Are wall studs wood or metal
 

In the new patio villas? Easiest way to tell?

Get a good strong magnet it will stick to the metal stud floor to ceiling. Most interior walls have metal exterior walls traditional wood if it’s a poured concrete or block construction will usually have wood firing strips.

I have found using a very small drill or nail, is the best way, it will stop on a metal stud and continue on a wood stud.. You will usually find the metal studs on the interior high walls as these are straighter than typical wood studs. We have a designer home concrete block circa 2013 and it has metal studs on the outside walls, and the tall interior walls, the kitchen laundry, and bathrooms are wood studs.

Also, depending on what you are hanging you should use the special hangers for metal studs, never use the plastic insert type hangers on metal studs. I have found for LIGHT duty hanging projects, a sheet metal screw works fine, with a SMALL predrilled starter hole for the screw, centered on the stud.

Magnetic stud finder, pick one up at Home Depot.

Thanks. After reading many posts I thought they might be metal but have never had a home with them.

What makes things difficult is that there are mixed metal and wood studs in the home construction. No rhyme nor reason.

I've seen only a token number of steel studs, perhaps less than 20% in the homes we visited during construction.

I was told by the the guy who built my place (new in Dec 2021) that all bearing walls used wooden studs and partition walls metal, you can get a set of blueprints , for a "fee" , that they could have just given the new owner.

All the permits for the home construction in Sumter County are available online, for free, at the eTRAKit website.

eTRAKiT

You can sign up for free account.

That said, I don't recall that level of detail in the plans submitted. I compared to what builder gave me, and what is at the eTRAKit website.

The magnet or drill method may be the only reliable way to find the few metal studs in new homes.

Not true for all houses. There are a lot of non-loadbearing wood stud walls.

I was told that The Villages completed a $40 million dollar manufacturing facility to make concrete weight bearing walls that require no metal or wood studs. In fact, they arrive at the job site with the wires already inserted and ready to construct the home - making it faster and more environmentally friendly. I believe this construction approach has been implemented in many of the new villas.

There is a quick description:
Concrete makes it possible to design very robust and durable buildings, and taking advantage of its thermal mass by keeping it inside the building envelope can help regulate interior temperatures. There is also an increasing use of precast concrete in the building industry, which offers advantages in terms of environmental impact, cost and speed of construction - especially if choosing carbon negative concrete CMU blocks using Carbicrete and also low-carbon concrete from CarbonCure.

Re:those new villas with pre-fab walls.

I believe those villas use pre-fab concrete walls for exterior ones. Inside walls are still stick construction, wood and steel studs.

Thank you so very much for this link! Lots of useful information there.

This is true, however you cannot install drywall directly over concrete. You still want some insulation and a vapor barrier, therefore you will still have some form of studs or firing strips.

I bought my home (not a PV, but I believe still relevant) from the original owners. They specified and paid for all metal stud construction. So the point would be, you could have wood, metal, or a mix. I would agree that taking a look a the original permit would be the best way to know. FYI, this house was still standing after the 2007 tornado. The neighbors were leveled.

Patio Villa Studs
 

Exterior walls are wood. Interior are steel. At least in modern versions.

I asked this question of one of the guys putting up the walls in one of my customer’s homes.
If the wall is exterior then wood is used.
If the wall is load bearing then wood is used.
If custom work is needed (arches, etc.) wood is used.
If something is to be attached to the wall (plywood for hanging a tv or heavy mirror, special plumbing or electrical, etc.) then wood is used.
These are the major reasons for wood studs.
If none of the above apply then the interior walls will get the metal studs. They’re just as strong as wood, just not as flexible to work with for other than flat walls.

Both for most. Drive through the new construction sites on a Sunday and check things out.

I try to avoid driving through new construction sites. It's a good way to get a flat tire.

Where - on the eTRAKiT site could I find my info on a home built in 2020? I did a property search and nothing came up showing any plans....

I searched on my house and I put in CT for court. nothing came up so I used street # and street name. It came up and CT was actually spelled out (Court). Try that if it applies. Or maybe just the street # and you should get multiple results. Then find your address. And be sure you chose Site_Addr in the dropdown.

LOTS of good info. I really like the house plans.

Strong magnet and a stud finder. Can’t go wrong.

When we bought our home, the response to the above question was.......studs are chosen at builders discretion. I plan to use a magnetic (https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B000IKK0...v_ov_lig_dp_it) and combo stud finder (Amazon.com) to identify the stud material.

A regular stud finder works in wood or metal.

A standard stud finder will locate the stud, but very few will tell you its composition. Fasteners will differ for wood & metal. Knowing the studs composition will allow you to complete your task appropriately.

Exactly right. And I've found these to be excellent for finding studs. Easy enough to use. If the studs are metal, these magnets will stick to wall at any point along the vertical line of the stud. If wood, of course the magnet will only stick to the wall where the drywall screw is located. No sense in poking holes in your wall to find studs or determine their composition.

Structural studs are wood. Non-structural are steel. Because the steel studs are dimensionally precise, the walls with steel studs are noticeably flatter than if they were built with wood studs of the current questionable quality.

They still have stud walls on the inside. Need space to mount drywall, electrical…etc.

"At Ease" cottage home circa 2010. Interior walls are metal. Exterior are wood.