How Stud Finders Work To Save You Time

There are a lot of very heavy things that you'll end up having to mount on your walls when you first move into a home. Things like shelves, TVs, cabinets, and other things that hang on a wall need to have their mounts fastened directly into the studs or you risk having them fall later on. When they do fall, people could get injured, valuable items broken, and the hole in your sheet rock will look horrible. So, exactly how do you go about finding the stud in the wall for your next project? With a stud finder, of course. Here are some of the different kinds and how they work.

What A Stud Finder Does

They always have a battery since they need that to create an electromagnetic field. The field can penetrate a wall to about an inch or more and it changes when it detects metal nails and even the studs themselves. Every object on earth has a slightly different magnetic attraction, but iron and some other metals are particularly attracted to magnets in a big way.

A stud finder will usually have a row of LED lights and as you run your stud finder across the wall they'll start lighting up the closer they get to the stud. When all of them are lit, you're probably right at the center of the stud. However, you should continue on to see how the lights quit functioning as you are no longer over the stud.

There are ways to make extra sure that you're on the stud as well. You can take a pencil and make a mark where you believe the stud is, then drop down lower on the wall and find the stud again. Then, take a level and it should be exactly vertical, straight up and down, where the marks for the stud are. This is an excellent double check to make sure you're on the mark. You can then make a light pencil mark along the edge of your level and be certain of hitting the stud anywhere along that line.

Be Cautious Of Other Metal Objects

You should make one other double check and locate another stud on each side of the one you've already found. They should be spaced 16 to 24 inches apart inside the wall. If you don't find one on each side of the one you've already located, it may be a false reading caused by a metal pipe or other metal object. In modern homes there are far fewer metal pipes, but there are still metal wires that could give a false reading.

There Are Electronic Whole Stud Detectors Too

These are a little more accurate than the regular electronic stud finder and are better at finding the exact edges of the stud. Contractors that need to install wiring, plumbing and HVAC conduits use these because they give a better reading of the entire stud. These workers need to know where the edges are to plan where to cut into the wall with a saw, rather than just hang shelves.

Whatever the reason why you need to know where the studs are, these new tools are far better than the old knuckle tapping method used by our grandpas. They aren't very expensive to buy and save lots of time on the job.