How to Find Wall Studs in Plaster Walls

Hanging frames should be done through studs

If a wall stud is missed when drilling or hammering into a wall to hang a picture or some other decoration, serious damage can be done to the wall. Knocking of the wall to locate a stud is not a reliable method and can lead to some major repairs when the guess is incorrect, so should be avoided if possible. Locating a stud in plaster walls or walls covered with drywall has become a much simpler undertaking in recent years with the advent of a few different gadgets.

Things You'll Need

• Electronic stud finder
• Pencil

Instructions

1. Locate the general area on the wall where you would like to hang the picture or decoration. If you are simply trying to locate the stud for practical or demolition purposes, skip this step.

2. Power on the stud finder.

3. Lay the stud finder flat against the wall in which you are attempting to locate the stud. Activate the stud finder, usually by depressing the side buttons.

4. Sweep the wall slowly in a horizontal direction, watching the lights on the stud finder. Depending upon the model, the stud finder's lights usually go from red when no stud is detected, to yellow or orange when proximity has been found to green when the stud has been located.

5. Mark the area of the wall where the stud finder alerted a stud's location with a small "X" using the pencil. If desired, use the stud finder to go down vertically to map the entire location of the stud with the pencil.

Tips & Warnings

• Stud finders can be used to map the distance between two studs for demolition jobs and also to hang larger decorations that require multiple studs to be used.

• Ensure you are aware of the location of your breaker box and large wires within the walls. A stud finder may alert to a stud when in fact it is a large "main wire."

References

• Do It Yourself: Properly use a stud finder