PSA: Check your studs before you hang the first board

I was on a job in Cleveland last Tuesday, everything looked fine. Level floors, straight ceiling. Got the first sheet up and went to screw it in, then the whole 12 foot piece dropped right off the ceiling. Turns out the previous guy had put fire blocks every 3 feet but used 2x3s instead of 2x4s. My screws barely grabbed anything. Had to pull down all 4 sheets and shim every single stud with 1/2 inch strips. Took me an extra 3 hours. Any of you guys run into hidden stud issues like this?

3 comments

3 Comments

nancyg141mo ago

What is it with previous guys doing shady stuff and leaving us to deal with it? I bought an old house last year and thought I'd hang a simple shelf in the living room, used a stud finder and everything, but when I drilled in the screw just went right through the drywall like butter. Turns out the guy before me had cut out a stud for a window and just left the framing open, so my magnet finder was picking up a nail from a baseboard or something. I spent the whole afternoon patching drywall holes and swearing at the walls.

amy_west1mo ago

My buddy Mike had the exact same thing happen @nancyg14. He bought a 1970s ranch and went to put up a bathroom cabinet, drilled right into what he thought was a stud but it was just a 2x4 nailed flat against the drywall from some old shelving. Ended up having to rip out a whole section of wall to fix it properly.

gibson.morgan1mo ago

Wait, was he using a stud finder or just knocking on the wall like my grandpa used to do?