Pro Handyman Blog

There are lots of carpentry projects that require you to anchor something heavy, or that will support something heavy, into wall studs. In the event you are anchoring shelving into the wall, the entire span of the shelving should be anchored into each wall stud.

I prefer using lag bolts when mounting lumber to a wall. Place a large washer over the lag bolt to increase the bearing pressure on the lumber. You must pre-drill the hole into the wall stud to the approximate diameter of the shank of the bolt (that is, exclude the threads on the bolt and use a drill bit that is just slightly smaller than the shank).

Use a stud finder and hold it against the wall. Move the stud finder horizontally and watch the lights. You want to determine the center of the stud face and install the lag bolt there. If you hit the edge of the stud, you won’t have as much holding power as in the middle. The stud finder will locate the face of the stud. When the sensor lights up, it has contacted one edge of the face. As you move it across the face the lights will die off and that typically identifies the other side of the stud. You can draw a light line on the wall when the sensor picks up each side and aim for the middle.