# Hanging a heavy picture, do I need to find a 'stud'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 29, 2006, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597 "2006-05-29T05:08:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/21 "2006-05-30T12:42:52Z")
_sigh_ No jokes about “looking for a stud”. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/22 "2006-05-30T12:46:05Z")
[QUOTE=vetbridge] _sigh_ No jokes about “looking for a stud”. ☹ [/QUOTE] _wonders exactly which kind of “stud” jokes the veternarian was looking for_ There’s just so many options here. Too many. I shall leave it to my betters. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/23 "2006-05-30T13:02:37Z")
[QUOTE=vetbridge] _sigh_ No jokes about “looking for a stud”. ☹ [/QUOTE] I was wondering how long we’d, uh, keep it up. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/24 "2006-05-30T13:28:41Z")
[QUOTE=spingears] Looking for studs, is an exercise you do not neet to worry about unless you have a humongous mirror or picture. [/QUOTE] Of course, you could get lucky and have solid concrete walls. 🙂 To hang pictures, I just bored holes and inserted those plastic expandy filler things that receive the screws. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/25 "2006-05-30T13:41:05Z")
or you could always splurge the $10 and get a [stud finder](http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=06089-000000355-77-100&lpage=none) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/26 "2006-05-30T13:49:28Z")
Or you could spend $250 on this [stud finder.](http://www.horsesonly.com/finder/enrollment.htm) (Happy, **vetbridge**?) ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/27 "2006-05-30T14:44:49Z")
[QUOTE=Hampshire] or you could always splurge the $10 and get a [stud finder](http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=06089-000000355-77-100&lpage=none) [/QUOTE] I tried one of those things. It didn’t do a thing. I guess I’m destined to be lonely. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/28 "2006-05-30T14:48:28Z")
[QUOTE=Excalibre] I tried one of those things. It didn’t do a thing. I guess I’m destined to be lonely. ☹ [/QUOTE] It could be worse. Last time I went to Home Depot, the damn things kept going off whenever I walked by. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2006, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/29 "2006-05-30T16:00:27Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] (Happy, **vetbridge**?) [/QUOTE] Thanks, y’all! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/30 "2006-05-31T12:37:14Z")
I’ve never tried it, but an electric razor is supposed to make a good stud finder. As you run it along the wall, the sound changes depending whether you’re over a stud or empty space. (Note that you don’t need to use the cutter side for this - the back of it vibrates just fine.) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/31 "2006-05-31T14:17:00Z")
For plaster walls, if you’re going to be hanging a lot of stuff consider putting up picture rail molding. It’s a molding that you put up near the ceiling and then hang your stuff from picture rail hooks from the molding (it’s rounded on top to fit the hooks). My older home (1928) came with it in most of the rooms and it’s a real godsend - you can hang stuff and not worry about moving it around and ruining the plaster. Move pictures until you like them, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/32 "2006-05-31T15:36:52Z")
When we had a huge picture to hang, I went to the hardware store and bought a box of heavy duty “WallBiter” picture hangers, which unfortunately I’ve not been able to find a picture of on the web. They’re hooked, just like regular nail-and-hook style picture hooks, but they’re one piece of solid metal. The front is the hook, and on the wall side there are two “teeth”: a tiny downward-hooking tooth at the bottom, and a really fat wicked-looking curved “claw” near the top. You pick your location and poke the bottom tooth into the wall, then you lever the upper claw back into the wall, hammering if necessary. Man, them suckers is _tough_. I reckon two of them could hold eighty pounds easily. And, you can remove them without leaving a visible anchor in your wall. ---
**Author:** ![Klaatu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Klaatu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Klaatu)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/33 "2006-06-01T05:19:45Z")
[QUOTE=Johanna] You don’t have to hit the wall with a hammer to locate studs. Hold a flashlight parallel along the wall surface. The low angle of incidence will bring out the low relief of the studs that tend to push the surface outward maybe a millimeter or so. [/QUOTE] Well, first, do not try to hang a heavy object with only drywall anchors, because you will eventually hire me as a remodeling contractor to come over and fix where the mirror/etc fell off the wall, and maybe cracked a few tiles on your nice ceramic tile floor. And Johanna. while your method of finding studs sometimes works in older houses that have shifted and such, your method will not show where studs are after a competent drywall/texture person has finished a wall, as drywall sheets come in 8 and 12 foot lengths. There is not a “low relief of the studs” :rolleyes: unless the framers used bowed/crooked studs to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/34 "2006-06-01T14:18:00Z")
All I know is, it works in my house, which is 20 years old. Is that considered “old”? (I overheard a conversation at work yesterday about real estate; they seem to think that any house older than 5 years is _old_.) ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/35 "2006-06-01T14:50:56Z")
[QUOTE=Klaatu] There is not a “low relief of the studs” :rolleyes: unless the framers used bowed/crooked studs to begin with. [/QUOTE] Are there any other kind these days? ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/36 "2006-06-01T15:51:19Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Are there any other kind these days? [/QUOTE] Last time I bought a few 2x4’s I went through maybe 30 in order to find two that were straight. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2006, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/37 "2006-06-01T16:39:33Z")
Right, and my observation is that builders buy them by the bundle and use them all regardless. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/38 "2006-06-05T02:03:48Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] For plaster walls, if you’re going to be hanging a lot of stuff consider putting up picture rail molding. It’s a molding that you put up near the ceiling and then hang your stuff from picture rail hooks from the molding (it’s rounded on top to fit the hooks). My older home (1928) came with it in most of the rooms and it’s a real godsend - you can hang stuff and not worry about moving it around and ruining the plaster. Move pictures until you like them, etc. [/QUOTE] **Zyada** and I are doing that for our den. The carpenter we talked to suggested it would look best at the same level as the tops of the doors. (Is that a good idea? **Zsofia** , where’s yours?) It seems to us that monofilament fishing line would hold a picture and be inconspicuous at least, if not invisible. ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2006, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597/39 "2006-06-05T05:37:18Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Right, and my observation is that builders buy them by the bundle and use them all regardless. [/QUOTE] Some do, but there are those of us who will send back all of the slop in a skid of lumber and let the yard know that we’re not building boats, e.g. send good stuff or we’ll find a new vendor. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hanging-a-heavy-picture-do-i-need-to-find-a-stud/358597.md?page=1)