If you’re familiar withfinding studsbehind drywall, locating studs behindceramic or porcelain tileis more complex.
Tile walls are thicker thandrywall.
All of these things complicate the search.
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Apply a strip of painter’s tape horizontally across the surface.
Above or below the tape, pass the stud finder across the tile surface from side to side.
After making multiple marks, you may begin to see a pattern develop.
Clusters of pencil marks will indicate the presence of a dense item below, such as a stud.
But in combination with other techniques, they may turn up the studs.
Tile isn’t secured by metal fasteners, but its cement board substrate often is.
You may be able to detect a fastener if you are patient and slow.
It’s helpful if the substrate is unusually thin.
This is a possibility sincetile thinsetoften fails to extrude through the tiler’s float at a uniform thickness.
Warning
Rare earth magnets can be dangerous.
Keep magnets far apart from each other.
Keep a magnet away from metal.
Rare earth magnets can pinch or cut skin and even break bones.
Pilot Holes
Wall studs tend to be spaced every 16 inches on-center.
Starting from the corner of the room, measure off 16 inches, and mark that endpoint.
Now you have a rough idea of where a stud might be located.
One method of fine-tuning your measurement is by drilling tiny investigative pilot holes.
