Pro Handyman Blog

At some point you will have a carpentry job that will require you to find wall studs. When you most need it, your stud finder will be out of battery life. Now you’ll have to go back to the Neanderthal days to find wall studs (like 1975). Here are some of the easier ways.

You can certainly knock on the wall horizontally until the hollow sound becomes more of a solid sound. You could also try shining a bright light down the wall and look for small humps in the wall, or you could apply some reason.

Openings in walls (like doors and windows) will have wall studs next to them for strength. You can measure out 16” from this point and at least you will be close. Also, during new construction, electrical boxes (outlets and switches) are secured to wall studs on one side. You can either use the knocking technique or take off the face plate of the outlet or switch and look through the gap between the drywall and box to see which side the stud is lying. Lastly, you can always remove a strip of baseboard and look behind it. You will see where the drywall has been nailed to the studs, but don’t always trust that. You can cut away a little of the drywall to be sure as the baseboard will cover it up anyway.