Missing Wall Stud and Repair.

James M Sandbrook of
Wairakei Place, Tokoroa.

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Missing Wall Stud and Repair.

I made this repair about 15 years ago, so its all finished, painted over and it is not noticeable anymore.

My hall wall had an issue. We had only owned the house about 2-3 years and I leaned against the wall and a hole appeared. I realized that the previous occupants of the house had wallpapered over the hole without fixing the hole. As time went by I found other holes in the walls of the house where they had wallpapered over the holes probably for the house sale.

I filled in this hole in the wall, and about 2-3 years later someone leaned against the wall and the hole reappeared. So I filled in the hole again.

A few years later it happened again. I leaned on the wall, probably not even where the hole was and the hole reappeared. I noted that the wall was flimsy, it felt wrong, and so I decided to investigate further.

By this time I was tired of fixing up the same wall hole over and over again and now I wanted it fixed for good.

I had been told in the past that these houses in our area were what they call “kit set houses”, cheap houses thrown together in a rush to fill a contract. I noted that the other side of the wall was a closet.

With some measuring and by making the hole bigger I made the discovery that an entire vertical Wall Stud was missing. The company that had built the house had probably tried to save money and left a few things out like this missing wall stud.

Image 1 shows the two vertical studs on either side with the vertical middle stud not there.
If the stud in the middle is missing the wall becomes loose and moves as well as bows easily.

With that being the case with children running around, playing, pushing and shoving, and people like my wife and I leaning on the wall (causing it to bow) from time to time, all that moment was causing the plaster in the hole to work loose and fall into the wall, over and over again.

What I had to do was to cut a big hole in the wall, big enough to put in a stud and then nail it all into place and plaster it all over, then paint it. In Image 2 it shows the new stud in place making the wall more stable.

As you can imagine, that a large sheet of plaster is very flexible with no support, but put a frame of wood around it and it becomes a strong firm stable sheet of plaster.

From the day that I finished this project (about 15 years) until now there has never been a hole reappear in that wall because the wall is now strong and stable.

If you discover that the same thing is happening in your home you may find that behind the plaster is the same sort of issue, a missing piece of wood that was supposed to keep the plaster stable, and you will need to replace it as I did.

All the best from

James M Sandbrook.

31st of March, 2021.

Image 2