Yes it was dangerous, yes it was stressful... but it was soo funny!

[kim69]

Am exchanging houses soon (10 days to go!) and we had to have a Gas&Electric check beforehand. Had to pay £120 total which we did moan about a little as it is alot of money to be paying out on top of moving costs.
Arranged both of them for yesterday afternoon as i'd be home. The electrician turns up and announces, due to new regulations, he'd have to fit a new fuse box and bathroom light- fair enough.
Then the Gas man turned up, and I had to re-arrange as he couldn't do it with the electric off.
The fuse box was finished (several hours later) and he began testing the flow of the circuits. This led to the rather startiling discovery that, 8 years before when my Grandad put up a coat rack with a drill&nails- he managed to dead center cut through the earth wire above a plug socket so that meas we've been living without fully earthed electricity! If we'd put in a plug without an earth wire and then something happened...
So last night I had to ruch round finishing off clearing my bedroom as the Electrician would need to access under my floorboards.
You're probably wondering why I put funny in the title- my Grandad, bless him, has the nickname of shaker because his hands do shake (you can hear him coming with a tray or cup&saucer a way off ) It is also I think the only time he has been in the house. So how he managed to cut it dead center- I have no idea! The eletrician said it was a case of less than a millimetre either way to hit the insulation of the live&neutral!

So the moral of the story is, it's important for these things to be checked, even if you aren't having any problems!

[sludgeguts]

Which is why cables should only run vertically or horizontally to/from switches, sockets etc.
You shouldn't need to mess around with detectors to find wires, you simply don't drill directly above or below (or horizontally in line with) electrical fittings.

[ladylauraac]

Well, ya learn something new everyday. I will be more carefull now, when banging holes in my walls.

[sludgeguts]

And regs state new switches and sockets should be in a zone 450 - 1200mm from the floor - minimum height for socket is approx 18", MAX height for switches is 4' - this is, basically. to accommodate the needs of disabled and elderly.

I've lost count of the number of times I've done a bit of work in an older person's house & noticed a smashed socket on the skirting board, held together with insulation tape {{{{shudders}}}}