How to Find a Wall Stud

The best way to hang things on a wall is to mount them directly onto a solid wall stud. However, that’s easy to say but usually not so easy to do, since wall studs are already covered with drywall. However, finding a wall stud doesn’t need to a frustrating exercise of making a bunch of holes in your wall then repairing and repainting your wall. Here’s some ways you can find the studs hiding in your walls.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Hammer
• 1-inch finishing nail
• Flashlight
• Good ears

1. Start in a corner and measure 16 inches or 24 inches from the corner. Wall studs are usually installed with either 16 inches or 24 inches spacing between them.

2. Alternatively, look for an electrical outlet or light switch, since electrical boxes are usually mounted on the sides of studs, their location gives you a starting point for measuring to find your studs.

3. Tap the wall with your knuckles and listen to the sound. When you’re tapping on a stud, the wall will sound solid; tapping over unsupported drywall will give you a hollow sound.

4. Sometimes you can locate a wall stud by holding a flashlight on a flat angle along your wall and looking down the wall. You may be able to see where two pieces of drywall meet and below that joint you will find a stud.

5. Using an electronic stud finder. Simply slide the stud finder horizontally across the wall and when it passes over a stud it will flash or beep. Work from both sides and you can find and mark the edges of the underlying stud.

6. Confirm you have found a stud by driving a small, thin finishing nail directly below where you think the stud is located, down near the bottom of the wall above the baseboard.

Tips & Warnings

• Running an electric shaver over your wall may help you find a stud. Reportedly the shaver’s vibrations will sound louder when over the wall cavity and less loud when the shaver is directly over a stud.
• Another way you can verify you’ve found a stud is by drilling a small hole in your wall and inserting a piece of stiff wire with 3 or 4 inches at the tip bent at a 90-degree angle. Spin the wire and if you’ve close to a stud, the tip will bump into it.
• Stud finders are relatively common and easy to find at home and hardware stores. However, not all stud finders are the same. Inexpensive stud finders use magnets to find studs by sensing nails or screws holding the drywall in place. Unfortunately, they can give false readings if your walls have any metal conduit or galvanized pipes.
• Better quality (and of course more expensive) stud finders work by measuring the density of the underlying wall to figure out where a stud is located.

[kqmsradioman]

on 2/8/2008 Whoops! that was for the towel bar article.

[kqmsradioman]

on 2/8/2008 If a person is not too picky about the location of the towel bar, He/she can use a standard stud location just adjacent to a window, and use the 4 1/2" of King stud/trimmer/cripple to solid mount the opposite side; Should the first stud be far enough, or simply cut the towel bar to length. Another method is to mount the towel bar on a 'trophy' backing, such as primed pine, and solid mount the towel bar where ever he wants, putty in the holes and finish paint.