Hi all. I’ve mounted a couple of things to studs before without an issue.
But I have a little bit more of an elaborate setup. I have a bunch of shelves for my cat that I want to put on the wall. I have a stud/wire detector, but one of the walls I wish to use has voltage detected across a very large area for some reason. And when I put my hand on the wall, it stops ever detecting any wires at all!!
Could there really be that much electrical wiring within this one wall??? There is a singular outlet in this area, but the detector goes off all over the wall, not just above the outlet.
My studs are very far apart at around 24 inches. So only small portions of the shelves will be drilled into the wall and the rest will be seated in the drywall with drywall anchors unfortunately.
How can I work on this project…drilling into both studs and drywall while avoiding the 10,000 wires that are evidently inside of my wall??? And also why do the “wires” all disappear when I touch the wall??
Thanks all lol.
Home improvement contractor here.
Short answer: it’s always inherently risky. There’s no 100% certain way to avoid it. But there are things you can do to mitigate the risk. First, look for outlets and light switches - wires generally run straight up or straight down from them. The same principle applies to plumbing. Most electronic stud finders also have a feature to detect metal and live wires. They’re quite unreliable though.
Another precaution is to use masonry bits instead of wood or metal bits. Masonry bits have blunt ends, so you’re less likely to damage wires or pipes even if you hit one. You should also avoid drilling too deep, and whenever possible, aim for studs - there’s rarely anything critical inside them.
That said, hitting something important is quite unlikely. In a standard wall, there’s usually not much inside. Kitchens and bathrooms are a bit riskier. For perspective, I’ve probably drilled over a million holes into walls and ceilings, and I’ve only ever hit a wire once - and that was in the oddest place, running between a wall and a door jamb. It was such a strange location that the thought never even occurred to me until the room went dark.
If you hit a wire you’ll probably just blow a fuse. It’ll cost to fix it but it’s rarely catastrophical. Plumbing is a different story - you can cause a lot of damage in very short period of time. It’s generally recommended to locate AND TEST the main shut off valve before drilling if you’re unsure. Word of caution though: these valves may sit untouched for decades and may start leaking when you do.
The stud finder sucks, those give false positives for electrical all the time. You’re probably fine if the wall isn’t riddled with outlets, switches, or has a breaker panel.
If you’re really concerned, drill through only until you’re past the drywall. It’s only about a half to five eighths of an inch thick. Wrap a little piece of tape around your drill bit as a depth gauge. Alternatively, there are drywall anchors that look like fat plastic white screws that don’t require a pilot hole. You can get those and avoid drilling entirely.
I sont know is you’ve ever used those “screwing” plugs, but you absolutely need to drill a hole first. It’s impossible to screw the in elsewise. The amount of torque needed to actually screw them in would strip the inside otherwise.
I never have, never needed to, never will. I’ve stripped a couple over the years but they come in boxes of like 100 and I just take it out with a bigger phillips head and use a different one.
Maybe sheetrock is different where we’re both located. I’m in the Netherlands.
Yours’s is probably much more dense/higher quality than the US. They go in like butter with a large phillips head.
I’m in the US and have never once successfully used one of the white screw in anchors. What is the mystical secret?
Lots of pressure and a large phillips head screw driver. Harder to do when it’s above your head, but you gotta put your body into it and they go in no problem.
I’m going to give a shot one more time but if it doesn’t work I’m going to take back my upvote on this post. You’ve been warned!
