A wall stud finder is an accurate and indispensable tool used in place of manually finding studs by hand and by sound. When anything is hung from a wall by nail or screw, the nail must be hammered into a stud for solidity so as not to tear holes in the plaster, wallpaper, paneling or other wall covering. Whenever home remodeling is done, the studs must be discovered as well. You will need to nail any new paneling to them or any new plasterboard. You will need to know where they are even to add insulation within and between walls. You can get one at a hardware store or possibly an electronics store and they come with instructions and sometimes even with batteries.
Instructions
1. Pick up a wall stud finder that is electronic and can be held and used in one hand. It emits an alarm and uses an LCD light array to acknowledge finding studs and edges of studs. How does this kind of wall stud finder operate? It measures the mass and the volume of the wall and then finds the stud within it. The technology behind this is one we are all quite familiar with, it’s called RADAR. Other types of wall stud finders find metal staples or screws that hold the covered drywall to the studs themselves. These are magnetic wall stud finders, which are dependent on there being metal there to find, and that the metal is in the studs and not somewhere else and thereby throwing off the stud discovery mission.
2. When you are affixing new lights to a ceiling (there are studs called joists there, too), mounting paintings, shelving or other items to walls, or remodeling, use a stud finder. To get started, hold the stud finder in your left hand. Press the button on the side in and keep that button held in until you are finished. Have a pencil or marking instrument in your right hand.
3. Now with the button pressed, hold the stud finder against the wall flat at the height where you want to place a nail, for example. Now move the stud finder vertically across the wall until you hear the first beep and the lights light up.
4. At this point you have found the edge of the stud and may want to mark it with the pencil. Keep moving the stud finder across the wall and when it beeps again, you have just found the center of the same stud. Now make the center by placing the pencil at the top middle of the stud finder and marking there. Some models of wall stud finder have a hole at the top center for making this mark accurately.
5. This center mark is where you will want to pound in the nail to hang a painting for example. Stud finders are used to make sure all your building and remodeling jobs are done against and in conjunction with the solid framework of your house, known as the wall stud.
