My uncle said to slap the wall before drilling for my shelf, and the stud finder was lying to me

Joseph Stone · 2026-10-27T08:50:07.420623+00:00

I mounted a 6 foot oak shelf in my den last Saturday and the $25 stud finder kept beeping at the same spot, so I trusted it and drilled. My uncle, who has done carpentry for 30 years, always says to knock on the wall first and listen for the solid thud instead of the hollow one. The drill went straight through drywall and into nothing, and the shelf ripped out the next morning with 40 pounds of books on it. I patched the holes, grabbed a magnet to find the screws in the stud, and just used my knuckles the second time. The magnet and the thud both pointed to a stud 2 inches left of where the finder beeped. Is my finder just a dud or is this how those things always act near old plaster?

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My uncle said to slap the wall before drilling for my shelf, and the stud finder was lying to me | Bad Build Review - Rigidtalk