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The 10-minute stud finder lesson from a retired electrician in Akron
I was helping a buddy swap out a load-bearing wall for a beam, and his neighbor came over to see what the noise was. Old guy, 70s, said he'd been wiring houses since the 60s. I was about to mark my studs with my $50 electronic finder, and he just laughed. Said to knock on the wall and listen for the dead sound, then use a rare earth magnet to find the nails. I thought it was junk advice, but I tried it. Found every stud in 10 minutes, no beeping, no false reads from the drywall screws. My finder still sits in the toolbox for the weird stuff. Does anyone else trust the old hand methods more than the fancy tools half the time?
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murphy.aaron2mo ago
The magnet trick is pure gold until you forget it's in your pocket and wipe half the screws off your fridge. I had an old timer show me the knock method years ago on a rental unit, and I still bust it out when my finder starts screaming at plumbing. The funny part is my buddy bought one of those $200 fancy ones with the radar screen, and he still calls me to find studs. There's something about trusting your ears and a cheap magnet that just feels more honest, like the wall is telling you the truth instead of the gadget guessing. Though I did learn the hard way that rare earth magnets will absolutely wreck a credit card if you're not careful, so keep that in a separate pocket.
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margareto262mo ago
The magnet trick is pure gold, I've used it to hang shelves in my old plaster walls for years. My electronic finder goes off on every bit of metal mesh or pipe, but a strong magnet just snaps to the nails and tells you exactly where the stud is. Your retired electrician knew what he was talking about, sometimes the low tech stuff just works better and saves you the headache.
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