I need to hang a mirror above a vanity, with plumbing running down alongside the stud. How do I make sure I hit the stud, and not the pipe?
Use the stud finder across a wider swath of wall. Using a pencil, removable tape, or other method mark the edges of every stud you can find, including the possible edges where the mirror should hang. Measure the spacing of several studs. Do you find two or three that are spaced the same - 16 inches, perhaps? Builders like to place the studs with consistent spacing.
Does one of the &quot;maybe a stud, maybe a pipe&quot; markings follow the spacing pattern you observed with the other studs? If so, that's where your stud is.
You could also look inside the vanity. The pipe emerges from the wall in there, right? Measure how far it is to some reference like an adjoining wall. The pipe will probably go straight up from there, so you can use the same measurement up at mirror level to identify where the stud isn't.