Hi all,

I've done some searching but this may be such a simple question that it has not been asked. I live in a steel framed house and need an easy "fail safe" way to locate internal studs. I have previously purchased 2 (one cheap and one a lot more expensive) stud finders, both of which hit a stud about 25% of the time. And I followed the instructions as precisely as they were written.

Yesterday I had a revelation and thought a magnet would be my saviour - so when I got home from work I grabbed a couple of old bass guitar pickups that I use as knife magnets on my fridge and started to scan over the walls expecting them to lock on the studs (they're whopping big magnets)...to my disappointment the only place they grabbed was the edges where the external angle was used by the plasterers. Are metal studs not really steel or do they coat them with something that means they don't attract a magnet (my magnet didn't stick to my stainless sink or my stainless cooktop?)

Anyone got any tips on an easy way to find the studs? I've done plenty of knocking (and missing) as I've hung quite a few things in my house but I'm about to hang a new plasma and I really don't want it coming down.

Many thanks
Mick


Read the full thread at RenovateForum.com...