Ba r r y writes:

Steel studs are common in commercial construction. I haven't seen a
wood stud in a phone building for at least 15-20 years, regardless if
the wall carries a load. Lots of these walls have counters, cabinets,
etc... mounted to them. A lot of this stuff is installed as an
afterthought, so the wall was not specially designed to carry the
load.

I'm guessing commercial construction uses 20 gauge metal studs for load
bearing walls, not the 25 gauge metal studs they sell at all the home
improvement centers.

I was thinking about the 25 gauge studs when I was questioning if any used
them for load bearing walls.

Brian Elfert