchors, it depends on what you're trying to mount. paintings? just standard painting hangar things. shelf units? yeah, you need to screw into the stud.

depending on the level of renovation involved, you may or may not be able to get the studfinder to work. if you've got wood-lath-and-plaster with sheetrock over it (not unheard of around here), then the actual studs may be deep enough that the finder has troubles.

if you do have lath-and-plaster (either wood or metal lath), then the typical plastic wallboard anchors may not work well.

remember that studs (in standard construction) are 16" apart (center-to-center measurement). this may help you find additional studs if you're mounting something like a wall-mount shelf.

comparatively-inconspicuous test holes can be useful. drywall screw or finish nails are good for this. make sure that stud is really a stud before you commit to using that spot on the wall.

[kimberlogic.livejournal.com]

Thank you - this is really helpful. We're trying to mount some wood shelves and heavy-duty hooks. I suspect we've got the lath&plaster. Per your suggestion, I'll try some drywall screws today ...

[rmd.livejournal.com]

you should be able to tell the difference between screws that are just in lathe and screws that are in a stud.

also, if you tap on the wall with something like the hard back of a screwdriver, the wall on top of a stud often sounds/feels different than the wall where there's just lath and a gap. less vibration when there's a stud there.

this is usually how i start looking for a wall stud - tapping along until i find something that feels/sounds different.

[foms.livejournal.com]

If it's hanging regular stuff like paintings and such, I suggest that you install picture rail. It's decorative moulding that has a lip at the top from which you can hang stuff by chain or string or even fishing line (which is less visible. It allows you to move art without making more holes.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

What we're hoping to install are things like hooks to hold up coats, since we have no coat closet in our foyer. We'll need those hooks to be strong enough to support some heavy winter coats and such.

[foms.livejournal.com]

Right. I withdraw that suggestion for this use.

My experience with plaster and lath is that stud finders may not work due to the distance from the surface of the wall to the studs. Here, my suggestion is to drill test holes in a location where people are less likely to see them.

If you are planning to put your hooks on a piece of board, then the board will hide trial holes that miss. If not, then taking off a piece of moulding from the base of the wall may reveal the studs directly and, if it doesn't, offers a location to drill trial holes that will be hidden when the moulding is replaced.

If you have any idea of the centre-to-centre distance between studs in your house, it will help. It's usually reasonable to assume that the corner post is a doubled two-by-four and measure away from the corner from there. I once had to drill a whole bunch of extra holes because, at that house, for some reason, there was a doubled post, then a stud at eight inches and then successive studs were on ten-inch centres. You never know.

[pir.livejournal.com]

Our house on Willow had original plaster and lathe on wooden studs which they'd ripped a strip out of to install new sockets and then covered the whole thing with plasterboard. This made finding studs, even with a studfinder, very difficult since none of the studfinders I tried would work properly through all those layers.

You might try detecting studs parallel with power sockets where there may be less behind.

On the other hand, I found that screws put into the lathe would hold most reasonable artwork up just fine. If you need to find a stud then make your best guess and try drilling with a small drill in to check. I very much doubt you have metal studs.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

fwiw, this construction method (ripping out a long horizontal piece of lath to install receptacles and then replacing with drywall) is non-standard.

[dalesql.livejournal.com]

For hanging stuff that is relatively light (under ten pounds or so) there is this lovely brand of hangers that I use. They don't put one big hole into your wall and then put a beefy anchor to flip out inside the wall. What they have is a bunch of very small pins that you tap into the plaster or sheetrock with a small hammer or other blunt instrument. Leaving you a small plastic hook there on the wall to hang your thing on. The beuty of them is when you pry them off the wall, all that's left behind (other than the outline of dirt of whatever you had hanging there) is a number of pinprick holes in the plaster. Holes small enough that a coat of paint will fill them in and cover them up. The ones that are rated for more weight, have more pins in them. Extremely friendly things to your damage deposit.

[lionessprite.livejournal.com]

Okay, we know how this conversation goes...

JB: "... stud finder ..."
Ariel: "Uhhh, no comment..."
JB: "Yes dear."

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

yeah, i was thinking that :>

[yakshaver.livejournal.com]

IME, stud-finders just don't work very well in Camberville houses.

An option for hanging moderately heavy objects is a hollow-wall anchor; by far the best of these that I know of is the WingIts Master Anchor. (I discovered their original product, which attaches handicapped grab-bars to hollow walls, when I needed that a few years back. Seriously good engineering.)

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

Yes, i agree about the WingIts Master Anchor.