Join Early Retirement Today
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 07-07-2017, 07:33 AM   #21
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Location: the prairies
Posts: 5,027
I can usually find a stud by tapping lightly on the wall with my knuckle...the sound changes from slightly "hollow" to more solid at stud locations.

If there are cupboards on the wall, you may be able to locate studs by the locations of the screws used to mount the cupboards.

If all else fails, hammer a small nail into the wall on the inside every inch or so until you find a stud. Worst case result is that you have to patch tiny holes...no big deal.
Music Lover is offline   Reply With Quote
Join the #1 Early Retirement and Financial Independence Forum Today - It's Totally Free!

Are you planning to be financially independent as early as possible so you can live life on your own terms? Discuss successful investing strategies, asset allocation models, tax strategies and other related topics in our online forum community. Our members range from young folks just starting their journey to financial independence, military retirees and even multimillionaires. No matter where you fit in you'll find that Early-Retirement.org is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE!

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with our members, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a retirement blog, send private messages and so much, much more!

Old 07-07-2017, 08:41 AM   #22
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
audreyh1's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Posts: 38,007
Quote:
Originally Posted by Car-Guy View Post
How disappointing. When I read the title of this thread, I thought it was about a new dating website for the lady's. I was ready to add my profile.
Me too - I was thinking about a different kind of stud!
__________________
Retired since summer 1999.
audreyh1 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-07-2017, 08:52 AM   #23
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Colorado Mountains
Posts: 3,165
Quote:
Originally Posted by Music Lover View Post
There are several options to find solid wood:

- walls have a double 2x4 (or 2x6) top plate, so if you are mounting the awning high enough, you will hit wood along the entire length of the wall.

- windows and doors will have a header above which is solid wood, and also a stud or two on both sides.

- electrical plugs and light switches are normally mounted against a stud, pop off the cover to see which side they are on and you can then measure from the stud to something like a window or door on the outside.
The first one would not work on my house. The soffit is boxed in several inches below the top plate.
Hermit is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-07-2017, 09:22 AM   #24
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
Fedup's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Southern Cal
Posts: 4,032
Thank you for his thread. I too need to know about this for an upcoming project. Bookmark, so I can find it later.
Fedup is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-07-2017, 09:47 AM   #25
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso)
Give me a forum ...
Sunset's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: Spending the Kids Inheritance and living in Chicago
Posts: 17,010
I have used the following tool to remove my vinyl siding and put it back. I have no idea of you can do this with aluminum siding, but worth investigating.
Depending upon how far down the attachment needs to be from the top of the wall, removing and replacing siding is not too hard as long as you keep them in order (masking tape to number them).

Wiss Siding Removal Tool-WSR1 - The Home Depot

Sunset is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 07-07-2017, 11:31 PM   #26
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 3,679
Thank you for all of the posts. We did a few examples of finding what appeared to be a stud on the inside and measuring from the edge of the glass on a window (no doors on this wall) to transfer the location to the outside. Sometimes this worked, sometimes not. I was certain that we would find a stud above the outside of a window and was very surprised when DH probed in there and it went right through much too easily... no stud.

DH ended up just doing many small holes, probing deep with a narrow metal skewer and if it felt promising he tried with a long screw thinner than the lag bolts we would be using. I showed him the suggestion about probing with an extended hanger. That didn't work as the 2 layers of siding were thick enough that it got in the way. Eventually, he found 2 solid points and from there he could go 16" on either side and keep exploring.

Our 18 ft awning needed 6 solid studs and he found enough where he needed them. Our son cut shims from pressure treated wood so that the brackets could fit flush against the angles of the siding and he secured the brackets to the house.

The next step was to lift the 130 lb awning off the lawn, up 6 steps of the deck and balance it on one of the railings while some of us scrambled around to the other side to get into the proper positions. Then we balanced one end on a step ladder, lifted the other end onto another ladder and my daughter-in-law and I stood on chairs under the middle and we all lifted together to get it onto the mounts. We held it there until our son got all the holding bolts tightened.

Outside of getting bogged down in the hunting and pecking of trying to find studs this went better than I expected. The awning came pre-assembled in a 20 ft shipping tube, was very well packed and the instructions were very clear. Just that one instruction, "Find the studs" was a bit frustrating!

By 4:30pm today the awning was mounted and we were playing with opening and closing it using the remote. Our son and DIL had tickets to the Cleveland Indians vs. Detroit Tigers game in Cleveland so they needed to get going. This is her first American baseball game as she just moved here from Beijing. Our son has a friend who works in the scoreboard room at the ballpark so he arranged to get her on the big screen with a birthday message. Her birthday is Sat 7/8. The Indians won and the weather was great for a game so I hope she had a good time!

Tomorrow DH and I will adjust the height of the open awning. The factory setting is too low and we need to raise it a bit. We have an instructional DVD and it doesn't look too difficult, you just need two people.

Going back to yesterday (Thursday), the first step was to remove our old manual awning which we installed in 1991. I found the receipt and it was $600 26 years ago. I think we got our moneys worth out of that purchase! The old one was still in decent shape, had some fading, but still operated just fine. The problem was that it involved rolling out the awning and then lifting each side to it's proper open position. We were 36 years old when we bought this and we are now 62. The last few years the lifting has become an issue. I had a hip replacement 3 years ago so DH often would help with the lifting. Then a few months ago he had a very bad episode of sciatica. He was in terrible pain and could not lift anything for about 6 weeks. I could do the lifting myself but it was just about at the limit of what I wanted to be doing. So it was time to move up to a motorized awning!

When we took the old awning down we disassembled it enough to take it out to the front of the house for trash pick-up in a few days. There was the 18ft vinyl awning on a roller and 2 sets of aluminum arms and a couple of brackets. Before we went to bed I looked out front and it was all GONE! I hope somebody likes their 26 year old awning, or at least gets some cash for the metal parts.
__________________
Married, both 69. DH retired June, 2010. I have a pleasant little part time job.
Sue J is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 07-07-2017, 11:35 PM   #27
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: New York City
Posts: 2,838
Awesome Great job! And happy birthday!
__________________
Withdrawal Rate currently zero, Pension 137 % of our spending, Wasted 5 years of my prime working extra for a safe withdrawal rate. I can live like a King for a year, or a Prince for the rest of my life. I will stay on topic, I will stay on topic, I will stay on topic
Blue Collar Guy is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Helpful Hints JOHNNIE36 Other topics 0 08-02-2013 01:55 PM
Buffett hints at bond bubble MasterBlaster FIRE and Money 30 10-17-2010 08:47 AM
Tuesday Helpful Hints TromboneAl Other topics 99 06-06-2010 04:22 PM
Outbreak of Frivolity - Hints from FIREd Heloise freebird5825 Other topics 3 03-17-2009 09:06 AM

» Quick Links

 
All times are GMT -6. The time now is 04:14 PM.
 
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.