Drilling hole in a wall

[yartin]

Hi

I need to drill a hole in an internal wall on ground floor, the other side of the wall has 2 wall lights, I believe they were added at some stage, can't get access to the wiring from first floor as there are fitted wardrobes. I need one hole of 40mm deep, the hole is higher than light fitting location, do I need to worry if I hit cables on the way?

Thanks

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[dewaltdisney]

From my experience, added lighting hidden wiring can be a problem as you have no guarantee that the cables have been laid in a logical pattern. The cable detectors you can buy are fairly useless in the main and also cannot be relied upon to show the hidden cables. I am not a sparks but I am thinking if you remove one of the wall lights you might get an indication of the cable direction in the wall.

I should wait until one of our electricians gives you the right advice.

DWD

[Neelix]

The wall lights cables should run vertically or horizontally and I would expect them to be on the same side of the wall as the lights.

But other than that guidance I would say take great care

[yartin]

The wall lights cables should run vertically or horizontally and I would expect them to be on the same side of the wall as the lights.

So if wall is about 100mm thick, 40mm is not too deep and will be safe, isn't it?

[TigerUK]

it wont hurt to get a electric wire detector.

The few times I have used them, they were good and allowed me see the wire path.

If the wall hasn't been wallpapered, you should be able to see where the plaster has been cut out anf filled in, even if it has been sanded really well there would be a slight texture difference. This by no means should be your only evidence to go on, it should be corroborated with the live wire detector.

[yartin]

It went fine, I went slowly and carful, only need 40mm hole.