Post some pictures, please. How old is your house, btw?

Its about 18 years old. What sort of pictures do you want me to show you? I can’t take pictures of the inside of the wall

Pictures of where you want to install the item, plus pics of the stairwell as well as of the item itself. Since the closet will be hiding what’s behind it once installed, I’d probably cut out a section of drywall for exploratory purposes.

I would cut out a small square of the plasterboard behind where the unit will be hung (so it will be hidden) this will then show you what is behind the plasterboard if it is plywood then some decent screws should do the job. Replace the square of plasterboard you cut out with some adhesive.

Have you done other projects where you were able to successfully locate studs, @Lydia C? Sometimes stud finders don’t work very well depending on what type you have and what’s in the wall (plumbing, electrical, previous repair materials, etc.). I usually use either a magnet to locate my studs (the magnet sticks to the drywall nail or screw heads) or I look at where the baseboard trim is nailed.

The other walls where I located studs, the studs were of more or less equal distance from each other and my stud finder would light up about 3 lights for it. This particular wall, the stud finder would either have no lights, or randomly light all of them at once, or random numbers of lights erratically. I haven’t tried using a magnet. This one, when I used the stud finder no lights would light up and when we drilld into the dry wall to hang the toggle anchor there was something right behind it. Tried again some ways down and encountered the same thing. So that’s why I concluded there is probably a giant sheet of plywood behind there but don’t know why it would be there since i’ve never encountered something like this. Although I cannot say for certain it is plywood I just went sticking a nail in there to try to get a feel of the material and sound (probably not the most reliable method in the world ). Sorry, I probably sound like I shouldn’t be doing any of this on my own. I do appreciate your help very much

Hey, this is how we learn, Lydia! No apology necessary. 😉

Will you try the methods I suggested? If you can’t see where the nails are in the baseboard, you can also use your magnets there, too, to help locate them.

Btw, a refrigerator magnet won’t work. You’ll need to use a button-type magnet or a small, bar-shaped magnet. If you don’t have any and aren’t going to the store anytime store where you can pick some up, see if you have a shower curtain liner that has some in the bottom hem that you can remove to use.

yes I will go try the magnet way. If I can find studs I will put 2” wood screws into there to secure it more. If not, I will try to open it up and see what’s in there. If it is plywood, would 2” wood screws be ok too? It is currently on there with 5x1” wood screws only and I am afraid its going to fall on me one day

Let’s see what’s behind there first before deciding on a screw length. I can’t imagine why there’d be plywood there, but, I’ve heard of stranger things in stranger places.

this is super helpful, thank you so much!

You’re welcome!

It's likely an engineered interior shear wall. That's why the plywood is there. If there is a door jamb in the same wall measuring 3/8" thicker that would confirm. If it were me I'd use the wood screw and test it with some pull weight.

There is no door or door jam on this wall. The door is perpendicular to this wall. i drilled into it the plywood is half inch thick and drywall is half inch thick with stud behind the plywood. If it is interior shear wall is it safe to put screws in?

Yes. Better than toggles.

@Sammy

so i was able to detect two “studs” where i am putting up my bracket they were approximately each 24” apart. And the i was able to put 3 magnets vertically on the stud. It was strange because when we went to screw it we realized that it only about 2” thick as the drill went thru the 2” and came out the other side. The other sections of the wall where there were no studs they were about 1.5 inches thick. I am not sure if these are in fact studs then???! Should i be able to drill thru a stud and come out the other side?????

regardless i have screwed on the metal bracket on the 2 “studs” and another 5 screws to the other sections with 2” wood screws. Hopefully my closet will hold

Should i be able to drill thru a stud and come out the other side?????

It depends—how long is the drill bit? 😑

So you’ve finished installing, I gather? I mean, what’s the worst that will happen if it doesn’t hold—your purses will come crashing down? If we were talking about kitchen cabinets filled with breakables, that’d be something to worry about. I kinda do wish, though, that you’d cut out a section of drywall to see for sure what’s going on in that wall. For my sake, at least; I hate unsolved mysteries!! Hehe

Well what happened was we were trying to drill 2.5 inches but didnt make it to 2.5 before we hit air. but i figured if i had 2 on “studs” and the rest had another 1.5 inches behind it i should be ok as it isnt all just drywall i hope

thanks for your help!!

Sounds like they framed the wall "on the flat" and added plywood to stiffen it up.