“Hi this is Eric with the Zircon Tip Minute.
I get a lot of questions from people that are interested in locating studs behind shower walls and bathtub enclosures.
Usually, it’s because they want to install ‘grab bars’. Since these bars have to support your weight, it is vital that both ends are fastened into studs.
Unfortunately, it’s difficult to scan through bathtub and shower enclosures for many reasons. Among them, multiple layers of material of varying density. Tools with deep scan mode, have a better chance of finding studs, but there is no guarantee that it can find them since no two bathroom walls are constructed the same way.
Your best bet is to use a metal finding tool, like this MetalliScanner m40, designed for locating nails and screws in the studs as well as metal pipes. See our Tip Minute video on ‘Lath and Plaster’ to see how to find studs with a metal scanner.
However, if your bathroom walls are attached to the studs with adhesive rather than nails or screws; than a metal finder won’t help either, since there is no metal to find.
The bottom line is, there are a lot of variables for locating bathroom studs, making it difficult to find them with any tool. Because attaching grab bars to studs is so important you may want to consider consulting a professional.”
