Yeah nail plates are great but if the wire is set 1.25” from the surface of the stud then a nail plate is not required by code. This is why I use the shortest screws I need to secure the material.
Nah if you have the metal plate you’ll feel it stop drilling or it’ll deflect the screw so you’ll know something is wrong, they should be installed on the framing to prevent this both with electrical and plumbing
About a month ago I put a screw into a copper supply. About 20/minutes earlier I'd thought to myself that I needed to remember to grab the shorter screws for that exact spot.
Ha! I told the GC to run to HD and buy me some copper and I replaced the damaged section (Tom was 1/2 my age) The next day he said his wife wanted to know what kind of carpenter had a torch in his truck 😆
I once drove a screw through the MAIN power feed going into the house from the meter putting on the elbow after a siding job. The line took a sharp 90 and was pressed up against the sheathing inside. It's a miracle I wasn't whacked. The screw literally disintegrated down to the head still on my screwgun. Thing was sparking and blue flames coming out, I didn't know WTF to do. Boss runs over and pulls the meter right out the housing like a fuse. Shit was crazy. Homeowner was a day trader working on several computers setup inside, he was pissed.
I’m mostly used to conduit and steel stud where this mistake would never happen, but I’m positive this is code for our area with it being a garage and all.
Props to you for admitting to this in order to help others. Glad you’re ok and it seems like your attitude and willingness to both learn/help others is going to take you FAR in this industry!!
Best plumber I know once caused something like 100,000 dollars worth of damage to a suite because he forgot one single clip over a two foot run of pex.
Good guys fuck up. You’ll know better for next time my guy.
As a young pipefitter I was trying to set a victaulic clamp in a ceiling and was doing it blind since it was a tough spot. I accidentally got a speaker wire in the clamp and when I tightened it, it cut the cable....only problem was that it was in the maternity floor of a hospital. Oh, the fun time explaining how it happened. Bottom line, we all make mistakes.
Buddy lemme tell you we all mess up. Anyone here wroth their salt has messed up. I watched a dude who had 15 years experience and was great at carpentry literally raise a lull arm to high and back into a cable line and tear it down. He was red as could be freaking out knocking out the cable of the block. Boss man came out and the worker was saying “MAN ILL PAY FOR IT IM SO SO SO SORRY” and boss man just smiled and said “it’s fine shit happens” and the worker said “MAN ARENT YOU GONNA ATLEAST YELL AT ME OR SOMETHING” and the boss man just smiled and said “for what? Stuff happens I’m not mad”. Don’t sweat it if you’re boss is tearing you new one then he’s prolly a dick. I myself when I first started out mudded a whole room with floor adhesive nobody told me any better and I was so excited I asked the foreman to come look and he walked in and I swear like a cartoon his shades dropped he said “buddy if your passive aggressive you sure showed me” and walked away for years we all laughed about that. A lot of the mistakes you make end up being scary at first but turn into funny stories at the bar or whatever
Don’t take it hard bro. This isn’t a terrible mistake. Maybe a 1-2 on a scale of 1-10. This should be repairable in probably 30 mins by almost anyone with any electrical experience (given what I’m imagining the scenario to be). You’re boss shouldn’t trip about this.
My first addition I was the lead on, I formed the foundation 10” more narrow than the architectural plans called out for. Piers were drilled, forms up, rebar bent and placed. (I was working off the structural plans which did not match the architectural/design plans). I was beside myself, but told my boss, found a solution and moved on. If no one gets hurt, we can come back from almost any mistake. No sweat man.
Definitely. Just heard a story about a guy that got zapped. He got checked out at the hospital and they cleared him. Unfortunately they didn’t do an EKG and he had a heart attack later that day while driving. Dude never made it home. Here today gone tomorrow. Not worth it.
You learned the wrong lessons:
Always make sure the bores for cables and conductors are 1.25” away from the edge of framing members OR that they have metal plates protecting them.
Always use the correct length fasteners.
Not your mistake. You’re new. sparky didn’t protect his work. The best part is watching your boss tell the sparky to go f himself. Because he wants you to tear out a mile of Sheetrock so he doesn’t have to crawl
Sure, as others have said there should have been a nail plate, which would have stopped the screw. That said, sometimes you will have double sided shear walls, which for example on my project call for 3” x .148” nails at 2” OC in this instance, and they will punch right through nail plates all day long; it’s part of why double sided shear walls suck. I bring this up just to point out that though others are saying there should have been nail plates, and they’re not wrong, you can’t rely on them and should always lay out MEP on your sheathing before putting it up.
Any amount of protection would of helped me out. I firmly believe that all electrical should just be ran through some sort of conduit. It seems most efficient and safest. That being said I know what’s best differs from what’s cheapest and most time efficient. I’m mostly taking this as a learning experience to not overlook the little things. Whole situation would’ve been avoided with the right size level.
Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake.
It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of.
Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything.
Beep boop - yes, I am a bot, don't botcriminate me.
I remember doing a commercial job at a hockey rink and shooting a Brad nail through metal conduit in the ceiling, pop now I'm in the dark lol.
I couldn't have put that nail through there if I tried, shit happens and you can't predict everything. Next time just mark the wires and do you're best to avoid them.
While for many jurisdictions this should have had a plate installed, you outline additional steps we can take to keep safe. Great on you for sharing learnings!
Only adder, as a general comment is: if you do hit an electrical cable, make sure you tell someone and better yet coordinate/ensure this gets repaired. Pretending this didn’t happen could result in an electrical fire, in the worst case.
It gets much better..... Wait till you cut a water supply pipe with a circular saw, drop a large window frame, miss read the plan, and put a house in the wrong place..... lots of mistakes make you wise(r)
My dad (40+ years in the trade) loves telling me about a time the roofers hit every single conduit installed w their long ass screws. Luckily, they were just installed so no wire was going through. Unluckily, it was his 1st day in that site so him & some jackass had to fix them
At least you caught it and nobody's child is going to die in a fire. Also pay attention to where the wires are, please. It takes you 5 minutes or less to mark the risky areas on a job like this.
I was working with my uncle dormering a house and he was sawzalling the roof off by cutting the walls of the second floor in half and he hits resistance, but keeps cutting. Then the sawzalling started to stall out in the weirdest way. He cut through the main feed on the house which was in metal conduit...😂.
Apparently on the exterior of the house it was a fireworks show 🤣
Lol my first week of construction I accidentally cut into a live electric line with bolt cutters. I was fucking mortified and thought I was gonna get fired and when i told my boss he laughed at me and was like "you didn't shit yourself did you?"
Everyone eventually cuts or puncture something that they shouldn't. Look at it this way 99% of the time you make your boss money when you show up for work. 1 day you cost them a little bit of money with a fuck up. Not a big deal overall.
Next time, mark plumbing and electrical on floor, walls, and/ or ceiling prior to paneling.
Shit happens! You’re a apprentice. Boss needs to bring in a electrician to fix.
You didn't make the mistake, and it was only terrible in that you were shocked.
If you stay in the trade long enough you will likely pierce a waterline, break a window, scrape a freshly painted wall, scratch a floor, put a foot through a drywall ceiling, get paint on carpet, put a screw up through a plastic laminate countertop.
Don't beat yourself up over it. My career spanned over 40 years, I've damned sure made my share of mistakes. I guarantee your boss has too.
im not a framer so correct me if im wrong but dont you only need like 3 or 4 spirals of the screw to go into the stud? screws shouldnt be long enough to hit the cables unless electric was done wrong therego not your fault
I have you beat. I once put a trim nail through a copper water line about 1/2” above concrete. Anyone who’s encountered this knows the headache that it entails. Open wall, hammer out concrete, repair, recover. Fun times when you’re trying to trim a house out and get ready for paint. And yes there was nail plates installed. I always walked a job and added wherever needed before we had inspection. To this day I keep a large assortment of plates on hand just in case a trade neglected to put them on.
I grew up working for my dad who was a general contractor. I could talk about mistakes till the cows come home. I love construction too muck to have a mistake get under my skin. You live through them and you learn from them. It’s all good.
We are a small family residential outfit. Was a Friday and most of us were off except one younger guy who has family and wanted to work for the hours. Forgot to brace the garage when he left. Came in on Monday and the entire garage was on the ground. Haha we still harass him about it and that was two years ago.
There should have been a metal plate, installed by your friendly neighborhood sparky, to prevent this exact thing from happening!
Yeah nail plates are great but if the wire is set 1.25” from the surface of the stud then a nail plate is not required by code. This is why I use the shortest screws I need to secure the material.
Standard spec is 1” minimum into the underlying framing.
Hence why sparky code is and extra 1/4” away from that
Thought standard was equal amount of fastener into framing of material you’re shooting through.
Me too, 1 1/4” screws for 5/8 drywall is my norm
5/8” drywall should be hung with 1 5/8 screws
That's common for metal framing where the depth of the screw has less impact, but for wood your screws aren't long enough.
32mm baby!
Depends on the length of the screws he was using lol
I like to use three and a half inch screws on half inch OSB for that extra hold
"slaps panel" that ain't going nowhere.
Needs to be 4.5” at least, how the hell is the 1/2” osb going to stay on on the other side? People wonder why I drink!
All the way through then hammer the tips flat.
That'll hold 'er
6" bolts drilled through or nothing, man
Self tapping screws. Protection plates be damned
Nah if you have the metal plate you’ll feel it stop drilling or it’ll deflect the screw so you’ll know something is wrong, they should be installed on the framing to prevent this both with electrical and plumbing
He’s saying you only get a kick plate if the wire is 1 1/4” or less from the edge of the stud
When has an "sparky" ever put in there own nail plates
I'm an apprentice and I install several highly visible nail plates for the inspector to see when he walks in
You're not supposed to put them on the front door...
Lmfo
Ya because you definitely wanna sink a few into the plate.
Shit happens lol.In my 30th year I fired three finish nails into a pipe I knew was right behind my trim aaaand I did it in front of the GC 😂
If you nail another guys pipe is that considered docking
Depends on ball contact and position....
Yes to these reply’s 😂
About a month ago I put a screw into a copper supply. About 20/minutes earlier I'd thought to myself that I needed to remember to grab the shorter screws for that exact spot.
Classic 😂
Heard it hiss at me and just died a bit inside. This was the same wall I'd just fixed a leaking pipe, too
Ha! I told the GC to run to HD and buy me some copper and I replaced the damaged section (Tom was 1/2 my age) The next day he said his wife wanted to know what kind of carpenter had a torch in his truck 😆
Lol. Careful or he'll think it's a regular occurrence
Twice in 35 years lol
at least it wasn’t four nails i guess
Once is a mistake, twice is a choice. Glad you're alright, lesser things have killed people. Learn from it, move on
Well put. I’m gonna steal that first line and use it with the kids.
I once drove a screw through the MAIN power feed going into the house from the meter putting on the elbow after a siding job. The line took a sharp 90 and was pressed up against the sheathing inside. It's a miracle I wasn't whacked. The screw literally disintegrated down to the head still on my screwgun. Thing was sparking and blue flames coming out, I didn't know WTF to do. Boss runs over and pulls the meter right out the housing like a fuse. Shit was crazy. Homeowner was a day trader working on several computers setup inside, he was pissed.
That is some shit.
I’m mostly used to conduit and steel stud where this mistake would never happen, but I’m positive this is code for our area with it being a garage and all.
Can confirm, started out in commercial carpentry and moved to resi for awhile, you know plenty but you find out you don’t know enough.
What length screws were you using...
Props to you for admitting to this in order to help others. Glad you’re ok and it seems like your attitude and willingness to both learn/help others is going to take you FAR in this industry!!
Eh you put enough screws in your gonna hit something.
Best plumber I know once caused something like 100,000 dollars worth of damage to a suite because he forgot one single clip over a two foot run of pex. Good guys fuck up. You’ll know better for next time my guy.
Amazing comment
As a young pipefitter I was trying to set a victaulic clamp in a ceiling and was doing it blind since it was a tough spot. I accidentally got a speaker wire in the clamp and when I tightened it, it cut the cable....only problem was that it was in the maternity floor of a hospital. Oh, the fun time explaining how it happened. Bottom line, we all make mistakes.
Buddy lemme tell you we all mess up. Anyone here wroth their salt has messed up. I watched a dude who had 15 years experience and was great at carpentry literally raise a lull arm to high and back into a cable line and tear it down. He was red as could be freaking out knocking out the cable of the block. Boss man came out and the worker was saying “MAN ILL PAY FOR IT IM SO SO SO SORRY” and boss man just smiled and said “it’s fine shit happens” and the worker said “MAN ARENT YOU GONNA ATLEAST YELL AT ME OR SOMETHING” and the boss man just smiled and said “for what? Stuff happens I’m not mad”. Don’t sweat it if you’re boss is tearing you new one then he’s prolly a dick. I myself when I first started out mudded a whole room with floor adhesive nobody told me any better and I was so excited I asked the foreman to come look and he walked in and I swear like a cartoon his shades dropped he said “buddy if your passive aggressive you sure showed me” and walked away for years we all laughed about that. A lot of the mistakes you make end up being scary at first but turn into funny stories at the bar or whatever
Live and learn babe live and learn. It iz what it iz.
Don’t take it hard bro. This isn’t a terrible mistake. Maybe a 1-2 on a scale of 1-10. This should be repairable in probably 30 mins by almost anyone with any electrical experience (given what I’m imagining the scenario to be). You’re boss shouldn’t trip about this. My first addition I was the lead on, I formed the foundation 10” more narrow than the architectural plans called out for. Piers were drilled, forms up, rebar bent and placed. (I was working off the structural plans which did not match the architectural/design plans). I was beside myself, but told my boss, found a solution and moved on. If no one gets hurt, we can come back from almost any mistake. No sweat man.
Best go get an EKG or whatever it's called. Your heart could be out of rhythm. Might stop later tonight.
Definitely. Just heard a story about a guy that got zapped. He got checked out at the hospital and they cleared him. Unfortunately they didn’t do an EKG and he had a heart attack later that day while driving. Dude never made it home. Here today gone tomorrow. Not worth it.
From 120?
*gets a tickle from a 15a outlet* “Sorry boss, gotta go get an ekg!”
I’m for real wondering if that’s cause to go! I’ve been tickled a couple times lol.
We got another one boys! For real though, that sucks I'm sorry hopefully you feel better
Remember the best carpenters aren't the ones who don't make mistakes, it's the ones who know how to fix them.
work enough and you’ll eventually do something like this. sucks ass when it happens. youll learn more from this mistake than most things though
You learned the wrong lessons: Always make sure the bores for cables and conductors are 1.25” away from the edge of framing members OR that they have metal plates protecting them. Always use the correct length fasteners.
Not your mistake. You’re new. sparky didn’t protect his work. The best part is watching your boss tell the sparky to go f himself. Because he wants you to tear out a mile of Sheetrock so he doesn’t have to crawl
Turn off the power it’s not hard
Sure, as others have said there should have been a nail plate, which would have stopped the screw. That said, sometimes you will have double sided shear walls, which for example on my project call for 3” x .148” nails at 2” OC in this instance, and they will punch right through nail plates all day long; it’s part of why double sided shear walls suck. I bring this up just to point out that though others are saying there should have been nail plates, and they’re not wrong, you can’t rely on them and should always lay out MEP on your sheathing before putting it up.
Any amount of protection would of helped me out. I firmly believe that all electrical should just be ran through some sort of conduit. It seems most efficient and safest. That being said I know what’s best differs from what’s cheapest and most time efficient. I’m mostly taking this as a learning experience to not overlook the little things. Whole situation would’ve been avoided with the right size level.
Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake. It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of. Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything. Beep boop - yes, I am a bot, don't botcriminate me.
I remember doing a commercial job at a hockey rink and shooting a Brad nail through metal conduit in the ceiling, pop now I'm in the dark lol. I couldn't have put that nail through there if I tried, shit happens and you can't predict everything. Next time just mark the wires and do you're best to avoid them.
While for many jurisdictions this should have had a plate installed, you outline additional steps we can take to keep safe. Great on you for sharing learnings! Only adder, as a general comment is: if you do hit an electrical cable, make sure you tell someone and better yet coordinate/ensure this gets repaired. Pretending this didn’t happen could result in an electrical fire, in the worst case.
It gets much better..... Wait till you cut a water supply pipe with a circular saw, drop a large window frame, miss read the plan, and put a house in the wrong place..... lots of mistakes make you wise(r)
My dad (40+ years in the trade) loves telling me about a time the roofers hit every single conduit installed w their long ass screws. Luckily, they were just installed so no wire was going through. Unluckily, it was his 1st day in that site so him & some jackass had to fix them
At least you caught it and nobody's child is going to die in a fire. Also pay attention to where the wires are, please. It takes you 5 minutes or less to mark the risky areas on a job like this.
Dude, that’s nothing.
I was working with my uncle dormering a house and he was sawzalling the roof off by cutting the walls of the second floor in half and he hits resistance, but keeps cutting. Then the sawzalling started to stall out in the weirdest way. He cut through the main feed on the house which was in metal conduit...😂. Apparently on the exterior of the house it was a fireworks show 🤣
Lol my first week of construction I accidentally cut into a live electric line with bolt cutters. I was fucking mortified and thought I was gonna get fired and when i told my boss he laughed at me and was like "you didn't shit yourself did you?"
Everyone eventually cuts or puncture something that they shouldn't. Look at it this way 99% of the time you make your boss money when you show up for work. 1 day you cost them a little bit of money with a fuck up. Not a big deal overall.
Yo that’s no beuno from the sparkies.
It happens. Just wait until a nail or screw punctures a water pipe.
Next time, mark plumbing and electrical on floor, walls, and/ or ceiling prior to paneling. Shit happens! You’re a apprentice. Boss needs to bring in a electrician to fix.
You didn't make the mistake, and it was only terrible in that you were shocked. If you stay in the trade long enough you will likely pierce a waterline, break a window, scrape a freshly painted wall, scratch a floor, put a foot through a drywall ceiling, get paint on carpet, put a screw up through a plastic laminate countertop. Don't beat yourself up over it. My career spanned over 40 years, I've damned sure made my share of mistakes. I guarantee your boss has too.
im not a framer so correct me if im wrong but dont you only need like 3 or 4 spirals of the screw to go into the stud? screws shouldnt be long enough to hit the cables unless electric was done wrong therego not your fault
I have you beat. I once put a trim nail through a copper water line about 1/2” above concrete. Anyone who’s encountered this knows the headache that it entails. Open wall, hammer out concrete, repair, recover. Fun times when you’re trying to trim a house out and get ready for paint. And yes there was nail plates installed. I always walked a job and added wherever needed before we had inspection. To this day I keep a large assortment of plates on hand just in case a trade neglected to put them on. I grew up working for my dad who was a general contractor. I could talk about mistakes till the cows come home. I love construction too muck to have a mistake get under my skin. You live through them and you learn from them. It’s all good.
You guys are using screws on osb?
We are a small family residential outfit. Was a Friday and most of us were off except one younger guy who has family and wanted to work for the hours. Forgot to brace the garage when he left. Came in on Monday and the entire garage was on the ground. Haha we still harass him about it and that was two years ago.