Replies

1. 
   Jed42 | Aug 15, 2009 06:11pm | #1

   Yeah, the one I use is great.

   A nail.

   I have not found a stud finder that works consistently for plaster.

   I gave up on the electronic ones, and use one (for drywall only) that uses the old magnet style.

   The magnet is only strong enough to find the nail/screw heads in the drywall mud covering them.  Will NOT detect plumbing, will NOT detect HVAC, metal studs etc.

   Magic Stud Finder Plus, I think it's called.  Goofy name, I know.  But it works.

   Again, won't work for plaster, but since we're talking about them...this has yet to fail me (though I thought it would...I'm known for throwing the latest & greatest stud finders against the closest concrete wall after it has failed) for drywall.

   As the above poster said, start drillin' and fillin', unless you can guess it right.

   No Coffee No Workee!
2. 
   YesMaam27577 | Aug 15, 2009 06:18pm | #2

   I tend to agree with the others -- plaster walls make the task difficult for electronics.

   Which I why I'm always sure to have a 1/16" drill bit in my kit. If the room has chair rail. drill holes right at the bottom edge -- no one will ever see them.

   If no chair rail, drill at the top edge of the baseboard -- assuming the base is white-painted, a quick run with some caulk covers the holes.

   And of course, once you drill enough holes to find one stud, you can at least try every 16" from there. With a bit of luck, you'll have found them all.

   Politics is the antithesis of problem solving.
1. 
   Brian55 | Aug 15, 2009 07:05pm | #3

   Think plaster is tough try finding studs in a bathroom behind tiles when the backing was mesh and mud!

   Brian

3. 
   Hudson Valley Carpenter | Aug 15, 2009 08:09pm | #4

   using my Zircon stud-finder.

   If you're not a Zirconian female, you shouldn't expect that thing to find you a stud, honey.

1. 
   newbuilder | Aug 16, 2009 08:30am | #7

   EGGS-alent!

   :)

4. 
   Jeff_Clarke | Aug 16, 2009 05:42am | #5

   Assuming an uninsulated wall - Take a coathanger and bend it into a flat-ish U-shape with the legs around 9"-10" long (exactly the same length) and the bottom of the U about 2"-3" wide.   Drill a hole through the plaster large enough to feed one leg into the cavity.  The goal is to end up with the flat bottom of the U going through the plaster with parallel ends of the wire on each side of the plaster.   Turn until the inside leg touches a stud - the outside (parallel) leg that you can see shows you where one edge of the stud is.   Turn the other way to 'touch' the next stud face.  Sorry, you'll have a few small holes to patch.

   Jeff

   
   

   ---

   Edited 8/15/2009 10:43 pm ET by Jeff_Clarke

1. 
   dovetail97128 | Aug 16, 2009 08:21am | #6

   Cute trick, I will file that one.
   They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.

5. 
   Piffin | Aug 16, 2009 03:32pm | #8

   Which Zircon do you have? They make 3-4 of them. The $20 one does not work near as well as the $100 one.

   I had a bosch that worked well. it was made for finding rebar in crete so must've been more powerful.

   but it got flakey on me.

   Try a thread search using advanced search on this topic. Somebody mentioned another one that is similar to what I had that is currently on the market.

   Do you have metal lathe in the plaster or wood lathe?

   another tip I have read here was to use a simple rare earth magnet and roll it acrtoss the wall untill it jumps out of your hand.

    

    

   Welcome to the
   Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
    where ...
   Excellence is its own reward!

6. 
   holy hammer | Aug 16, 2009 05:17pm | #9

   Try the Stud4Sure at Duluth trading. Awesome product. Use it all the time.

   Constructing in metric...

   every inch of the way.