How to Find a Stud in the Wall: 4 Foolproof Methods, According to a Pro

If you want to make changes to your home — whether you rent or own — then it’s crucial that you know how to find a stud in the wall. You might be able to hang lightweight art without using a stud, but mounting a TV? Installing shelves? Hanging a mirror? You’ll need to be able to find a stud to make your DIYs secure.

Even after spending 30 years in construction and remodeling, I still feel satisfied every time I find a stud behind a wall when I need one. Blindly locating a sturdy piece of structure in a wall seems like it could be difficult. However, with a little practice and patience, learning how to find a stud can become quite easy. You may even catch yourself looking for stud locations when you don’t even need to!

Here’s what you should know about what studs are, why they’re important, and how to find a stud behind a wall when you need one.

Typical wall construction consists of framing, the wooden or metal structure behind a wall’s facade, which is usually drywall. Studs are the vertical pieces of that framing structure that span the distance from the floor to the top of the wall. Studs give the wall its strength, shape, and support. 

Being behind the wall’s drywall covering, studs aren’t visible without creating a hole in the wall. 

However, not all walls are the same. While all framed walls have studs, concrete or cinder block walls don’t. Additionally, plaster walls generally have studs but also contain a network of other wood or metal pieces that can confuse the stud-finding process.

Modern walls with stud-type construction are mostly hollow. There may be insulation between the studs in the wall, but generally air makes up most of the space. Air doesn’t hold a nail or screw very well, nor does drywall. 

Knowing how to find studs is important for identifying anchor points for hanging objects, such as TVs, shelves, mirrors, and heavy wall-hanging pictures or artwork.

Have you ever driven a nail into what felt like nothing when hanging a picture? That’s the hollow space between studs. Drywall alone is very weak as an anchor point, and only the lightest pictures will remain hanging on the wall for very long with just the drywall as support.

Finding a stud with a stud finder is straightforward and usually pretty fast. While stud finders vary slightly in their operation between models and manufacturers, the general process is the same for each.

1. Place the tool’s flat side against the wall near the height where you would like to find a stud. 
2. Press the calibration button one or two times, depending on the model’s directions, and wait a second or two until the device indicates that it’s ready.
3. Slowly move the finder horizontally across the wall. 
4. When the device indicates, with a beep, light, or both, that a stud is present, mark the location with a pencil mark or piece of tape. 
5. It can be helpful to repeat the process going in the other direction to find the same stud to double-check the tool’s findings. 

No stud finder? No problem. There are more ways to identify stud locations now that you know a little more about wall construction. 

Luke Kinser, co-founder of Virginia Builders in Virginia, offers this trick. “Look for electrical outlets or light switches. Studs are typically located on either side of these.” However, he goes on to say, “Make sure not to accidentally touch any live wires. If you’re uncertain about any electrical components, it might be best to turn off the power at the circuit breaker before you start working near them.”

A trick that I’ve often used, especially when my stud finder was all the way out in my truck, is the tapping method. Walls are mostly hollow and sound that way when you knock on them unless you tap directly on a stud. Simply knock on the wall every couple of inches until the sound changes from hollow to solid. Where it sounds solid is likely a stud location.

Double-check by driving a small nail in the location. If you hit something solid, that’s your stud. If not, remove the nail and try again.

A strong magnet can also help locate studs, as it will be attracted to metal in the wall (most often, nails in the studs). Glide a magnet over the wall and pay attention to where you feel a pull; mark those spots as studs.

I have plaster walls in my home, and finding studs can be somewhat frustrating. Plaster is thicker than drywall and contains lathe materials that often send false positive signals to a typical stud finder, making it ineffective. The lathe can be wood or metal and holds the plaster in place on the wall. It’s pretty much everywhere the plaster is. 

To find studs in my plaster walls, the method that works best for me is to drag a strong magnet horizontally and vertically over the wall’s surface until the magnet sticks to one of the fasteners that holds the lathe substructure to the studs. 

This method requires a little bit of luck and can require some patience, but it’s quite effective if the plaster isn’t extra thick. In thick plaster cases, I look for nails in the baseboard trim at the floor to find the studs behind them. 

The easiest way to find studs for the first dozen or so times is by using a stud finder. However, as you become more experienced, the tapping method can become faster and quite reliable. 

Smartphone apps exist that claim to act as stud finders. Most reports suggest that app stud finders work well for finding metal studs but are hit-or-miss with wooden studs. That said, a phone app stud finder can be a good way to get a quick idea of where to start looking for studs with another, more accurate, method. 

Wall studs are typically 16 inches on center from each other, meaning there is 14.5 inches of space between the edges of each stud because of the stud’s typical width of 1.5 inches. Exterior walls will almost always have 16-inch-on-center studs, while some interior walls may contain studs at 24 inches on center. 

Stud finders are highly accurate. However, high-end stud finders can also detect things like pipes and wires within a wall, which can cause false positives if you’re uncertain of what to look for. To make sure you get the most accurate readings from your stud finder check the instructions for your model. 

To protect your TV, and more importantly, anyone underneath your TV, mounting it generally requires securing it to at least one wall stud. While some specialty drywall anchors claim to be strong enough to handle mounting small televisions, be wary. Finding a stud is always the best option. 

If you can’t find a stud, you may be working with a concrete, block, or solid wood wall with drywall or other material over it. In this case, you can use an appropriate anchor for the material behind the wall covering. However, if you’re certain the wall has stud construction, continue trying different techniques. One will certainly work with patience.