DIYbanter - View Single Post - Contractor hit a wire while nailing up moulding in kitchen

blueman

writes:
On Tue, 13 Oct 2009 05:51:34 -0700 (PDT), RicodJour
wrote:

On Oct 13, 8:01*am, wrote:
On Oct 13, 7:44*am, bob haller wrote:

On Oct 13, 7:38 am, "John Grabowski" wrote:

" Had a guy come in to help put up wood moulding in the kitchen. Must have

hit a wire becaue it blew a breaker.
He pulled the nail out (small nail) and hammered it in elsewhere. Flipped
the breaker back on. Said don't worry about it.

Now I lie awake at night fearing its a fire hazard.

Is it?

*In a 1920's house that has had some electrical improvements over the years
it is possible to have wiring anywhere. This is the kind of thing that will
surface as a problem weeks, months or years from now. By nailing into the
wiring and causing a dead short some of the copper wire is probably nicked.
The wire may only be connected at that point by a hair, more or less.
Depending on the load that travels over that point it can overheat and if it
is in contact with combustible materials will burn whatever it touches.
Eventually the wire will burn apart and whatever it is feeding will become
dead. To answer your question: Yes it is a potential fire hazard.

For safety and piece of mind get an electrician in there and have him take a
look.

EXACTLY! open the wall and inspect the damage. perhaps access it from
the other side.

its a real potential fire hazard- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Agree with John and Bob. * I would also say the contractor is not
responsible for this. *As others have pointed out, wiring is supposed
to be run far enough back that a finishing nail from molding can't
reach it or else have a metal plate covering it.

Yep. Even if you had a contract, and the contract was any good,
there'd be a clause in there about "latent and concealed conditions".
The contractor doesn't have X-ray vision, and can't determine what is
behind a wall. He has a reasonable expectation to believe that there
aren't wires too close to the surface.

If the contractor was using unnecessarily long nails - say 3" to
attach some trim - then there's some responsibility there, but it's
basically the owner's.

R
Just about every stud finder out there also detects live AC wires - no
reason a contractor should EVER hit an un-expected live wire.

- Do you know any (professional) carpenter who uses a stud finder before
every shooting every nail? Maybe they should but it's not something
I have seen...

- Also, the AC detector is hardly failsafe, especially behind 1920's
era plaster & lathe. Yes, it *may* detect a wire that is against the
surface 1/2" sheetrock but if it is behind 1/2" (or more) plaster
and 1/2 of lathe and maybe another 1/2-1" of stud then it likely
won't detect it. (And in houses with horsehair plaster you do need
longer nails since you need to penetrate the plaster and the lathe
to get to the stud)

There is a live wire there untill you prove there is not. PERIOD.
ASSuming there is not is both dangerous and foolhardy.