What's up with horizontal wall studs? How to hang stuff?

[olds70supreme]

I was trying to hang some shelving lately and discovered part of my garage wall is horizontal studs (hidden by sheetrock). It is an attached 3 stall garage w/ two stalls butting against the house and the third has its own head wall. The house is a split level and for the first 4 feet the 2 stall area has vertical studs, but from 4' up it has horizontal studs. I'm just surprised as I have never seen this before. Any ideas on how to mount things (shelves, hangers, etc...) on this section of wall? The horizontal stud elevations do not match up with all the rest of the shelving that is already hung. On the other hand, how much weight is a horizontal stud even good to hold?

Thanks.

 

[blkhonda1991]

I was trying to hang some shelving lately and discovered part of my garage wall is horizontal studs (hidden by sheetrock). It is an attached 3 stall garage w/ two stalls butting against the house and the third has its own head wall. The house is a split level and for the first 4 feet the 2 stall area has vertical studs, but from 4' up it has horizontal studs. I'm just surprised as I have never seen this before. Any ideas on how to mount things (shelves, hangers, etc...) on this section of wall? The horizontal stud elevations do not match up with all the rest of the shelving that is already hung. On the other hand, how much weight is a horizontal stud even good to hold?

Thanks.

Do you have a picture of this? You have to have full length studs to support the structure.

 

[Odorcide]

Is it fire blocking?
http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/fire-stops-fire-blocking-in-studs/

 

[wssix99]

The fireblocking is probably there for strength in your situation. It's required in some load bearing walls to give the studs additional longitudinal strength. (If you look under a deck with long joists, you'll see the same thing.)

If you take a string of dry spaghetti and hold it like a beam and press down on it, you'll see its very weak. If you take a similar string of dry spaghetti and constrain it in the middle of the beam (like these fireblocks do) you'll see that hit will hold back more force.


Those 2X4 studs will hold hundreds of pounds of weight, especially reinforced with the fireblocks. With the proper dry wall hangers, you can even hang hundreds of pounds without the studs!

 

[Torque1st]

Is it post and beam construction with just some curtain walls to fill the area between posts?

 

[olds70supreme]

Okay, got some pictures. Notice the bottom four feet are vertical studs while the rest looks to be horizontal. I have tried probing the wall with a small nail and am only finding studs/wood horizontally. I have heavy duty brackets and would like to mount a shelf ~20" form the ceiling but am having trouble figuring this wall out. If I have to would I be able to put 20" 2x4s vertically on the wall, attached to the horizontal studs? Than I could attach the brackets to those, correct? Any other suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks.

 

[Eds Garage]

I think you've got the right idea. Just attach some vertical boards and secure with screws to the horizontal studs. Then you can hang stuff anywhere in between. It's something us folks with pole barns have to deal with all the time.

 

[Torque1st]

Those horizontal studs are probably just furring strips attached to vertical studs behind them to make the wall even. You could punch a hole in the upper wall and take a peek inside with an inspection mirror.

 

[mossyboy6]

I have never in my life seen horizontal studs, I doubt that is what you have.

 

[steel 35]

I wonder if its a second cover; for sound deadening.....

 

[wssix99]

Okay, got some pictures. Notice the bottom four feet are vertical studs while the rest looks to be horizontal. I have tried probing the wall with a small nail and am only finding studs/wood horizontally. I have heavy duty brackets and would like to mount a shelf ~20" form the ceiling but am having trouble figuring this wall out. If I have to would I be able to put 20" 2x4s vertically on the wall, attached to the horizontal studs? Than I could attach the brackets to those, correct? Any other suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks.

If you probe vertically, you should find vertical elements, also. "Horizontal studs" are an impossibility. They won't hold a wall up.

I wouldn't put any weight on those walls until you know what is going on. The whole thing looks suspicious - maybe like a do-it-yourself project gone wrong. How far are the screws spaced? Do you think that some of them might go in to vertical elements and the person doing the work was just mudding horizontally?

Maybe there was an intent to put some windows in that wall? Aside from that, people may put horizontal members in a wall to hang cabinets, but I'm not sure that would make sense with the spacing you have going on.


This situation is perfect for justifying a new tool purchase! A boroscope would be perfect for looking in there and telling what is going on: http://www.drillspot.com/products/541639/milwaukee_2310-21_color_lcd_inspection_camera?s=1

If you don't want to purchase one, you can also rent them.

 

[Torque1st]

An inspection mirror is a whole lot cheaper than a bore-scope, but not nearly as much fun.

 

[SkeeterN]

I have never in my life seen horizontal studs, I doubt that is what you have.

My daughter asked our son (her brother) to install a garbage disposal and a range hood. This required running electricity. To their shock, he ran into horizontal and vertical studs. He had to literally cut away part of the drywall to figure out what in the world was going on. He had to chip a channel out of the large studs to lay the wire along it. Then he saw that one area had actually 3 large studs side by side making the area at least 4 or more inches thick. He chipped and chipped away making a channel about 3/4 inch deep to fit the wire. He then cut a piece of drywall and placed it over all that he had to cut out.

 

[nodoor]

Did he use nail plates over the channel he cut?

 

[SkeeterN]

Did he use nail plates over the channel he cut?

No, but he put electric tape over the channel then put the drywall over it.

 

[jimindm]

I can not even imagine bringing a thread up that is ten years. What is the use to even respond. I get it if one has ended up there in a search of some sort. I still would not know why you would comment.

There have been several threads show up currently that are years old.

 

[472scout]

No, but he put electric tape over the channel then put the drywall over it.

 

[gnpenning]

We have a thread in free parking that the wiring would fit in. Pictures would help.

 

[p_mori7]

My daughter asked our son (her brother) to install a garbage disposal and a range hood. This required running electricity. To their shock, he ran into horizontal and vertical studs. He had to literally cut away part of the drywall to figure out what in the world was going on. He had to chip a channel out of the large studs to lay the wire along it. Then he saw that one area had actually 3 large studs side by side making the area at least 4 or more inches thick. He chipped and chipped away making a channel about 3/4 inch deep to fit the wire. He then cut a piece of drywall and placed it over all that he had to cut out.

The last post before this one was TEN YEARS AGO.