How Do I Find Studs Behind Vinyl Siding

Here s a super simple old school way to find a wall stud without having to buy an electronic stud finder.

How do i find studs behind vinyl siding.

In theory the siding should be nailed at the studs. Some manufacturers of vinyl siding do not recommend the use of drop in backers with certain vinyl siding configurations. It s easy and works great. For solid cladding such as stucco or brick your best bet is to locate the studs inside the house and then transfer the measurements to the exterior wall.

If that s true and i wanted to hit a stud close to dead center i d probably make myself about a 6 long 3 32 diameter drill bit locate a stud from inside and bore a hole from inside out next to the stud. Then you can check for studs however you like drilling test holes etc. Measure 16 and mark additional stud locations. As an alternative installation of specific types of drop in contoured foam underlayments for various styles of vinyl siding are available.

Oh i just need to find a stud to hang this picture and fifteen holes later you re convinced the wall is held up by pixie dust and a wish because apparently there s no wood behind it. To the best of my knowledge we won t see a stud by lifting siding unless the house was built about 1925. Remove the section of siding at the elevation you plan on mounting the awning at. Use a metal detector to find the nails in the studs if you get dew on the house in the morning a lot of the time you can see exactly where the studs are when there is dew on the siding and it is just starting to evaporate it usually evaporates off the studs first since they are a bit warmer.

Sadly you can t always rely on the nails holding any type of siding to indicate where the studs are but if it s vinyl over plywood the plywood nails should be a good guide. Vinyl siding must never be applied directly to studs without sheathing. Grab yourself a siding removal tool and pull up the top section of siding i m fairly certain you ll find a video on youtube on how to use it. I found these answers on a different site.

For vinyl siding use a vinyl siding removal tool to unsnap the seal between two pieces of siding allowing you to see the nail heads.