On Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:23:31 +0000, Fred
wrote:

Hi,

I'd like to put up some shelves onto a plasterboard wall. I know the
technique is supposed to be that you find the studs and screw into
those but...

I bought a Zircon stud detector, I got the impression from posts here
that they were the only brand that worked well, but IMHO it is
useless. However our walls are papered and they have a pattern
embossed in them, and I wonder whether the fact that they are not
smooth is confusing the device? Do you think so?

The house is a 1970s build and once upon a time it seemed a good idea
to take a wall apart in another bedroom (though I can't think why
now!). That wall was 8' x 8' so it was covered by just two sheets.
these were supported by just three studs: one at each end and one in
the middle, where the two sheets joined. There were NO studs at 60cm
or 40cm spacing's and NO noggins between them.

The second wall in that room was about 12' x 8' and was of a similar
construction: the sheets were only supported along their edges and the
studs were quite thin: only about an inch and a half wide.

This doesn't seem much to me but OTOH the walls had remained up for
thirty years.

My worry is that the room I wish to shelve, is another bedroom and I
worry that if one bedroom's walls were like this, won't this rooms
walls be the same?

This room where I want to do the shelving is over the stairs, so would
the wall be better supported there?

I worry that if the wall is that badly put together there will not be
enough studs to screw into.

What would be the best way to proceed? Strip the wallpaper to see if
the detector works? Take the wall apart to see for myself, and if
necessary reinforce it? Or could I just cheat and somehow fix a sheet
of plywood to the wall and screw the shelves into that? But doesn't
that solve one problem and create another because I would then have to
find some way to anchor the board to the wall?


It would be quicker, easier and less disruptive to fix the shelves,
not to the plasterboard or the studs, but directly to the wall behind.