Buy a stack of fifty or so super magnets. The best thing going for locating drywall nails or screws, and will give you a superior image of the studs location. (Use one at a time, not the whole stack, Elmo.) Even those that are doubled, or in positions that you would not expect them to be in. Cheap, easy, and they work very well.
Steve
The key so far has been 'super' magnets. Seems reasonable.
I have a magnet from an eddy current breaking system that is so strong that if you hold your hand out palm side up holding a Canadian dime with the magnet under the back of your hand (out of sight) the magnet is strong enough to pop the Canadian dime up onto its edge in the palm of your hand. Very spooky to do this, just seems weird the field being that strong. Even waving non-magnetic material by the magnet, like
1/4 inch slab of aluminum generates sufficiently stron eddy current fields that the AL block is 'attracted' to the magnet! Go slow, nothing. Go fast and it rips the block out of your hand.
Un, because we want to nail into and support stuff on studs, and not into the nails, and the nails tell us where the studs are?
What do I win?
You can get all sorts of readings from beeping devices that are not a good thing to shoot a 3" drywall screw into. Pipes, conduit, live wires, lots of fun stuff.
I have puzzled for a very long time, reading two or three very good stud finders, and finding studs and all types of unidentifiable things behind the drywall, not being sure of exactly where the STUDS are. Yet, with a row of magnets along a line, I can get a mental picture that is 95% accurate as to where the studs are. Because they ONLY REACT TO STEEL NAILS OR SCREWS.
You continue to use whatever works for you. For me, a bunch of little super magnets will find the studs for me by showing where the nails or screws are. It is SOOOOOOOO sweet when you drill into something unknown to anchor, and hit solid wood.
Whatever winds yer clock.
Steve
to remove fasteners, remove drywall
reply: A 100 % sure way to locate studs, just a little ineffective. And labor intensive.
Steve
Excuse me, but apparently you didn't pose the original question, so how would you know the answer to why he's doing it? It's not to locate studs, because he clearly said in the post that he "already knows where the studs are". That's why some of us asked the question.
He replied above that he wants to locate them to remove the drywall. Which is a new one to me, as removing the drywall seems like a losing proposition to me. If you don't plan on trying to re-use it, then you just rip it off. If you try to re-use it, first it's going to take a long time to screw around locating the screws, then unscrewing it, removing it, etc. And then the taped joints are probably going to come apart a big mess, with the paper tearing, etc. And they will still be covered with the old mud, uneven, etc and will not be a clean new joint to tape and cover. All in all, given the cost of drywall, the time involved, and how new drywall will be easy to mud up and deal with, it sure doesn't seem like a good idea to me.
Robert Macy wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@z1g2000vbx.googlegroups.com:
That's the point of the neodymium magnet. It will find those nails/screws even under the tape and mud! Read my entire reply, not just the last sentence.
If you know where the stud is, just put the neodymium magnet on the wall in that location and slide it gently up or down. The magnet is so powerful that when it gets close to a screw, it will suddenly stop on top of it, and usually sticks in that spot. If you have two screws within an inch of each other, you should be able to locate them easily using the neodymium magnet.
"Bob F" wrote in news:jbtji0$er3$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
I have found stud-finders to be remarkably accurate. For instance, my wife put one on my chest, and said, "Yup, it found a stud!". So they /do/ work.
snipped-for-privacy@z1g2000vbx.googlegroups.com:
So, I'm doing a GOOD idea carried out BADLY. Just need a strong magnet, not the 'toy' I've been using. I just thought the rod magnet in a security door latch which has to keep a relay closed, would be strong enough, but guess not, or maybe this is a reject magnet.
Robert Macy wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@d17g2000yql.googlegroups.com:
Right. You need a neodymium ("rare earth") magnet.
Hard-drive magnets are neodymium. You may be able to find such magnets at a hardware store, I don't know.
That's probably just a regular ferric magnet. You need the other kind.
snipped-for-privacy@d17g2000yql.googlegroups.com:
Try a compass, I just did and the need swung around to the nail.
Jimmie
Amazon.com has the same thing for a little cheaper.
-- Steven L.
I bought mine at a woodworking show 10 or more years ago. I think it cost less than $50 at the time. Used by woodworkers and saw operators to locate embedded metal in lumber.
He said he's specifically looking for drywall nails. I've hung lots of pics, shelves, brackets, made openings, etc and never went looking for nails. I've looked for studs and I've had zero problems as a result. Imagine all the hour saved over decades by not looking for those nails.
Also, a magnet for finding nails isn't going to find the most common wiring, ie Romex. Seems not many folks are interested in the nails, because the stud finders I've seen find exactly that, studs, via ultrasonic, not nails.
BTW, he finally told us his purpose in finding the nails was to remove the drywall, which seems a wasted effort. It's cheap enough to buy, not worth the time to try to remove and salvage it, and even if you do, instead of nice clean new joints to mud, you're gonna have screwed up ones where it was previously taped and mudded.
He clearly said in the first post that he already knows where the studs are.
True, I said remove the drywall, I did NOT say salvage, or re-use, you added that.
But is ok, because those that know me would have assumed that. :)
If you're not trying to salvage the drywall, why do you need to locate the nails to remove it? You just punch a hole in it between studs and rip it off. After the drywall is off, you easily pull the nails with a hammer. I could have it off in a fraction of the time it's gonna take to just locate the nails.
I'm with you. It's even true for partial sheets, if you vacuum the dust up as the drywall is cut. Cleaning up a "Holmes" mess is often more work than the rest of the job. I suppose bashing sheetrock with a sledge makes better TV, though.
e quoted text -
You got it! Less mess. And I've not found anything more 'fun' to try and get rid of than drywall dust buried in carpet.
If you have never ever hit a drywall screw or nail with another, you have not done very much work. I use the little magnets, and when I find the nails, I take a stud finder and find the border of the studs. Many times I have to move my new nail/screw 1/4" so I don't hit the one that is already there that I would have hit had I not identified it specifically with a magnet. That may be the EXACT spot where I want to hang the picture hanger nail or put the screw so the item is centered. Hang on. Once you've done more work, this situation will come up.
Steve
You got it! Less mess. And I've not found anything more 'fun' to try and get rid of than drywall dust buried in carpet.
Of course, if you're a real contractor, you will want to get the job done in less than three months. Unless it's T&M, then you can take the time to find every screw and nail.
Umm, this _is_ alt.HOME.REPAIR, not alt.contractor.cuts.corners.
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