If it works, is it really broken? Just add more screws.
I’m sure from a code perspective there’s something wrong here, but there must have been an issue with securing it from the right, and someone saw a bunch of scrap lumber pieces and said, got an idea. It’s not structural and needing to hold weight, so I’m really curious why, other than aesthetics, this is bad. Once covered by drywall, will this be some problem in the future?
The OP describes the specific problem this causes. It’s expected that these types of boxes are attached to studs and have void space next to them on the other side. Deviation from that pattern can cause issues with later installations expecting studs in some places and voids in others.
I can understand that, it’s why we have standardization. But the fault also lays on assuming everything is exactly as expected. Otherwise we wouldn’t need stud finders at all, we’d be sure where every last 2x4 is. A depth measuring stud finder would tell you there’s an unusual mass and give you warning that all isn’t like you’d expect.
I know the adage “if it’s stupid and it works, it’s not stupid” is a thing, but this might be the exception to the rule
Maxim 43: If it’s stupid and it works, it’s still stupid and you’re lucky.
It doesn’t apply to safety items at all. Your car will function fine without seat belts.
It’s okay, they’re using that special load-bearing drywall.
Ah yes. Load bearing connector box.
Wowzer trousers that’s bad. There’s even an outlet just to the left, what’s that all about??
Buuut
A stud finder works by sticking to the drywall screws just under the wall paint. A stud finder wouldn’t pick this up unless the hangers screws the drywall to that piece for no reason.
They’re more like depth detectors now. They dont work on magnetism, they work by detecting the ultrasonic echoes of what’s behind the wall.
In other words they’re good at knocking on the wall.
Both kinds exist.
It is helpful to have both.
On top of everything else, the new outlet isn’t even close to even with the old one.
Going by the writing on the wall, it’s for a 3-way dimmer switch. It also is likely the picture was taken during its install and not from someone trying to find a stud
Nah, modern stud finders can tell the difference between “drywall with stud behind it” and “drywall without stud behind it” with some rf whatever the hell it does
Gnomes. Gnomes live inside and use magic to tell you where the stud is. That’s show it works.
Those gnomes are pretty shit at magic then. I’ve yet to encounter a stud finder that works more than 40% of the time which is just enough to keep you using it but not quite enough to be useful.
Skill issue tbh
THANK you. Finally, someone tells us what’s really happening in there.
Oh yeah I totally forgot about the fancy ones. Never loved using them much but I’m sure that’s what the kids call “skill issue.” I’ll lay my life on the line defending the honor of my Stud Buddy though
I use a stud finder and a rare earth magnet with a small light metal chain that (if the stud is plumb) perfectly shows where the stud is.
Except some places use glue and 3 screws in the stud. Top bottom and middle. Then they’ll even push it and not put one in the middle, good luck finding a stud with a magnet.
America…land of the lawless.
I mean all builders/electricians/plumbers are cowboys. If the task could be standardized they’d not be making bank so consistently. The job is always ad-hoc, custom, and temporary-permanent
To verify your stud detector works you must point it to your self, make a beeping sound, turn to your significant other and tell them “I’m a stud”
I do miss doing that to my ex-wife. There were those small things that I can’t enjoy being single. Well. For now.
Just think of all the things you can do without ever consulting someone else. Single has its perks!
It’s actually not bad. I have motivation to work out for me and not anyone else, I can spend money on things she called silly, I don’t even have to cook without flavor.
See? That’s the spirit! I’m glad you seem to be finding your groove without too much suffering.
I taught my toddler to scan her mom (my wife) and say “look, I found a stud!”
I always thought of a stud as a male horse whose main job is supplying baby horse juice. I’m guessing that’s not what you mean?
Well that definitely makes it less …uh… cute.
Standard dad calibration technique.
I do that on my husband. He’s never too amused.
I don’t have the willpower to not make this joke to my wife.
I bought one, put up to my dads back, let it beep, and said to him “i think its defective” 🤪
Dad v2.0
Couldn’t even bother to level the blocks 🙄 smh.
The stupider part is that it would be easier to stack out from the other direction.
There are 8 pieces of wood @ 1.5" each = 12" Studs are 16" on center.
So to stack from the right would be 2 pieces to be in the same place.
You can even see the gray box that opens to the wall behind it. That is attached to the stud on the right…its that close. But here I go applying logic to crazy.
My house is over 30 years old, and the studs are 24" apart. Frustrating when I need to hang things built for 16". 😭
Your house is incorrect. 16" on-center wall studs have been a thing for way more than 30 years.
Non-load bearing interior walls less than 8’ tall are often 24” studs.
24" on-center wall studs aren’t uncommon in building practices today
Most residential interior walls are 16"
If their house is single-story, then 24" would fit in a lot of local building codes.
If any of you find a house on the market with 24" centered 2x4 walls–run. That won’t be the only thing they went cheap on.
Engineered roof trusses have made most interior walls non-load-bearing. 24" on center is fine for such walls. Exterior walls are still 16" OC, though.
I spoke with a firefighter I know about those trusses. He said they were the worst thing in modern fire safety and that he refuses to buy a house with them, because once they start getting hot, you’ve maybe got two minutes before that stupid staple plate pops off. Two or three trusses get their stupid little plates popped off and the whole house is coming down. Makes house fires way more dangerous and time sensitive than they already were, apparently.
My great grandfather built a punch of apartment complexes back in the 70s, if their house is anything like those well… standardly annoying is the words that come to mind.
It hurts to even read that. I can’t even imagine your frustration.
Or just put the box 4" to the right, directly on the stud. Why on earth they thought it had to be exactly where it is is beyond me.
perhaps it is centered between some further away objects and they cared about aesthetics.
But the gray box is in the way of that solution.
That’s not the worst cludge I’ve ever seen, but it’s good and stupid alright.
But imagine, won’t you, an electrical outlet box attached with directly to the oven’s gas line. The outlet was for the microwave. My friend no longer lives in that condo lol
My friend no longer lives in that condo lol
By choice? Or by being forcibly evicted by the rapid expansion of heated gas?
How does it end?
The house rolled over
They probably couldn’t watch Netflix that time 😔
I am not familiar with the removing a section of drywall in order to hang a TV technique
Thewhole “story” seems dumb. They only checkt at that exact same height and decided to open up the wall.
They probably wanted to figure out what the hell was up with that wall.
Use stud finder (beep) move it two inches (still beep) move it further (still beep) move it again (still beep). “Stud finder must be broken” Get another stud finder (still beep but the whole section again) “I need to know what’s behind this wall before I just bolt this TV to this fucking thing” (cut away the drywall) “I better make this look like something stupid for fake Internet points…”
Oops all studs
Just gonna sister in another stud. And another. Juuust a few more.
another one
Don’t take off the panels on your electric and light switches. You’ll find that they’re all like this.
It’s like when I first looked into the gap in the sheetrock around my breaker panel and discovered that my basement has at least 1 (and likely many more) fully wired outlets that were just sheetrocked over at some point. I definitely would have been happier if I hadn’t known that.
So is true that in the US, the walls are so weak? they can’t even hold a TV?
In the EU (or atleast my part of it), studwalls are commonly used for the inner walls of office buildings. If you want to hang anything heavy on them (like a large TV), then you need to anchor it into the studs. Studwalls are not a bad solution, but if they are build as cheap as possible, then they can indeed be very flimsy.
I wouldn’t mind having a studwall in my own home, but I would use OSB+gypsum instead of 2*gypsum to give it some additional strength. And I’d never use it for outer walls.
Unless you’re hanging a CRT you really don’t need to bother screwing into the studs. Get the right type of plug and you can hang some pretty absurd weights from drywall, especially if most of the force is straight down like it would be with a tv mount. I really like the screw-in type plug. Easy to install, no possibility of the toggle not toggling or whatever.
If you want to mount one of those extendo-mounts I’d probably bother to screw it into the studs though, to be fair.
I don’t think so. Modern homes are usually standard drywall. I live in an older home that has wood panneling as was common in the '70s. It’s a bitch to hang anything with it.
The popular wood panels from the 70s and 80s is typically wainscoting and that shit is hella thin
Yes it is, and you can hear everything going on in the room next to yours.
drywall is how you guys call that plaster infused cardboard construction material, right?
Yes, but it’s more than that. I am by no means an expert though. The Wikipedia article can explain it better than me. What are your walls made of?
Note: not a professional, I’ve just helped a few people with renovations.
In Europe, usually brick, concrete, or in newer homes interior walls use “fast build bricks”, which are larger and lighter. In not sure, but pretty confident that these are largely gypsum.
Sometimes larger rooms are partitioned with plates made of cardboard and gypsum - I suspect these are very similar to your drywall. But these are not part of the permanent structure, and new owners will often change or remove them (but honestly they sometimes remove brick walls too, which is fine as long as it’s not a structural wall).
In my own house, one wall (between kitchen and dining room) is entirely wood. All the rest is brick, finished with plaster. This house was built in the early 80s.
Correct, gypsum infused cardboard, usually screwed into 2x4 wood studs. It can support a significant amount of weight if it is distributed evenly which is why we have drywall anchors to add stability, but it will never be as solid as a bolt sunk into a stud, weather and other conditions render it into wet chalk and your tv will swan dive into the carpet at some point
Doesn’t feel safe to me, like the pig in the wooden house
“Then I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll hurricane your house down”
