Drilling into stud wall - wires everywhere?!

[ozzy_man]

Hi, wondering if anyone can give any advice on fixing a TV bracket to a stud wall. I've bought a stud/cable/pipe detector and it seems to give a fairly precise indication of the studs but when I try for the electrics it seems to go off all over the place rather than concentrated in one area.

That suggests to me that the wires are all over the place inside the wall as opposed to neatly run along in straight lines?

Does anyone have any tips for how it could safely be fixed to that particular wall?

 

[footprints]

Try placing your other hand flat on the wall with your thumb touching the tool while using the locator it will often cancel out any stray current that is giving a false reading.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

It's not foil-backed plasterboard, is it?

This shows where cables are supposed to be run, but of course people don't always do what they are supposed to do.

When you try the cable detection in the vicinity of sockets and switches etc, do you definitely detect cable(s) heading off in a particular direction (even if wrong), or is it really a case that you get no sensible indication of where they are?

If the latter I'd be inclined to blame either a detector which doesn't work properly (they are notoriously unreliable) or things like foil-backed boards, nails/screws etc.

 

[ozzy_man]

Try placing your other hand flat on the wall with your thumb touching the tool while using the locator it will often cancel out any stray current that is giving a false reading.

Thanks, I'll try this.

 

[ozzy_man]

It's not foil-backed plasterboard, is it?

This shows where cables are supposed to be run, but of course people don't always do what they are supposed to do.

When you try the cable detection in the vicinity of sockets and switches etc, do you definitely detect cable(s) heading off in a particular direction (even if wrong), or is it really a case that you get no sensible indication of where they are?

If the latter I'd be inclined to blame either a detector which doesn't work properly (they are notoriously unreliable) or things like foil-backed boards, nails/screws etc.

Thanks. Not sure if it's foil backed plasterboard, I've just bought the house and there aren't any docs with that information in it. Is there any way to find out? It's Victorian, so built around 1900.

There's not really much of a sensible indication. Mostly it goes off around the area near where the studs are (according to the same detector) but I'm getting indications quite a way off to the side of the wall where the light switch is, and above the level of the switch too. There aren't any sockets on that wall. The detector I bought was only £15 so maybe I need to spend a bit more to get a proper reading!

 

[Diyisfun]

I think I would make a hole & have a look. Its not difficult to repair the holes (s).

 

[footprints]

As a rule foil backed will say metal everywhere, I doubt you would get a stud locator to work on one.

 

[ozzy_man]

I think I would make a hole & have a look. Its not difficult to repair the holes (s).

That's essentially the lines I was thinking along but there'd be just as much risk in doing that as there would be if I just started trying to put the bracket up anyway, no?

 

[footprints]

I think I would make a hole & have a look. Its not difficult to repair the holes (s).

Good call you will cover it with the TV anyway. Maybe turn off the power first though!

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I'm getting indications quite a way off to the side of the wall where the light switch is, and above the level of the switch too.

Either horizontally or vertically inline with light switches (or both) are zones for cables.

 

[EFLImpudence]

That's essentially the lines I was thinking along but there'd be just as much risk in doing that as there would be if I just started trying to put the bracket up anyway, no?

No. Don't use a drill.

 

[jj4091]

Hopefully if it is a large TV you will be fixing battens across the studs to fix the brackets to rather than fixing them to the plasterboard. Use a small flat bladed screwdriver to make pilot holes to check the stud positions.

 

[ozzy_man]

Hopefully if it is a large TV you will be fixing battens across the studs to fix the brackets to rather than fixing them to the plasterboard. Use a small flat bladed screwdriver to make pilot holes to check the stud positions.

My original idea was that I'd fix the bracket to the stud - it's one of these so it'd only need to attach to one stud https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FGSKYKM/ - problem is that the electircal wire detector goes off near/on the stud so I'm assuming that means there are wires running along the stud and I can't therefore drill into that?

When you say use a flat bladed screwdriver to make a pilot hole, do you mean just manually push the blade into the plasterboard to see if there are wires there?

 

[rsgaz]

There aren't any sockets on that wall.

I'm assuming that means there are wires running along the stud

There shouldn't be any cables there then. It's much more likely you are finding the screws which hold the plasterboard to the stud.

Do you have a strong magnet you can use to find the screw heads? Go up and down the wall to find several and take a sort of 'average' of where they all are, this will be the centre of the stud. If they seem a bit all over the place (i.e. ±2cm left or right), then it is because it is where two boards join...

Once you have found the centre of the stud, you can poke/rotate a thin screwdriver through the plasterboard to check you hit the stud. I personally would just drill a 3.5mm pilot hole ready for a number 10 screw.

ban-all-sheds gave a link to 'safe zones' for wiring. Be aware that water/central heating pipes do not have any 'zones' to follow and can even be diagonal(or curved inside the wall, like in my house), especially nowadays with plastic pipe. These should always be in the middle of the wall though (i.e. equidistant to either face of the wall), so a 40mm screw will be safe in from either side. If you ever need a stronger fixing into a stud, more screws are needed, or a larger diameter, never longer ones!

 

[ozzy_man]

Thanks for all the help so far. Based on what people have said, I'm thinking that my best bet is trying to just make a hole in the plasterboard manually with a small screwdriver where I think the stud is - and that should be safe enough even if the detector is suggesting there may be wires there, because I'll see any wires where I'm digging into it and be able to stop before I go through them?