Shelving advice for stud wall

[itm60]

I would like to put a couple of shelves on a stud wall to support approximately 12kg of weight (an electronic keyboard plus a few musical effects units). I wanted to use an upright & bracket style of shelf, with a small pair of uprights and the 2 shelves approximately 30cm apart vertically.

The problem is that I can't locate any studs in the parts of the wall that I would need to mount the uprights, so I was wondering whether spring toggle bolts would be a viable option for securing the uprights, given the 12Kg load that I plan to place on the shelving.

Could anyone advise on whether this would be feasible/sensible?

 

[JohnD]

How old is the house? Some recent houses have prefab partition walls of foam and plasterboard, or cardboard boxes.

To find a stud, if you've failed by tapping, stud detector, magnet, drill a hole and poke a straightened coat hanger sideways. When it touches the studs left and right, mark, withdraw and measure. They will be about 600mm apart.

 

[itm2]

The house was built around 1970, but the stud wall is in an extension which I don't know the build date of. I've used a stud detector but it didn't find anything, and I'm reluctant to drill holes as they'll look ugly if not used.

 

[handyjack]

Are you sure it is a stud wall and not dot and dab?

 

[itm2]

dot and dab

Pretty sure - I've located a stud elsewhere on the wall, just not close enough to where I would need to screw in the shelf upright

 

[ladylola]

I'm reluctant to drill holes as they'll look ugly if not used.

Option there could be to take off the skirting and drill the test holes behind it.

 

[Brigadier]

"I've used a stud detector but it didn't find anything, and I'm reluctant to drill holes as they'll look ugly if not used."

You only need to drill one hole, and firk around from that one.
A strong magnet is also a great boon for locating (the nails or screws that fix the plasterboard to the) studwork.

Personally, I'd always fix to a stud, or the brickwork behind (if dot n' dab); I just couldn't bring myself to trust plasterboard toggles.