How To: Find a Stud in the Wall. Amazing Method!

How to find a stud in the wall. How would you like to be able to find a stud in a plaster wall / drywall wall, easily and every time without an expensive stud finder? Let's look at how to find a wall stud using three conventional methods then l'll explain my foolproof method of how to find a stud in the wall without a stud finder.

Method 1:

Knock on the wall with your hand in a number of spots until the hollow sound becomes solid. Where the sound is solid there is probably a stub or a least a solid object. This method isn't bad but there is a definite room for error, as you can't exactly pinpoint the stud. You get the general area but it's a bit hit and miss and at other times it can be hard trying to differentiate the difference between a hollow and a solid sound. It is free though so that's good!

Method 2:

You can use a store bought stud finder. Once again these are notoriously unreliable unless you buy a very expensive model.

Method 3:

Look on your wall for a power point (outlet box). The bracket that holds the power point (outlet box) in place is attached to the side of a stud. What you need to do is remove the power point and have a look inside the hole to find out what side the stud is. From there you can measure the stud intervals which are usually 16 inches on centre (on centre means from the middle of one stud to the middle of the next stud) if you are in America or 450mm on centre for load bearing walls and 600mm on centre for non load bearing in countries like Australia. Obviously these measurements can change from country to country depending on the Building Code for that Country or State but those measurements l gave are a pretty good indication.

The only drama with this method is that removing the power point (outlet box) can be tricky at times especially if you don't have the right tools.

METHOD 4. THE MOST FOOL PROOF METHOD OUT THERE!!

Get yourself a magnet. That's it!! Drywall is attached to studs using metal fasteners. The magnet picks up on these metal fasteners giving you the exact position of the stud!! Now that is amazing!

The best magnets to use are called 'Rare Earth Magnets'. You can find these in old computer hard drives that you see on peoples nature strips waiting to be picked up on hard rubbish day or you can get yourself one from any electrical supplies store for around ten to fifteen dollars. The one that l have is about 25mm (one inch) in diameter and about 4mm (a bit over one eighth of an inch) thick.

So there you have it. Get yourself a magnet and happy stud hunting.

BONUS TIP:

If you find yourself building or renovating your home from scratch, or removed some plasterboard to do some work, take a photo of the stud wall prior to the drywall or plasterboard going up. This will let you know where the studs are at a later date when you need to find one.

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Cheers,
Uncle Knackers