James wrote:

I have to drill a 2 1/2 inch hole through an exterior wall, and I know that
it is possible that I could run into wiring. While I know that I could
turn this circuit off and drill away, I can envision that it would be hard
to access both ends of the 120 volt wiring if my drill should cut a wire.
(repairing would normally be easy, but I don't know if I would have
appropriate "slack" and/or if I could get to both ends to do the repair. )

Isn't there a gadget to allow one to locate the exact wiring location in a
wall ?

Thanks for any tips !!

James



All the other answers are good, but here is another way:

Determine exactly where the hole MUST be and mark that spot. Most of
the wiring in your entire home will be right behind it. Now, spend a
considerable amount of time figuring out how to put it in a different
spot and mark that. Your main gas line will be behind the new location.

Do this again to find your main water line and sewer stack.

After you have located every utility in your home with this method, and
have selected a new location (which will require you to completely
rearrange all of the furniture in your living room), you will find some
sort of engineered wood support with a flitch plate made of some
impenetrable metal from another planet.

After you have successfully gotten through that with a cutting torch
(which compromised the structural integrity of your building and started
a smoldering fire in the stud cavity that won't burst into flame until
after you have left for the movies) you will go outside to find that
somehow you have drilled a hole completely through the engine block of
your lawnmower.

:-)

Seriously, you can buy a device that will locate live wires in your
wall, and for a lot more money, you can buy one that will locate almost
any wire in the wall, hot or not.

http://tinyurl.com/29vxw9

--
Robert Allison
Rimshot, Inc.
Georgetown, TX