The right way to Cling Something on Your Wall

Whether or not you reside in a home or an house, you most likely have a listing of small-scale home-improvement initiatives that you simply need to accomplish — sometime. Possibly it’s a room that wants a paint job, or a leaky rest room that you simply want you didn’t need to name a plumber about.

You’ve come to the suitable place. In our new D.I.Y. collection, we’ll be tackling a few of these initiatives, from primary repairs to easy restorations, which you are able to do your self in only a few hours. They’ll be life like for renters and owners alike, and so they received’t require experience. Nor will they require quite a lot of instruments, and the instruments they do require will likely be basic function — you’ll discover them helpful for all method of jobs round your home.

Lastly, despite the fact that every challenge may have a particular objective or answer, our actual goal is to impart a set of basic abilities that you simply’ll be capable to draw on repeatedly.

Take our first challenge for instance: With Tremendous Bowl LIX developing Feb. 9, we’ll be studying the right way to set up a TV mount so you may grasp that massive flat-screen in time for the sport. In fact, should you’re like me and also you’d fairly do something aside from watch soccer, you may spend the night placing up a heavy mirror, an enormous piece of framed artwork, or a floating shelf or cupboard.

No matter it’s you’re hanging, the crux of the job is discovering the studs inside your partitions, and that’s actually what this challenge is about. If you happen to’re unfamiliar with what’s hidden behind your paint or wallpaper, it may be scary to hold heavy or beneficial issues. However as soon as you know the way to discover a stud, it’s no sweat.

Studs are the inner framing that give a wall its power. As a result of they’ll bear quite a lot of weight, studs are additionally used for hanging heavy objects. (For light-weight stuff like photographs, posters and small work, you don’t even want the studs. It’s high quality to hold them anyplace utilizing small nails or detachable adhesive strips.)

Who am I, you ask? I’ve been a author at Wirecutter since 2015, and a do-it-yourselfer for many of my life. Since my spouse and I purchased a scruffy 1920 home final yr, repairs and upgrades have grow to be my second job. (I constructed the wall within the photographs beneath.)

OK, let’s mount that tv. By the point we’re finished, you’ll have the boldness to securely grasp something.

Go away the hammer within the closet. For this, you’ll want a drill, a drill bit within the acceptable measurement (the directions with the TV mount will checklist it), a tape measure, a pencil, an adjustable wrench and a magnetic stud finder. I used a cheap stud finder that’s made by C.H. Hanson and beneficial by Wirecutter. (I additionally put in Wirecutter’s top-rated TV mount, however the strategies listed here are widespread to all.)

A ratcheting wrench and socket set, fairly than a regular wrench, will make screwing within the mounting bolts simpler. And a ruler or different straightedge is handier than a tape measure for marking straight traces.

Step 1: Discover the Studs

It’ll assist to have a psychological image of what we’re doing.

Inside most home and house partitions is a framework of studs. Normally manufactured from wooden, studs run vertically from the ground to the ceiling. The wall materials itself is connected to the studs utilizing screws or nails. And it’s these metallic screws or nails {that a} stud finder finds. Like a string of icebergs, they point out what lies beneath the floor.

Slowly sweep the stud finder forwards and backwards horizontally alongside the wall, preserving it flat in opposition to the floor. Go in roughly two-foot arcs, and transfer steadily up and down the wall till the stud finder shudders to a halt and sticks. Mark the placement with a pencil.

(Word: If the stud finder doesn’t appear to be discovering something, you might have plaster-over-lath partitions. And if the wall is stable concrete — widespread in basements — there received’t be any studs. Scroll right down to learn extra about these variations.)

The C.H. Hanson stud finder makes it particularly simple to mark the placement of studs. Rotate it till the built-in spirit degree — the bubble within the middle — signifies that it’s completely vertical, then put a pencil mark on the middle of every finish of the extent, as proven within the photograph above.

Lastly, repeat this course of, sweeping an space roughly 16 inches to the left or proper of your first mark till you discover the adjoining stud. (Most studs are put in “16 inches on middle” — that means their midpoints are 16 inches aside. Some TV mounts want just one stud; if yours is one among them, you may skip this step.)

Utilizing a straightedge, draw a line vertically via every pair of pencil marks. Then measure the space from the ground or ceiling to the place you need the higher mounting bolts to go. Mark that spot on every of your vertical traces.

This ensures that your bolts will likely be near horizontal with respect to one another, and most TV mounts have an adjustment mechanism to fine-tune the stability after set up. (I took my measurements from the ceiling. Checking later with a spirit degree, I discovered that this obtained me inside an eighth of an inch of completely horizontal — greater than shut sufficient.)

Step 3: Mark, Drill and Bolt

That’s the exhausting work accomplished. Your mounting package will present you the right way to connect the hanging {hardware} to the again of your TV. Then, you and a helpmate can elevate the TV to its new perch. Comfortable viewing. And should the Oilers win.

Variations: Metal Studs, Laths, Concrete Partitions

Metal studs: Some fashionable buildings have skinny metallic studs as an alternative of wooden ones; once you drill into one among them, you’ll see a number of metallic shavings as an alternative of a bathe of sawdust. For these, you’ll want to make use of toggle bolts to mount the plate. Your package might include them, or you’ll find them at a ironmongery store. (Toggle bolts have a spring-loaded nut that slips behind the stud, then expands and catches in opposition to its inside floor as you tighten the bolt.)

Plaster over lath: If you happen to can’t appear to search out any studs together with your stud finder, it’s possible your own home has plaster-over-lath partitions — a standard function in houses constructed earlier than about 1950. Wooden slats, or laths, have been nailed to the studs, and a thick layer of plaster was utilized over them. To search out the studs, it’s a must to find the nails deep beneath the plaster, and most stud finders have bother doing it.

One trick is to look alongside the baseboards, which can themselves be nailed to the studs. One other is to make use of a robust rare-earth magnet — an even bigger model of the magnets utilized in stud finders, and broadly obtainable on-line. After attempting a number of, I discovered {that a} one-inch disc magnet labored finest. Maintain it loosely in your fingers so to really feel when it begins to tug on a nail, and sweep it such as you would a stud finder.

Neither methodology is foolproof, and you could have to attempt brute-force strategies, like drilling pilot holes or driving lengthy nails till you hit a stud. (If you happen to reside in an house constructing with a superintendent, that individual can most likely present you the place the studs are.)

Concrete partitions: These will be drilled utilizing a masonry bit, obtainable at any ironmongery store. Your TV mount package ought to include plastic sleeve anchors that slip into the drill holes and provides the mounting bolts one thing to carry onto. If not, the ironmongery store may have these, too.