You could go the easy route spend a few bucks and buy an electronic stud finder.
How to find studs behin wood panel wall.
Studs exist to hold up drywall on interior walls and wood sheathing on exterior walls.
But before you go out spending your hard earned cash i ve got a few tips on finding wood studs in a finished wall.
You will also find studs.
On drywall walls raised or sunken imperfections running vertically indicate fasteners that secure the panels to the studs.
First some basic information to understanding what s behind those walls.
If you don t find signs of a stud 16 inches.
Any nails you find probably penetrate a wall stud behind the paneling.
This means you will always find a stud header or footer on the top bottom or corners of walls.
Look for the same signs of a stud in that area or rap on the wall sharply with your knuckles and listen for a solid sound instead of a hollow sound.
The fasteners give you a good estimate of the center of the studs.
Estimate stud locations by looking at the wall.
On a properly framed house o c stud spacing is pulled from one end of the house walls doors should not affect these.
Since you have the space behind the paneling i d use a wall anchor or toggle bolt instead of directly screwing into the paneling.
As far as finding the studs the strips of wood behind the paneling are furring strips but usually 3 4 and should be 16 on center if they were installed vertically and will most likely line up with the studs.
When looking for wall studs behind a wood panel wall look closely for colored nail heads in the grooves of the panels.
Studs are generally spaced between 16 24 on center which means from the middle of one stud to the middle of one next to it 16 is the most common dimension though.