Wall construction & how to mount stuff

Howdy guys - so I bought a condo in Philadlephia highrise that opened up in 1965. It's a pretty solid building, and I'm looking to put a murphy/wall bed into it, and hang up some shelving on my walls.

Thing is, I have walls that span 15-20 feet long, and my stud detector only detects studs near/at the corners of the walls (where I know some metal studs are). I also know that none of our walls in the building are load-bearing.

The wall material is 'sheetrock' (as it's been called); which I've been told is 1.5" thick. I had a small pass-through wall taken out to open up the kitchen, and the internals of it is some kind of thick, white rock or drywall. And it definitely gets dusty/powdery when it's knocked open.

While this may be different, In the bathroom on the other side of the kitchen, the boards behind the medicine cabinet have "1" USG "V" T&G GYPSUM CORE BOARD" on them (which I'm guessing is some kind of firewall behind the stove area). And there are a couple wooden studs there.

But back to the main room - if my stud detector is not picking up any studs along the long walls, what might they be made of, and how am I going to mount a murphy/wall bed, or hang shelving, up on these walls?

I'm quite sure that these aren't the typical 1/2" drywalls that I'm used to.

Thanks for your best thoughts, and I can try to provide you more information if you tell me what to do or look for!

 

Here are a few pictures from the demo of my bathroom; which IS NOT the area I want to mount the murphy/wall bed, but I'm guessing the main room walls will be similar to what's going on with these materials?

I'm not a handyman, but what is all this stuff?

 

I've never heard of T&G gypsum [drywall] hopefully one of the others know.
The top pic in post #2 looks like triple laminated drywall. I've seen it double laminated before but never triple.
I don't know what that steel is in the bottom pic. It doesn't look like a steel stud, maybe part of something that used to be mounted there ?? Can you tell if a wood stud is behind it?

 

Thanks for the reply, marksr. So after a little more investigation this evening, it truly appears that most of my wallspace is NOT backed by any studs. It's nothing more than 1" thick gypsum board, as shown by the picture I put in my initial thread post here.

The triple-thick section shown are used only on closet protrusions, and are not the norm in my space.

So obviously, having nothing more than 1" thick gypsum board walls sets me at a disadvantage for a lot of stuff, such as mounting televisions and perhaps Murphy beds or those versatile floor-to-wall shelving bars, right?

Or am I worrying too much about all of this?

 

Looks like your trying to mess the party walls between units or a common area.
Which would be a big no no.
It's there to contain the fire to a single unit.
And to deaden the noise between units.

 

I'm not trying to mess with anything of the sort, Joe; I'm just trying to do what normal people do in their homes: hanging shelves or televisions, anchoring cabinets, and securing a Murphy/wall bed.

 

Normal houses do not have triple drywall unless there's a reason for it.

 

As I've already said, Joe: I found that the triple drywall was only used in a couple small places, mainly where the closet area joins to the main/longer walls.

The main room walls seem to be made with 1" thick gypsum board, not the triple.

In fact, would it help if I pointed out that both sides of my condo are common walls, which seem to have space between me and that of the info on the other side. Didnt they use studs at all in these types of areas????

 

Yes, there usd to be and maybe still is t&g drywall really one edge is a point and the other a matching "V". One inch stuff was mostly used for shaft liners and the like where fire resistance is important. Google "shaft liner
In the picture with th faucet in it how thick is that drywall? It looks 5/8"
In the picture showing the measuring tape what are the dark grey things sticking out from the edged on the left and right of the opening?

Is the onto side of the wall with the faucet still your unit or s it apart you wall? Or is t the outside? I see insulation in there or is it only sound proofing?

There is always a way. What is th structure of your floor and ceiling? Can you make a partial sketch of th floor plan showing us where the different thickness of wall are?

 

I had never heard of T&G or 1" thick drywall but I figured if anyone had it would be TC
Your walls have studs! They will either be at 16" or 24" centers. Masonry walls often use furring strips mounted directly to the masonry and the drywall is mounted to the wood strips.

If I had to mount anything where I couldn't access a stud and a toggle bolt might not be stout enough, I'd consider opening that section of the wall up to install framing and then patch the wall.

 

Any wall that doesn't have studs at most 24" apart would seem to surely break code. And should be the last wall something as heavy as a Murphy bed should be considered being attached to. I would consider getting the site plans of the house and suing the builder. Use the money to put in studs if you are heck bent on installing the bed, or keep the money if you can use it more than the bed.

 

Tightcoat: the picture with the faucet, the cut board is exactly 1" thick; that's the shower handle actually.

And the measuring tape picture, the gray stuff is dust/dirt that's yet to be clean. And last night I come to find out that those 2 wood blocks were shoe-horned in there to hold up the now-removed medicine cabinet and are only 24" in length.

 

There are many drywall anchors that can be used for hanging shelves and TV's except for large, articulating brackets. Standard steel studs are not any better for hanging heavy items on drywall alone. Here is a very good toggle type anchor: http://www.toggler.com/products/snaptoggle/overview.php If you want to hang heavy items you will need to open the wall and install plywood backing between the studs.

I would not rely on a stud finder to find anything.

 

Here's a link to the strongest anchors I've ever used. Scroll down and also see the special bit required for proper installation. The bit cuts a very clean hole and you don't want to use any other method to bore a hole.
As TI said, these will hold most anything, but aren't recommended for articulating mounts.
Also keep in mind the 300 pound rating (or thereabout) is for a single layer of sheetrock, you have 2 layers and the chances of these anchors ripping out or shearing off are slim to none.

WingIts World's Strongest Fastener Standard (6-Anchors)-RC-MAW35-6 - The Home Depot

 

If you have 1 inch wallboard many stud finders may not find the studs.

 

Was this building always townhouses or was it built for another purpose.
i think it is possible that the 1" boards are standing up and held in place with a track at the top and bottom. What is th construction of the floor and ceiling. Notice that in th medicine cabinet hole there is an unsupported edge joint running up and down. The t and g allows some stiffnes there. I have seen this kind of construction with 1/2" board running vertically but then plastered on both sides. This is a pretty strong wall but not bearing. Maybe the idea is to use 1" rock the same way. I don't recall for sure but maybe that 1" Rock is only 24" wide. They would be pretty heavy.
How and wth what are your walls finished? How thick is the coating?
Just exactly how much demolition have you done to be sure there are no studs?
Above or below the 2x4's at the medicine hole can you push a tape or flexible stick or something before you hit an obstacle? How far? Can you get your head and a flashlight I there to see what is there?
This really has me curious keep us posted.

 

This thread has intrigued me since the beginning. Have you checked inside the wall? Are there indeed no studs? I think it might be possible that there are no studs but I sure want to know. It may not help you solve your initial problem but it helps us understand construction from different eras in different areas. So put us back in the loop. We want to know and maybe we will even have some suggestions.

 

Thank you tightrope! Sorry This has been a busy week of moving over to my temporary digs. But I do have some new information from my early 1960s downtown high rise residential building.

OK, so my walls are made of 1.5" Sheetrock, no plaster, just plain drywall. I had a chance to talk to my building maintenance guys.

They said others have big mirrors and TVs mounted on their walls, just use those big anchor toggles; supposedly they can hold 500 pounds!

I'm not as comfortable as when I had actual wooden studs, but they said not to worry about it; just drill in the right anchors for 1.5" Sheetrock.

*shrugs*

And, I've been told the the various wall 'bumps' that house the vertical construction beams are that of cinder block. And my units roof & floor are straight concrete.

What do you guys think?

It's a pretty popular building, desirable place to live, at least.

I'm still a little shakey drilling into walls just yet until I give my shot at mounting something, after my kitchen/bathroom renovation is complete.

 

Please see my post 14. The anchors I linked to are for the heaviest of items.
I will paraphrase and say they will hold 300 pounds "in all directions", and that's in 1/2 drywall.

Believe them when they claim that.. it's overkill for most items. They're not recommended for articulating TV mounts, but even that's debatable.

I would suggest as you hang different items, post back for input on what would be the best anchor in that case.