How do I find the beams in my wall?

$10.00 stud finder at Lowe`s Lumbar store

There's technology that is available for this job. BUT, in the absence of it, here's what you do: Knock on the wall as if you were knocking on someone's front door. Listen & feel.

As you move along the wall from left to right, you will hear a hollow sound from the knock or a less hollow sound from the knock. And the less hollow sound will feel more SOLID than the other. The hollow sound combined with the solid feel is the beem. Once you find one beam (test the spot with a nail to make sure it's a beam), you will be able to measure off each beam because the beams are 16 inches apart from each other. Not difficult at all, yet people insist on buying high-tech equipment for the job. lol

I knock lightly on the wall with a hammer until the sound changes. This works well on drywall. However, if you have plaster walls then it is much harder to do. Use a measuring tape and measure from a corner at every 16" on older buildings there should be a stud. There is also a stud on both sides of a window or door opening. or where there is an electrical outlet on one side or the other. The light tapping with the hammer does not mark the paint or the wall and should give you a more precise location.

Then again you could buy a stud finder.

But the hammer worked for 30 years and still works today.

Yes, get a stud finder. I like and use the one by Zircon. As you slide it horizontally on the wall, it alerts on both the leading and the trailing edge of the stud so you can center your nail or screw.

Beware of false alerts caused by plumbing and electrical components. Be sure that the delta between leading and trailing edge is 1 3/4".

Use a stud finder... or tap in the wall in a straight horizontal line... when the tapping sounds different, you and found a beam.

They're called studs and yes buy a stud finder at your local hardware store.

in the walls they are studs....

in the ceilings they are beams!