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Is it normal for there to be "extra" studs for electrical outlets? My house is 16in spacing but on this particular stud the next stud is 4 inches. And then the next one is back to 16inches.

It's as if they were complete with 16 in spacing and someone was like, we need an outlet RIGHT HERE let's add a stud, rather than just putting it a few inches over on the next stud.

When I do home projects I ALWAYS run into stud issues like this and it makes it really confusing.

Here is a very fast crude drawing of what I have:

enter image description here

Edit: Thanks all for your replies. It's not a huge issue was just trying to wrap my head around reasons. I am not a builder just a homeowner and I occasionally do smaller projects and was trying to get more understanding behind things that don't make sense to me :)

There is a laundry room behind this so maybe they added it for something there, although that wall is blank, there's no light switches or plugs on it (it's the side wall not the plumbing side of the wall)

This is a long 20 foot room and wall so the only thing I could think of is they did not way that plug all the way to the left although putting it over 4 inches doesn't seem like it would make much diff :)

Oh well - I will just run with it and just assume there was a good reason :)

Do you guys think it would be safe to cut out about 1 foot on stud #2. Since three are studs every 16 inches except this one particular one added in between, wonder if I could get away with it? I am trying to add a in wall shelf here but the spacing is too narrow due to the extra stud and I was wondering if I could cut it out.

I think the stud is near one of the ceiling beams (not sure what it is called, the one going from the joists all the way up to a ceiling point)

James Pyle
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    The extra stud may be for the outlet (there are other ways to support an outlet between studs), but it's also possible the extra stud is for extra support, and the outlet landed there because it was already there. Expecting too much predictability in stud location is a road to confusion, indeed. – Ecnerwal May 26 '20 at 11:28
  • Framers are an uncertain bunch... fwiw, don't always bank on an apparent stud running all the way up. – Aloysius Defenestrate May 26 '20 at 13:32
  • It's more likely that the stud is there for a reason than that the framing crew left one for no reason. Is there an adjoining wall on the other side? Is there plumbing or HVAC in that wall? What's the question, exactly? – isherwood May 26 '20 at 13:41
  • @isherwood - Just trying to get an understanding of how things work because I always run into issues like this when doing projects (also to avoid messing something up when I go to cutting in my wall)

    to AloysiusDefenestrate - Yeah I figured it could be a partial stud, but I have stuff hanging on said stud about 3/4 up the wall so it likely goes all the way up.

     – James Pyle May 26 '20 at 15:17
  • The bottom line is that there are many reasons why additional studs may be used. You need to be prepared to deal with that anytime you penetrate a wall. – isherwood May 26 '20 at 15:19
  • @isherwood Oh I know :) I didn't cut the wall before doing all this. I found the studs with stud finder and went off info I had. There was already a small hole in the wall where I am adding the new hole (put there by someone else with a panel that was hung on wall, which is what I am replacing but unfortunately the device we have doesn't wall mount so I am making a small inlet shelf.

    There lies the problem. The device barely fits in the opening and while normally that would be fine, it has side speakers so it needs more side space...thus the question of cutting that additional stud.

     – James Pyle May 27 '20 at 05:52

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I never waste a stud for a receptacle. You may commonly find extra studs in on or close to corners or where walls join but To put a stud in for a receptacle unlikely, receptacles have spacing requirements 12’ between them or no point more than 6’ from a receptacle with continual walls (no door ways etc). But there is no minimum spacing they can be next to each other.

Ed Beal
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  • The first inspection might have failed with the outlet being too far so they threw in the stud for a quick fix. Stay safe out there.+ – JACK May 26 '20 at 15:10
  • Could be, the current receptacles are 8 feet apart (rough measurement) – James Pyle May 26 '20 at 15:19
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    I still would not add a stud I would put one on whatever stud was there. I start from the door 6’ place one less than 6’. then 12’ if the closet or a second door I would decide where it would be closest to a night stand but going back and adding a stud , never , custom where the owner specified locations but those would be there for that reason. – Ed Beal May 26 '20 at 16:55
  • I see. I have no clue then. I need to cut a portion of this stud out but I am too scared to do so. I went in the attic and measured and I don't see anything here unusual. There may be a 2x4 going up to the ceiling point near here. There is an HVAC intake AROUND here but not close to this additional stud (it's over on it's own in the nearby hallway. – James Pyle May 27 '20 at 04:18