Home Improvement Stack Exchange
Home Improvement Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [walls]

Vertical structures which usually enclose, divide, define, or protect an area.

1852 questions
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8 answers

How do I run wires for a wall-mount flatscreen TV?

Like a lot of you, we have several wall-mounted LCD HDTVs in the house. The TVs have two wires -- power and HDMI -- running down the wall to the power outlet and cable box. I've historically been too timid to try to run the wiring inside the drywall…
Portman
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3 answers

Are there ways to determine if a wall is load bearing?

Other than looking up blue prints, which many homeowners may not have, are there ways to determine if a wall is load bearing? Methods I can think of might include: Going up in the attic to check if ceiling trusses run perpendicular to the wall If…
Doresoom
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10 answers

Are gaps above and below framing members a concern?

I recently hired a framing crew to frame a new house. After it was done, I commissioned an independent review. The reviewer described some of the work as "shoddy," and pointed out a lot of gaps, particularly between king and jack studs and the…
Alaska house
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4 answers

How do you know when and where it is safe to drill into a wall?

Lots of home projects involve cutting or drilling through walls (everything from nails, screws, or hooks to mount things to cutting through drywall and drilling through studs to run wire). In general, how do you know what's safe to break through and…
jrdioko
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How do I make around-the-room shelves for a seriously skewed room?

I've been given the Christmas task of setting up an HO model train and rails around a child's room, so I researched a bit and found a shelf train would be the thing. So I go to measure the room in order to figure out how much wood I have to buy to…
QuestionerNo27
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3 answers

How to determine the type of wall on which I'm putting up a shelf?

I'd like to put up a small shelf. I have never tackled any kind of DIY project before so this is a first (I don't even have the necessary tools yet!) and I have a rather newbie question: Having read a few how-to guides, I've learned it's important…
Rinzwind
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5 answers

What is the best method to patch a large hole (2-3 inches) in drywall?

I have a large hole where a TV wall mount once was (I believe the hole was used to run power and coax cable to the TV). I have since moved the TV and would like to patch the hole. What is the best way to do this?
mmattax
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5 answers

Is it unsafe to remove one stud from a load bearing wall?

I need to cut a hole for a recessed medicine cabinet. This wall is at the end of the house. I only need to cut one stud to make a frame for the cabinet. Will this damage the integrity of the bearing wall?
Sonia Leon
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26
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6 answers

How do I find studs when stud finders won't work?

I was trying to hang my TV at my new place, on an interior wall (between living room and a bathroom). Using the stud finder on other walls worked fine, but on this wall I got some very strange readings. An area of about 5 feet by 4 feet was setting…
Steve Armstrong
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21
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4 answers

What are the different types of drywall anchors, and what are the advantages of each?

I recently put up wire shelving in my pantry, and spent forever figuring out what type of drywall anchor I should use. I even found several types that I didn't even know existed. It might be good to have a reference page for drywall anchors. So,…
Doresoom
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2 answers

What is this sticking out of my wall?

I've got this small thing (see attached pictures) in my third-floor bedroom wall that previous tenants have simply painted over. It's about 1 inch in diameter, sitting about 5 feet off the floor, and has two smaller bumps on it. It also has two…
zephyr
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8 answers

Can I hang this heavy and deep cabinet on this wall safely?

Do you think it possible and safe to hang this cabinet on this wall with no support below it? It is 38 x 90 x 100cm and weighs something like 30kg, It is intended to fill it with dishes and such so it'll get even heavier. The wall is reinforced…
Ralpharama
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3 answers

Elegant method of punching a hole through a wall to run cables?

What is a clean method of running cables from one side of a wall to the other side, in a typical residential house? On one side of the wall will be a computer tower, and on the other side will the the user interface devices (monitor, keyboard,…
davidtgq
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17
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1 answer

Metal braided cord in the wall

I was expanding a hole in what I think is drywall in between two closets. When I took the drill out I noticed some metal protruding and it looks like I went through a braided cable, but the metal looks pretty thick. No idea if it's electrical or…
msj121
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16
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3 answers

How do I run ethernet, speaker wire, and coax through a wall into a crawlspace?

I would like to run three low-voltage cables from my entertainment center through an old plaster wall, down (1-3 feet) through the sill plate, and into the crawlspace. The cables are Ethernet, coaxial-something (for a roof mounted UHF/VHF TV antenna…
Stefan Lasiewski
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