Originally Posted By: spackard
It's worked for me.
Also, you could look for an electrical box, open it, see which side is nailed to a stud, then measure from that stud onward to where you want to drive a nail. Then try to double-check with a tiny hole before driving the nail.
Magnet, tapping on the wall, measuring from an outlet box. These are all good old school methods. Tapping on the wall takes a lot of trial and error experience, and even with that experience can be misleading to anyone but the most experienced. Magnet requires a lot of patience, as nails and screw spacing is typically about 6". Plus, it doesn't always tell you were double or triple studs are. Or where headers are. Measuring from a box is assuming that the next stud is indeed at 16"oc. This is not always the case. Again, there are many double studs and such.
It is hard to beat a good stud finder. And the new Costco stud finder shows where the stud, or studs are. I have't bought one yet, but will. I've played with the demo at the local Costco. The led array really makes it easy to identify single or double studs, and where they begin and end. So much quicker than old school methods. None of this repeatedly driving a small finish nail, trying to confirm the edges of the studs.
