For something heavier, especially when the mount must be somewhere there is no stud, I use those plastic expanding anchors about 1" long that you push into a pre-drilled hole of the right diameter, and then turn in a screw or hook to make it expand and jam against the sides of the hole. For smaller framed items one of those hangers with a simple nail about 1 to 1½" long pointed down at an angle of about 45 degrees works well. Of course, you can use other means to fasten something to a wall, depending on how heavy it is. You just watch the magnet as you scan across the wall, and it swings to point to any metal (screw) it passes over. My device is a plastic thing with a clear cover, and inside is a magnet mounted in a swivelling holder so that the magnet can swing back and forth horizontally. But NOT just a simple magnet - you can't really feel the pull with your hand. I use a very simple and cheap stud finder based on a magnet. So typically the cable is nearly 2" behind the back surface of the wall covering, and you should not be drilling that far in. But the real point is that building codes require that electrical cables be routed through (and along the sides of) studs at the MIDDLE of the vertical wood. You would not get a shock, but the disadvantage is that means you probably would not even know it happened. The point made above about modern double-insulated tools is correct. Afterwards tou need to patch and pain the holes, OR if you arrange it right you do the behind where you're going to mount the picture (or whatever) and just hide them.Īs for drilling into wires, that is not usually a problem. And remember that most studs are on 16" horizontal spacing, so once you find one you have a good idea where the next one is. This way you can know exactly where the stud starts and ends in a horizontal direction. You can tell when the bit gets through the wall into empty space, versus when it just keeps on drilling into a stud. Then I drill a series of holes, using a long small-diameter bit, horizontally. Using the wall knocking process I narrow down the search zone. My other technique (our house is old with plaster/ lath walls) leaves more marks. It does not depend on finding iron nails. This is very much like the knocking technique, but more sensitive that the manual way. Some of the better stud finders work differently, using a method I don't really understand to detect differences in density of the wall. This is not very precise, but it gives you a good area to cover more carefully with the stud finder. Usually you can detect a change where the stud is holding the front covering tight. Move your spot sideways and listen to the sound. As a fist step to find the stud, try knocking on the wall with your knuckles or a gentle hammer tap. And secondly, those nail heads are topped by a much thicker layer of plaster than the small covering of spackling compound used to hide sheetrock screws. First, the nails used to fasten the wood lath strips to the studs are much smaller than the screws used for sheetrock, so they are harder to find with a magnet. Now, if (as suggested above) the wall covering is plaster over wood lath strips, that makes it more difficult for two reasons. So you have to scan the stud finder slowly back and forth, up and down, to find a metal screw. Typically these screws are positioned about 12" to 16" or more apart vertically along a stud, and the studs are spaced 16" apart horizontally. Get rid of any stuck chunks of plaster by knocking them free of the lath with a hammer or scraping tool.A lot of the simpler stud finders depend on detecting iron nails or screws used to fasten the sheetrock to studs. Be careful because this will likely result in a messier cleanup. If your wall contains horsehair plaster, it’s likely very old so the wall could crumble easily. You’ll want to take apart the plaster and lath separately for easier cleanup. Make sure not to destroy the lath during this step. Some plaster might stick to the lath, but try to expose as much of the wood framework as possible. Use a shovel to scrape off chunks of plaster. If you’re having trouble listening for studs, you can buy a wall scanner to make your work easier. Then, use the hammer to poke holes in the parts of the plaster that aren’t supported by studs. If it sounds hollow, you are moving away from a stud. If the tapping sound is solid, then you're approaching a stud. Listen for the wall studs - the vertical wooden beams in the wall - by lightly knocking on the wall with a hammer.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |