What do you do if drill through pipe?

[megaphone]

Rather than plaster it in, why not put a single gang blank plate over the hole, or even a dummy switch, that way you'll have easy access when it leaks.

[Murph7355]

Andehh said:

Genuine question, what would you have done differently? Pipe has been pierced, I have called you out to made good and....?

Did you install the isolator to the left too? Why was there no slack - are these old lights you wanted a new switch for etc?

Alucidnation said:

Jesus.

Mind you, keep it up.

I make a small fortune, dealing with DIYers fk ups.

As opposed to nothing from your bedside manner

[megaphone]

Alucidnation said:

Jesus.

Mind you, keep it up.

I make a small fortune, dealing with DIYers fk ups.

Plenty of "professionals" drill through pipes and cables, seen it many times.

[Alucidnation]

Murph7355 said:

As opposed to nothing from your bedside manner

[Djtemeka]

Andehh said:

Welp, it happened! Literally 10mins after SWMBO disappeared to her parent's, I was frantically emptying the cupboard looking for the stop cock!

I was installing a switch for some external lights, and whilst tidying up the hole I found the tap's hot water feed buried in the 'dab' of the dot & dab wall. Queue hot water spewing out, coating me & everything around, as I blindly empty the sink cupboard fighting for the damn stop cock!

Trip down to screwfix, some panic over what fitting I needed, then 2 hours later *touch wood* the fix held!

did you fit pvc inserts? If not then it will leak.
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/7845021/?gr...

Also, the top part doesnt look fully "screwed" down.

[eps]

Alucidnation said:

What's wrong with the cable behind the pipe?

Are they not allowed to be near each other?

I don't think anyone would expect the cable to be behind that part of the wall. The run seems to go right to left... I thought - although I am only a layman in this area - that cables should be channeled vertically, as opposed to horizontally to try and minimise the chance of accidents happening. But I am not an electrician or a plumber.

[essayer]

eps said:

I don't think anyone would expect the cable to be behind that part of the wall. The run seems to go right to left... I thought - although I am only a layman in this area - that cables should be channeled vertically, as opposed to horizontally to try and minimise the chance of accidents happening. But I am not an electrician or a plumber.

No no no! They can go horizontally.

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Safe_zon...

[eps]

essayer said:

eps said:

I don't think anyone would expect the cable to be behind that part of the wall. The run seems to go right to left... I thought - although I am only a layman in this area - that cables should be channeled vertically, as opposed to horizontally to try and minimise the chance of accidents happening. But I am not an electrician or a plumber.

No no no! They can go horizontally.

http://wiki.diyfaq.org.uk/index.php?title=Safe_zon...

Above a kitchen work surface?

[Alucidnation]

I do wish people would stop guessing.

Cables can run horizontally or vertically, or even diagonally, provided they are in the correct zones and installed in accordance with the current regs.

[Jonesy23]

Alucidnation said:

I do wish people would stop guessing.

Cables can run horizontally or vertically, or even diagonally, provided they are in the correct zones and installed in accordance with the current regs.

I had this 'discussion' with a (supposedly) NICEIC registered firm; their idea of where to run cables on first fix was basically anywhere they felt like. In the end I had to resort to the idiots guide with the coloured pictures to get things in the right zones and properly protected rather than running diagonally right across where someone would hang something or just in some random spot. It's not like it's exactly a complicated bit of the regulations!

I should put the pictures up some time of the first attempt. It needed completely ripping out and redoing.

Still didn't stop someone drilling right through a cable though once the boards were in.

[Alucidnation]

If it was that bad, you should have reported it to the NIC.

[Andehh]

Murph7355 said:

Andehh said:

Genuine question, what would you have done differently? Pipe has been pierced, I have called you out to made good and....?

Did you install the isolator to the left too? Why was there no slack - are these old lights you wanted a new switch for etc?

Everything you see came with the house - including the rough plasterboard/plaster around the sockets. I installed a small switch (similar to the isolater) to the left of it (out of picture) with the cable running through said picture.

I installed the garden lights, with enough slack to adjust/fiddle if needed. Fitted a 5amp switch to control, seemed like a good idea at the time!!

Djtemeka said:

did you fit pvc inserts? If not then it will leak.
http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/7845021/?gr...

Also, the top part doesnt look fully "screwed" down.

Yep, John guest adapter & John Guest inserts, they were a really really tight fit to get in, but they are home & snug. Well spotted on the top part, I loosened it all off, double checked pipes were fully home then tightened both collars up again. Went into the Plumber's section of Screwfix and spoke to two very nice plumbers who had a look at my pic & spent 30 seconds checking my homework & agreed this was the best option.

Andehh said:

Alucidnation said:

Jesus.

Mind you, keep it up.

I make a small fortune, dealing with DIYers fk ups.

Genuine question, what would you have done differently? Pipe has been pierced, I have called you out to made good and....?

Alucidnation said:

Plastering and painting is not my forte.

That wasn't my question. I call you out having damaged the pipe... what would you have done to fix said leak? If my repair is a ''fk up'' - what would YOU do differently?

Edited by Andehh on Monday 5th June 20:28

[Alucidnation]

Andehh said:

That wasn't my question. I call you out having damaged the pipe... what would you have done? My ''DIY fk up'' has been solved, as per pic...what would you do differently?

Indeed it has.

What i would like to know is why you were drilling beside the socket out on the first place?

Hole to the outside?

[Andehh]

Alucidnation said:

Andehh said:

That wasn't my question. I call you out having damaged the pipe... what would you have done? My ''DIY fk up'' has been solved, as per pic...what would you do differently?

Indeed it has.

What i would like to know is why you were drilling beside the socket out on the first place?

Hole to the outside?

I took out a thin slither of plasterboard to double check for cable routings etc (make sure the slightly visible cable at top between switch & sockets didn't have some odd U bend in it), when it was clear behind I used the multi cutter to dig the channel deeper through a piece of 'dab' that was in the way. Within this Dab was said water pipe!

Seeing as we are about 5 feet from the only tap & 3 feet out from the wind sill I assumed (!) the tap's pipe work would be clear/running closer the window sill. Turns out when they built the house they obviously ran the pipe along the electrical cable to keep it in a 'safe zone' and away from any likely work.

You live & learn!

Edited by Andehh on Monday 5th June 20:40

[Alucidnation]

I always use a pad saw (reasonably blunt) to carefully cut through plasterboard as one can feel anything that might be there.

And certainly for dabs, hammer and 1" cold chisel with firm but gentle taps. If you had used that, you most probably would have felt the chisel 'bounce'.

Anyway, lesson learnt.

I am now officially 'called out'.