Vent: My buddy in Phoenix said he never uses a stud finder for drywall anymore, just knocks and listens. Tried it on a closet build and it actually worked.

3 comments

3 Comments

Watched my neighbor try that knock method last year. He was putting up a heavy shelf in his garage. He knocked, marked a spot, and drilled right into nothing but hollow drywall. The whole shelf ripped out when he put a toolbox on it. Had to patch a huge hole. Some walls are just weird, with uneven stud spacing or extra blocking. I keep a cheap magnetic finder in my toolbox now for a quick double check.

nathan_kim11d ago

Oh man, that's the universe telling him he needed a bigger toolbox. Sounds like his shelf was just holding on by hopes and drywall dust. I bet that crash was something else, like a slow-motion movie scene where the toolbox just wins. At least he got a free wall repair project out of it.

adam18611d agoTop Commenter

Grab a small finishing nail and hammer it in a bit where you think the stud is. If you hit wood, you're good. If it punches through easy, you've got drywall and need to move over an inch and try again. Leaves a tiny hole you can fill with a dab of spackle.

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