How many times have we heard, ‘Check the wall for electricity before turning on the saw’?
Not enough in my case. Just came from a job where a lady wanted a pass-through between kitchen and living room. One receptical in the field of destruction, but low enough not to worry about. Down to the basement. One cable through the sole plate going to the receptical. Ok, crank up the circular (to cut the studs half way through, leaving the cripples high and low.)
On the last stud, a spark flew and the saw died. I thought I’d hit a nail and the breaker tripped. No deal. After checking the output of the breaker with a tester, my palm hit my forehead as the light (figuratively) came on. A hammer to the wall revealed the cable from the main panel coming down from the attic, through the top plate, powering the receptical, then thru the bottom plate to the basement and the rest of the living room loads.
Thank God for insulated tools, because the breaker didn’t trip when I cut through the steel armored cable.
Next time, I’ll check high AND low.
Replies
Why not remove the drywall/plaster from the studs first, then theres no need to look high & low. One never knows what you will find in a wall, duct work, gas pipe, 30 or 40 amp 220 perhaps.
Talk pretty big dont I, when cutting out sheathing on MY OWN house I hit a 20amp & did'nt trip the breaker or see sparks just alot of dust & more dust, HECK! it was smoke, I started a small fire in the wall, to almost make it worse I was about to leave for a appt. & was going to return to finish the project latter in the day. The fire if gone unnoticed would have finish it for me.
That would have impressed the wife
I normally do strip the wall first, but I had laid out all the cut lines on the plaster, so I figured the plaster would make a nice level base for the saw shoe, giving a level cut. I would have had to deal with the cable anyway, but in hind-sight, it would have been better if I had planned the splice.
Now I've lost some time getting the materials, tools, etc. It doesn't help this snow storm we're expecting is suppose to dump 6 - 10". There goes the next two days, at least. Clients are due back next Sunday.
Lessons learned are often repeated. Whatever that means.