[boozer]

I've never hit water, but have had half the lights in the house go out while cutting into a wall.

[ithaca_deerslayer]

Originally Posted by Adjuster

The purpose of the metal plate is to offer a resistance when drilling or driving sheetrock screws to make you aware of plumbing or electrical behind the wall. Its very purpose is to prevent exactly what happened here.


/

Yeah, but that was only rated for rimfire, and he was using a centerfire drill

___________
I joined the NRA, have you yet?

[johnd]

wow...thats a skillset for sure!
My neighbor once had an AD with a 12G in his kitchen ( he was drunk) and didnt know he severed the water line to the fridge and went to bed thinking he would patch the ( dry) hole in the morning. He says he woke up when the kitchen ceiling along with some of the cabinets fell down at about 0430. We reckoned that in the 6 hours or so since the AD he probably had maybe 5000 gallons or more of water up there.
In the cold light of day we also found the buckshot had gone clean through the roof too..and it was raining.

[SC Tiger]

Originally Posted by ithaca_deerslayer

Yeah, but that was only rated for rimfire, and he was using a centerfire drill

___________
I joined the NRA, have you yet?

Imagine if he's used a 10mm drill. The house would have collapsed.

[aircarver]

OK, this will make you feel better:

My neighbor was drilling a hole for the antenna cable to his TV.

Hit the sewage pipe. Living room full of sewage ....

So you actually got off easy. (We have never let him live it down)

[okie]

I'm glad it wasn't worse my friend, and I'm glad you got it fixed

[Palouse]

Six figure art?


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[RoyHinkley]

About 16 years ago a friend of mine was helping me do some renovation to an old house I had just bought. He was cutting out the old galvanized water pipes with a reciprocating saw and was almost all the way through one of the pipes when I asked him if he smelled gas.

Oh yeah, I've done the water pipe thing, too. In some one elses house (actually a high rise condo).

[savage16]

Originally Posted by Adjuster

LOL do you know why that metal plate is on the stud?



/

This would be why I'm STILL kicking myself.


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[savage16]

Originally Posted by Palouse

Six figure art?


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Seven figure old remodeled farmhouse.


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[RoyHinkley]

In my house six figure art would be the six dogs sitting around playing poker.

[savage16]

Originally Posted by SC Tiger

Imagine if he's used a 10mm drill. The house would have collapsed.

HA!


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[savage16]

Originally Posted by R2D2

Uh....maybe you should consider not hanging stuff on walls

In my 6+ years of being an Audio/Video Installation Technician, I've hung a lot of stuff on walls. Only ever struck a natural spring in 2 spots.


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[savage16]

Originally Posted by Eric

Put a hot water tap on the TV and place some coffee and tea fixings on the entertainment center. Your problem just became a feature that your friends will envy. Eric

+rep. Instant oatmeal anyone?


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[Geko45]

Originally Posted by HollowHead

Don't feel so bad. The day we moved into our house, Genius here thought it would be easier to drive the Penske rental truck around the back to unload the stuff for that side of the house. I went through the top of the septic tank and had to get towed out by heavy equipment. I think it was over $4K for a new septic cover and old cover chunk removal from the depths of goo and to fix the truck because I cracked the differential housing and broke the rear U-joint. HH

I did something similar once towing a trailer into my backyard. Went over the main water supply line from the street and crushed it. It was actually quite cheap to fix, but the day spent digging down through wet clay to get to it left me with both hands cramped into useless claws the following day.

[smokeross]

Originally Posted by ClydeG19

Pro tip for new home builds...take pics of where pipes and wires are before the drywall goes up. Comes in handy later. I know it wouldn't have helped in this case, so I'll just add that gator bite/shark bite fitting are expensive, but worth it.

I was told when I first moved to Alaska, to take pics all around outside in the fall. That way you will know where to dig in the winter to find your treasures under 6 feet of snow.

[sappy13]

We were mounting a tv at a clients a while back and got scared we had done something like that. Luckily we didnt, cause that would have totally ruined our day. I was just so happy that my boss was the one with the drill.

[Hicksville Kid]

Many years ago.....I was helping my BIL put in a sink in his basement. "Ed, did you get all the parts?" Yes. "Ed, did you shut off the water?" Yes. "Ed, Did you tell Angel that the water will be off in the kitchen for a while?" Yes. OK here we go. Pipe cutter placed on pipe and off we go. A minute or so later, as we were cutting, we hear the water running in the kitchen. We looked at each other at about the same time Angel shut the faucet. Pow! We had a perfect fan of water from the pipe where we were cutting. Ed goes and shuts off the water. No real damage and we did have a good laugh.

Adventures in home ownership...

[paul45]

6 figure art. 7 figure farmhouse.

Me? I would pay someone to do it right the first time.

[pizza_pablo]

Originally Posted by Adjuster

The purpose of the metal plate is to offer a resistance when drilling or driving sheetrock screws to make you aware of plumbing or electrical behind the wall. Its very purpose is to prevent exactly what happened here.


/

So, you're saying that Savage is an over-zealous driller?

[mhill]

Here is an idea. Take a finish nail and drive it in the wall before you drill.

My FIL did that to a sewer pipe when hanging an ironing board for my wife. Being it was a PVC sewer pipe with a tiny hole we didn't notice the problem for a long time. That was a real mess. Thanks FIL. :(

[Cinic]

I'm be curious to know what was going thru your head while you were drilling thru the plate.

Me: "Man...this is taking forever. Why does it feel like I'm drilling thru metal?"

What kind of Plasma? I just picked up a 60" Panasonic that's awesome so far.

[Slackinoff]

Originally Posted by aircarver

OK, this will make you feel better:

My neighbor was drilling a hole for the antenna cable to his TV.

Hit the sewage pipe. Living room full of sewage ....

So you actually got off easy. (We have never let him live it down)

^^^ any story with poo wins.

[Glock20 10mm]

You have a Murphy in your family too?~!

While not a drilling incident, I had a serious wiring incident happen when I first set up my solar panels.

The set-up:
3 - Helios 300 Watt, 7T2 Series Monocrystalline Solar Panels
3 - MC4 connector cables (marked with polarity)
3 - 15A up to 60VDC rated circuit breakers
1 - Newbie solar installer (that was me!)
1 - Newbie assistant (that's my co-worker / friend / student)

I set the combiner box where I wanted it and directed my assistant to install the MC4 cables. I told him which side was + and which was - and how to determine the polarity of the cable by visually inspecting it. (see the problem do you?)

So he wires the cables as directed and I check. Yup! Perfect! So I connect the panels then close the primary circuit to the charge controller. *POP*, *POP*, *POP*. All three breakers trip (this should have been my first clue to STOP!). So I look into WTF is going on and see that the breakers are installed backwards (didn't know that at the time... do now!).

So open the circuit, disconnect the panels and correct the breakers. Reconnect the panels and... damn, have to wait till tomorrow out of daylight. Next day, fresh cup of coffee and ready to energize the system. Close the main switch and walk out to see all three panels with burn marks... that are growing...

Lessons learned?
1. Use ONLY name brand charge controllers.

2. Multi-meters exist for a reason... USE IT!

3. Triple check not only visually but with the above mentioned multi-meter the POLARITY of your circuit PRIOR to energizing the main feed.

4. When in doubt... even an inkling of doubt, CALL AN EXPERT!

That mistake cost me over $1200.00 in solar panels. They still work but at about half capacity so I am using them for my 12V lighting system. I cried that day, I will not lie and say so without shame... the entire project was one thing after another... and burning the panels was the last straw.

[DaveD]

My dad was a phone installer for the local phone company. On weekends I would help him "moonlight" jobs for friends and family. We were in a 8500 sq ft mansion in the music district and he was in the basement drilling for a phone extension. I was upstairs waiting for the bit to come through the floor. "Dave do you see it yet?" NO! "How about now? NO! "I've got 8 inches of bit into the floor look around" "Don't see it!" He comes upstairs and said "It should be right here!" I look at him, he looks at me.......we move the grand piano and PRESTO! he had drilled directly into the center of the leg! Moved piano back, drilled 2 inches away and got out as fast as we could.....