mo wrote:

I have twice made the mistake of trying to screw in a loose floorboard
only to drill into a central heating water pipe.

I am in the amrket for somehting to detect these

ANyone used this - is it reliable?


http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Hand.../sd2714/p88346

This sort of thing should do the job but I find a bradawl to be quite
effective and much cheaper. It there's a pipe in the way you'll soon feel
and hear the resistance when you push it in and you're not going to damage
a copper pipe with just hand pressure. But don't rely on this to find power
cables!

It's also an effective method of confirming that there really is a stud
behind plasterboard where you intend to put a screw. If you loose
resistance towards the end as it breaks through the back of the board you
know you've missed and small bradawl holes leave less of a scar to patch up
than full size screw holes.

--
Mike Clarke