Bought a $90 stud finder, a $5 magnet did the job better

Last month I was wiring up a new outlet in my laundry room and my fancy stud finder kept giving false readings on the old plaster walls. I finally got frustrated, dug a cheap neodymium magnet out of my toolbox, and found the drywall screws in about 10 seconds flat. The magnet trick works perfect on any wall, you just slide it until it sticks and you know you are dead center on a stud. I wasted a whole afternoon going back and forth with the electronic one, checking the manual and re-calibrating it twice. Has anyone else ditched the high tech gear for the dumb simple method on something like this, or am I just bad at using the tools? That $90 could have bought a lot of drywall compound. What other basic tricks have saved you money on a reno?

2 comments

2 Comments

wade_anderson2d ago

Honestly, sounds like you just bought the wrong tool for the job, but your hack works fine, so whatever.

taylor.brooke1d ago

Wait, why not just return it and get the right one?