Stud finders

Generally, any electronic stud finder will work ok for studs behind plasterboard - even if the plasterboard is tiled.

Cable etc finders seem to be far more variable.

On 01 May 2014, "Dave Plowman (News)" grunted:

Dunno, I think they're quite variable in effectiveness actually.

I bought a Zircon model a few years back on advice from this ng, after my previous one was useless, and I find it works pretty well.

The Zircon triscanner I use is good at finding studs through normal plasterboard (no good with foil backed though).

Never found one that worked consistently. Do the tiles go to the ceiling? If not, the tried and trusted method of a dozen 2mm holes may be your best solution.

I like the stud finder this guy uses:

I was waiting at Kitsons trade counter earlier today and they had some Bosch self-levelling lasers and stud-finders out to play with, the display had a simulated wall with bits of pipe/cable/stud behind perspex windows, it seemed to find wooden studs OK, cables and pipes not so well

Though looking at this video

seems I was holding it wrong, using it end-on like my cheap&nasty one, and is seems I should have used it face-on, maybe I'll give it another try next time I go there!

I've got a Stanley Intellisense Pro (77-255) and find it excellent. It works very well for detecting studs through varying thicknesses of plasterboard, tiles, etc. It also works well for joists under 18mm chipboard flooring.

I originally thought the LCD screen 'targetting' display would be a bit of a hgimmick however it pregressive alert really does aid with the accuracy of pinpointing exactly where studs are.

It also has a built-in mains detector which can be very handy for avoiding live cable runs. The only drawback with this was the overly-loud buzzer so I dismantled mine and removed it and rely on the LED indicator instead.

The are mixed reviews for it online but it gets top marks from me. Perhaps our reasonably-new house is is of 'friendly' construction as far as such a detector is concerned.

Mathew

I have a Micromark-branded stud finder of many years vintage. It can detect studs and nails through a tiled/plasterboard wall.

(It's used flat on a wall for stud finding and end-on for metal/voltage detection.)

Looks the same as the way you use mine:

flat against the wall - the lights then ramp up and down toward the green centre light as you scan past the item. The "cross hair" moulded into the plastic indicates the spot.

i have lidl £12 special and a £30 zircon. The zircon finds studs in my lath and plaster walls reliably (it actually finds the edges of the studs). The cheap lidl one sometimes finds them and sometimes doesn't! I need to chuck the lidl one out.

Do you happen to know the model of the Zircon?

I've been staring at Amazon reviews, and it seems like they fall into two camps: those that get 50% bad reviews and those that get 100%. Though it could be the bad reviews come from people with foil-backed plasterboard or similar unfriendly surfaces. Or just duff reviewers.

Thanks for the responses. Seems like everything is a bit of a mixed bag...

Theo

I hate having to drill rows of little holes when nothing else works.

It must be difficult to design something which will cope with varying depths of plaster and thicknesses of lath.

I wonder if it would be better to have a stud finder which instead of just displaying a stud indication when some signal passes some preset threshold, showed the raw signal (maybe as an optional variant on the basic display). That would allow you to use human judgement rather than relying on the dubious intelligence built into the gadget.

I believe that with experience the operators of very early radar systems could tell a lot from the untidy mess of blips on a screen.

E50

Try using a small very powerful magnet to detect the stud fixing nails.

Edgar

On 03 May 2014, Theo Markettos grunted:

My Zircon's a OneStep MultiScanner i500, bought from a Home Depot in Florida (my version of souvenir shopping while on holiday - SWMBO loves it)

Something like this:

With foil backed board, I use mine in metal detection mode and look for the nails instead.

Not just me, then? My Zircon stud-finder came from the USA, also.

How would you do that? Bearing in mind that there might be perhaps an inch of plaster (I think) on top of the lath?