What is the distance betwween wall joists / battons?

Question

I am fixing a flat screen tv to the wall and need to know what the distance between the wall battons/joists are. its a plasterboard wall.

Answer 1

The studs in construction is based on sixteen inch centers.

Answer 2

You definitely need to hit the studs. And the plasterboard doesn't help. Usually, you can hear the difference if you tap on the wall with drywall, but it doesn't make a different hallow sound with plaster. The other thing is, as someone else said, the studs may be 16", 18", 24". And just because you find two studs 16" apart OC doesn't mean the next stud is 16" OC. Make an educated guess. Maybe there is receptacle box or something that makes you think there is a stud there. And when you do screw your brackets to wall, make sure you actually hit a stud and not just lathe for the plaster. You can test it by tapping a small nail in the wall, above or below where you have a screw. You will feel the difference stud and lath, once the nail gets past the lathe. Just put you test where it will be hidden by the TV.

Answer 3

All these guys are right it’s about 400 apart the problem is from where did the builders star building and off course the studs will not line up in the middle of the wall like you would prefer it. You shouldn’t hang a plasma screen directly on the plasterboard the butterflies would just not hold if it has substantial weight.
Finding the studs can be done in a variety of ways firstly with a stud finder that can be bought from the hardware store. But they can be expensive and the cheaper ones are less reliable.
If you know how to work a filler gun, know how to paint you could drill with a small drill into the wall after tapping to find out where it’s not hollow until you see saw dust coming through the hole.
Then you would know you’ve hit the stud off course you would have to fill these little holes and paint, some acrylic filler dries out nice white so this is not too much of a problem.

Answer 4

I think it sounds weak but to be fair I am no carpenter RE: Removing wall and strengthening celing (loft) joists? I am wanting to move a bathroom wall a bath width into an adjoining room. The wall to be moved is brick/block. I have checked the beams up in the loft and they are running from the outside wall and resting on this brick wall joined to a second set. My plan is to build the new portion wall (3x2 timber with extra uprights) then in the loft drill through the beams and put 3 x 10" 5mm steel plates on each side and bolt through with 16mm bolts to clamp the two beams together. Does this sound OK? In total I will have to do 4 beams i.e a bath length.

Answer 5

getrdone is right 16 in. centers but if it's an older home you may find them also at 18 and 24 inch centers, if not sure try tapping on the wall with a hammer gently when it don't sound hollow you found a stud, then using a small paneling nail drive it in to that spot to make sure, or just go to a lumber/hardeware store and buy a stud finder,about 10 to 20 bucks. good luck.

Answer 6

Newer construction will be on 16" centers. Older homes may be 16", 18", or any distance that the builder thought reasonable. In other words, he may not have even measured the distances between studs, just put one in where he thought one was needed. A studfinder will help if you don't have tongue-in-groove on the walls.

Answer 7

if your house is timber frame the joists will most likely be 450mm centre to centre,thats the easy part. they wont start in acorner for example and run every 450mm they will be made in panels usualy 2400mm or 3000mm long, so where they join you get a double joist. if you have a good ear try tapping the wall and you can hear the joist as in between sounds hollow hope this helps

Answer 8

1

Answer 9

standard is 16 in. center but go to a hardware store and buy you a stud finder for about 20 bucks

Answer 10

Dont use butterflys unless its only a small tv. Find the studs/ joists they should be 16inch centres (400mm ) and use a decent size screws. You dont want to find your tv on the floor or a toddlers head.