'Pipe finder' that works in concrete

[King Herald]

Where I live the houses are build from their equivalent of concrete breeze-block, and are then plastered with cement about an inch thick. Before they 'plaster' they groove out the block and fit water pipes and electrical conduits.

These guys are minimum wage operatives, we're talking £5 a day, and are not too fussy about where they run their stuff, so my problem is how the hell can I track the routing of this stuff when I come to mount shelves, pictures hooks, air-cons etc in the future?

Is there a 'pipe finder' device that will work through an inch or two of concrete?

And is it the happy side of about £100 or thereabouts?

This is the sort of thing I will be up against, a central conduit for air-con power, but then a diagonal meandering off to a wall socket in the corner of the room. (You may be able to tell, the builders live in the house whilst it is under construction)

[skilly1]

Was going to post saying that all looks highly illegal, then checked your profile !!

[normalbloke]

Radar!.

[ghamer]

A reguler bosch handheld metal detector should do.It will pick up matal in the wall and electrical current.

[King Herald]

ghamer said:

A reguler bosch handheld metal detector should do.It will pick up matal in the wall and electrical current.

Do you have a particular model or number available?

I found one on-line, a Bosch Wallscanner D-tect 150, but the price is the extremely painful side of £1000

[Raverbaby]

Would hiring one be an option?

[King Herald]

Raverbaby said:

Would hiring one be an option?

Not really ideal, as I'd need it every time I were to hang a picture or whatever, possibly for years to come.

[dickymint]

Got a metal/electric detector with my cheapo Black and Decker drill that works a treat through a brick. You just have to calibrate it correctly.

[King Herald]

So, purely on the strength of Amazon.com reviews, I have ordered these:

Zircon MultiScanner i520 Center-Finding Stud Finder with Metal and AC Electrical Scanning. $40

And..

CH Hanson 03040 Magnetic Stud Finder. $11

And..

KINTREX IRT0421 Non-Contact Infrared Thermometer with Laser Targeting. $45

They should give me a working chance, at least.

Them and a bunch of photos taken during the build.

[BarnatosGhost]

Draw a good map with measurements from corners and floors.

Bit of a pain to do, but if you do it once, and do it right, it should work forever.

Until you lose it.

[zaphod42]

BarnatosGhost said:

Draw a good map with measurements from corners and floors.

Bit of a pain to do, but if you do it once, and do it right, it should work forever.

Until you lose it.

I like this idea.

Could always stick a copy with the house deeds?

[King Herald]

zaphod42 said:

BarnatosGhost said:

Draw a good map with measurements from corners and floors.

Bit of a pain to do, but if you do it once, and do it right, it should work forever.

Until you lose it.

I like this idea.

Could always stick a copy with the house deeds?

I've done it with my last two hot rods, gave the new owner a full set of build-up photos and drawings, so I'd probably do it with the house too, if and when we sell.

This is an example of what is going on inside the ceiling of the front room. It is all now buried in solid concrete.

The walls aren't so bad as this, but still a minefield for an intrepid do DIY amateur.

I'd keep multiple copies of any plans or drawings, no chance of losing them......