Wall stud

A wall stud is the vertical piece of wood or metal framing hidden behind drywall that gives a wall its structure. In most homes studs are spaced 16 inches apart on center, though some are 24 inches, and finding them is the first step before hanging anything heavier than a picture frame.

Drywall alone has almost no ability to hold weight, so shelving, pegboard, slatwall, and track systems are only as strong as whatever they are actually screwed into. A shelf bracket driven into a stud can hold many times more weight than the same bracket held only by the drywall paper and gypsum around it.

A stud finder is the easiest way to locate framing, though tapping the wall to listen for a solid sound versus a hollow one works in a pinch, and outlets are often mounted next to a stud as a reference point. A common mistake is finding one stud, assuming the rest of the wall matches the same spacing exactly, and skipping a second check before drilling a full row of holes.