Wall with no studs?

Question

We discovered yesterday that an add-on room in house has no studs in it. Without ripping out the sheetrock, all we can tell is that it each wall was framed as a rectangle with nothing in the middle (used the old smacking method and the sheetrock flexes all the way across, then used a stud finder and it only goes off in the corners). The neighbor's grandmother lived here in the 70s, and he remembers the wall having wood paneling until it was remodeled 10 years ago and sheetrock was put up. He didn't see the remodel, and doesn't remember what company did it.

We also know that the house was built in 1940, and had no electricity until this room was added onto the house. The fuse box is in this room as well. So, given that it has fuses, that helps confirm that it was before the 70s that it was built because if I recall correctly, they started routinely using breakers in the 70s.

Did they use rebar in walls before 1970? How safe is this wall? What should we do?

I should have said that this room is made up of a former-exterior wall that is now interior, and the 3 walls that were added to make the room are all exterior walls now. 2 of these 3 exterior walls are lacking studs. The other exterior wall only has the door frame.

Answer 1

1st question: No they did not use rebar in wooden frame walls before 1970.

2nd question: The wall is probably not very safe. But, if it has stood for that long it will probably continue to stand for quite a while more. If you were to fall into the wall, it would probably give way. Thus leading to your 3rd question.

3rd question: Either put furniture in front of the wall so that no one will fall into it, or tear off the sheetrock and put some wood studs in there.

Personnally I would recommend tearing into the wall. Not for structurability, but to check for termites. I had a friend who had some problems with one wall in his little girls room. When he tore into the wall, he found that all of the studs had been eaten by termites. Thus, your wall may have been built with studs to begin with.

With termites you will need to get an exterminator to come in and spray before you cover up the hole.

Answer 2

stucky...that sounds like many of the homes I used to own in the lumber town in oregon.
they were rentals and when i remodeled them, i noticed the same building method and found that in the old days of the mills, they could turn out 35' lumber and use it to its max.
the method was and is called a 'box built home' they slap 1x12 lumber 35 ft long in an upright position for each room and especially the outer walls that are needed for the barge rafters to hang on. they then cut the line of the roof with a loggers chair saw to the pitch of roof they desired, like 6 & 12 and stacked andother 1x12 against the other, staggering them to build strength. like board & batt, then making a room and placing a stringer board around the entire room they were carving out like a 12x12 liv-rm and then stacked ceiling joists across to each side of the room and wala, you had a room.
this done in each room and second storys as well and then a standard rafter hand stacked roof.
so to answer your Q, if you have a box house with either plaster walls or sheetroc wall, the coverings do not render stibility to the structure. Usually the electrical wireing was pushed down a crack in the the 1x12s that were left a 1/2" apart to allow for that adaptation/application.
Many coverings in the past were just materials or wall paper to make a wall seem beautiful of insulated.
I hope this ans some of your inquiries and courisities.
the last time I opened up my wall in the last house i had in willamina oregon i found pasted on the walls, newspapers of the willamina times daily (now defunk) dated in the 1800s.
i carefully removed the paper from the walls and now have it in my theatre rm in Grants Pass Or.
be careful remodeling and you may find some treasures.
as for the rebar...not used in the old days.

Answer 3

Take a 11/2 to 2 inch finish nail and nail about 1 inch apart until you hit something. A finish nail will leave a hole that is easy to patch. There could be several reasons your stud finder isn't picking it up. Start from one side and work your way across if you find one then measure 16 inches and 24 inches away from the stud you find. 16 inches and 24 inches is the standard width used in framing. Good luck

Answer 4

When they built my house, they glued the foil covered drywall to the studs and then nail the outer edges. This eventually came loose and would flex when you pushed on it. Since the drywall had foil vapor barrier, the stud finder would not find anything.

I don't think they would have used foil on the inside of your house, but their is always a chance the drywal is flexing enough that the studfinder can't find the stud.

Answer 5

Doubt there is anything but air behind the drywall. Seems someone probably just added an interior wall, without doing it correctly. Only safety concern I can think of would be someone could easily damage drywall just be leaning on it, or even fall through it with enough inertia.