Well, only fair to demonstrate my own stupidity!

About a year ago I was doing a retrofit family room system with surface mount surrounds above and on either side of a sliding glass door. The room had recently been painted and there wasn't a reliable path from crawl space up through the wall so the homeowner ok'd going up an outside chase to come in from outside straight into the back of the speakers. The outside siding was stucco and it was clear to tell that there was a header beam going laterally across the top of the slider and extended to corner to help carry the load of a cantilevered second floor above. I asked what was up there regarding plumbing for a bathroom as I was worried about drain pipes, etc. I could tell from below the house nothing came down that wall as well.

So, I mark and measure, and in an effort not to burst outward and crack the stucco I drill from outside in, knowing that I would be going right through shear-wall and then the beam to drywall inside... Stucco bit in drill I begin to drill, all is well and I can see I went right through the chipboard shear. Change bits and start going for it through the header beam - some real resistance all the sudden so I stop and look with a flashlight (mind you this is only a 3/8 hole) and see what I think is shining metal. Must be flashing as there is an overhang for the second story right? So I change to a brand new (really sharp) bi-metal tip bit and give it one good push and bam - rushing noise.... Thought it was water and peered closer to the hole to see when I was hit with the unmistakeable, gut-wrenching and god-fearing smell of rotten eggs that is loving added to natural gas to clue in mere mortals! I really didn't think I could move down a ladder that fast....

Anyway got the gas main shut off and somehow that drill bit didn't spark (miraculously) as it flew shavings of 1/2" black pipe and went right into it. The "shiny metal" I saw? That was the black paint on the side of the pipe polished off by the first masonry bit... The builder had run a gas pipe laterally through the wall from the adjacent kitchen and then vertically core drilled up through that header beam to serve a fireplace in the room above. The plumber I called in could not believe the path of the pipe, especially since it must have been done during construction. Not logical at all give that the stove was on the opposite side of the kitchen and the fireplace was not right above me. It's also not code around here to run gas pipe like that. Sparky the electrician also ran a piece of romex through the same core drill in the beam along side the gas pipe! Thank the gods it was on the other side of where I happened to hit or we would have had fuel + electrical spark = overweight installer flying off ladder like a blown leaf!

The worst part was the plumber demonstrated to me how a drill will in most cases bounce off black pipe because of the density of the material.... However, in this case the pipe was being held in place vertically like a vise by the beam it was running through while I was attacking it from the side horizontally. My lucky day...

The best part was that the homeowner was home and helped turn off the gas and then was very nice about the whole thing, even joking that if it were him the house would have caught fire no doubt so he was glad I "got it out of the way safely." Net Cost? Plumber & Drywall patcher/texture = $350, Painters (who were there painting the exterior that week and willing to redo the inside wall for a free lunch) = $25, Replacement underwear for irreperable panic stains = $12, and lastly a personal overdose of humble pie.

I will NEVER blind drill through a wall again. Period. Any of my installers that ever do will be fired. Period. What can I say.. Live and learn. Thankfully, I actually lived through this one!

Net Cost? Plumber & Drywall patcher/texture

hehe Sounds like a Visa Commercial:

Plumber & Drywall patcher/texture = $350
Painters (who were there painting the exterior that week and willing to redo the inside wall for a free lunch) = $25her
Replacement underwear for irreperable panic stains = $12

Memories of another successful day... ... .. Priceless

While working on a large commercial job, the condor we were driving had a randomly sticky controler. It didn't phase us until one cold damp evening (living in southern Ca. it occasionally can get to down to 40 something) (Whinning not complaining) when we were hanging several PA speakers up in the trusses. We were high enough in the air to make all the work lights mildly useful. So with a few Mag lights duct taped to the cage we continued to work. We are pretty dilligent about our safety per OSHA and common sense laws. (Gravity included)
Anyway, on the way down to the ground for more speakers and parts, the condor bucked violently and tossed most everything not physically attached to the lift itself, basically me and the three Mag lights into the air. Screwdrivers, nuts, bolts, Dewalts, walkie-talkie's, chains, etc. About 50 + parts rained down onto several other contractors. The few still wearing hardhats were luck enough not to have more than a close call by a few random objects. The plumber who was fairly far away and half burried under a bar sink got the worse of it.
He caught my 18 Volt Dewalt with his right knee/thigh (shattering the knee cap and chipping his femor. Random others got cuts and bruises from bouncing/shattering parts and accessories.
It was quite a scene, and pretty terrifing.
The rental company payed for the plumbers misfortune, which was amazing........... to say the least.

On behalf of Tennesse Walkers everywhere we are offended. And we are in protest of this post.

Sincerely,

Mr. Ed, Secretariat, and Sea Biscuit.

Hey WHdigital, thats quite a horror story, I have to say Ive only had one install with a gas line on an exterior wall. Large addition with gas fire place. Spotted the line from below but the relationship to the fireplace semed odd. Drilled anyway and came up with yellow insulating rubber from the flexible line on my drill bit. Scared the sh*t out
me. I've never seen a gas line on an exterior wall before or since.......thank god

Seriously, now, don't take yourselves so seriously.

-- Beetlebaum

Ernie,

If nobody else understood your post I did.


-Spike Jones

"....and there's cabbage up by a head, assault is passing battery, (!!!!!), toothpaste being squeezed out on the rail, mother-in-law nagging at the rear...and...."

Spikey Jr.

This was traumatic for me. My near and dear helper drilling thru a stubborn plate by way of a large hole at about 4' up from the floor where the intercom would reside; he leans in a little harder and the chuck catches the hair on top of his head and rips a patch 2" x 3" clean out. Full head of hair with a shiny spot right on top. Still gives me the shivers. Oh man.

I hired a guy who was an expert (level 2 CEDIA) he cut a VIA controll into a pocket door with the door closed. Go CEDIA

Hey Tom,

I did the same exact thing to MYSELF when I was about 19 installing a security system using a diversibit. It was ugly. But pretty painless, it happens so fast the pain doesn't come around for at least 2 or 3 minutes.

Tom,
did you work for Wilson Audio Video in the early 90s? I saw the result of that there, where the installer had LONG hair and a Cincinnati drill with a huge gear ratio. He saw his hair get caught on the D'Versabit and let go of the power button. But the inertia of that damned drill kept it going and he had to just watch as his hair rolled up around the drill and his hair pulled the drill right up to his scalp....and the same-ish size patch of hair came off.

I think the best one for STUPID, though, was not in this industry. I worked at Marantz, in speaker design, around 1980, when they had no clue what a genius they had in their designer, Rich May.

One of the guys in the wood shop misplaced his hand and a Commander head (several drill bits moving up and down in rhythm to drill six holes at once in a grille cloth frame) came down on his hand.

He had to watch a 9/16" drill bit lazily go down through the back of his hand, out the palm, then back up and out again.

There was a "Safety Bingo" at the plant, where everybody got a bingo card every day and the stakes went up $5 a day. We were up over $1000 and the guy did not want to ruin the pool for everybody, so he sat in his supervisor's office for an hour, with his hand wrapped in bloody towel...went to his own doctor after work...saved the pool but went through expense and pain to do it.

Today that same guy would own the company and be retired. And that was before Philips bought it.

Those are some good stories. Can't top those posted. Here is just another "don't trust people" story from my own house:

I decided to remodel my living room a year after I moved in. House was brand new, we got a great deal on an existing new house where the sale fell threw. Guys down the street were about to rock the same model house so I took some pictures and they assured me mine was the exact same just a couple months prior. I told them I was going to move the fireplace just after my 1 year warranty was up. Plumber and HVAC guy all remembered working on it. It's the same as this one here...

Picture of what fireplace should look like:



Notice the duct work and plumbing all tucked away in the back wall...

Picture of the REAL house:


NOW notice TWO drain pipes from MBR routed through the FRONT of the shelf next to the fireplace, duct work out in the middle of the floor. No big, just took an extra trip to the store and an extra couple hours to change the plumbing and duct work, but so much for being the "exact same".