How do I find a stud in my ceiling to hand a punching bag?

Question

I am going to get a punching bag to hang in my garage, but I dont know how to find a stud. I would like to get a 70 pound punching bag.

Answer 1

A 70# bag hanging from a garage ceiling joist is likely to be too heavy. You'll need to support it from a couple of joists and probably the roof rafters to be on the safe side. That'll require access to the attic and some carpentry work. Sorry for the pun, but you will need a stud.

Answer 2

What your getting is a "heavy bag".

What you do, is get an electronic stud finder..(I never saw one work right yet, because every time I point it at myself, it never registers, but, they find dead wood, so maybe thats the problem, eh?) :) LOL!!

You simply take it, and run it along the ceiling and it will "light up" when it hits a wood stud.

Or, get a pin, and a pair of pliers, and "jab" the ceiling until you hit a spot where it wont go through...(yea, its a pain after awhile).

Remember, studs are on 16 centers or 24 centers, so start from one edge, the left, and work from there, until you get to where you want, and then start to poke or take a reading from the finder...

Get a large hook, ( 2" hook" to hook all four cables from - the good ones will have cables already attached to the top of the bag), and put it in the ceiling.

Also, remember this, if there is something "above" the ceiling, like a room, when you "hit" that bag, your going to "jar" everything over it!!!

This happened to my kitchen! I had to brace everything, so that my Son could use his.

I wish you well..

Jesse

Answer 3

Just to be technical, you are looking for a joist or truss. Studs are in walls. Anyway, if you have access to attic space, just go up there and look. If you only have a roof above the garage you should access and the spacing of the joists or trusses are usually 24" oc. If there is a room above the garage the spacing is likely 16"oc for the floor joists. But there may be some signs where the joists are. Garage door hangers need to bolted to structural members, and the receptacle for the opener will likely be on a member. Once you have a general location and an educated guess, you can use a small trim nail to hammer through the drywall, to see if you can find a member. If you miss, a little dab of drywall mud will hide the hole.

Good luck

Answer 4

Pick location,put a cloth over the head of a hammer and lightly hit around your target you will hear more of a thud noise when your over your strapping.Then use a 16d common nail (3-1/2") nail in the area until it is solid, then cut a hole 3-4 inches wide use a flashlight to locate your floor joist not the 3/4" strapping. you want to drill a 3/8" hole where the strapping and joist intersect. Then buy a white drawer face from a home depot / lowes 15.00. drill a 1/2" hole in the center of the draw face, take a 1/2" x 5" eye bolt slip it through the hole in the center of the draw face ,line it up with the drilled hole in the joist start srewing it in when it gets hard use a long scewdriver as a leverage tool until tight, Now you have a solid anchor no holes in the cieling just a finished block of wood attached to the cieling if you dont care about looks disregard drawer face that just dresses it up with min work Have Fun Bill S

Answer 5

You can tap the ceiling and then when you feel that you found a stud then around that area tap some little nails through to find exactly where it is. Also you can go to The Home Depot and get a stud finder by renting it.

Answer 6

Usually if you don't have a stud finder from the store, u can knock on the ceiling or wall and whether i sounds hollow or not will tell u if there is a stud or just air.

Answer 7

If you don't have a stud finder...they are not very expensive (lumber yard, hardware stores, dept stores)...then listen very carefully as you knock inch by inch in a straight line. There actually is a sound difference when the wallboard (drywall) is snug up to the stud. I recommend the stud finder...it's so much easier.

Answer 8

You can buy one of those stud finders or just measure, the studs are usually 16 inches apart but not always.

Answer 9

go 2 K-mart or places like that an ask 4 a stud finder tool..

Answer 10

Get a magnet, and run it along the wall until it PINGS or STINCKs to a nail in the stud. There's actually a magnetized nail you can get that'll do that at Lowe's, i think.