Decent cable,pipe finder.
- Thread starter colinuk1
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Deleted member 174758
No. They get bad reviews because they don't work consistently. For example dealing with foil-backed plasterboard can drive some models nuts because they detect the metal and indicate wiring.
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Deleted member 174758
There have been conventions about pipes and wiring for decades. Unless installed by a complete moron you can normally reckon that things run vertically or horizontally away from, for example, an electrical wall socket.
You can also guarantee that studs will run vertically between a sole plate and a header. Stud centres are almost invariably 16in (400mm in modern buildings) or 24in (600mm) and that in older buildings skirting will be fixed to the (stud) walls where there is a stud. Find one stud and fonding the rest isn't as awkward. Similarly laths are fixed to studs with nails, whilst plasterboard uses nails or screws - these are iron or steel and so are generally magnetic, therefore a rare earth magnet can be very handy to locate studs by finding the fixings.
High tech isn't always the answer
You can also guarantee that studs will run vertically between a sole plate and a header. Stud centres are almost invariably 16in (400mm in modern buildings) or 24in (600mm) and that in older buildings skirting will be fixed to the (stud) walls where there is a stud. Find one stud and fonding the rest isn't as awkward. Similarly laths are fixed to studs with nails, whilst plasterboard uses nails or screws - these are iron or steel and so are generally magnetic, therefore a rare earth magnet can be very handy to locate studs by finding the fixings.
High tech isn't always the answer
I got a Bosch one which was complete garbage. But I had one that came as a kit with PCB and components, you had to solder it together, I think it was from Maplin and that one didn't do a bad job. Had a buzzer that changed pitch IIRC. I've seen thermal cameras doing a reasonable job at this: On the one hand they're expensive, on the other if it doesn't work for detecting studs there are a multitude of other uses you can put it to!
You can use the magnetometer built into most phones via an app. I've just noticed that I have the app in the Smart Tools suite 
, and it seems to well on ferrous metal in walls 20mm or so deep, but not other metals
, and it seems to well on ferrous metal in walls 20mm or so deep, but not other metals
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Deleted member 174758
So NBG if you have plastic pipes or aluminium ones or copper ones, then? And can find metal stud (maybe) but not timber ones? Sounds really useful (?)
Lol! you obviously haven't been out in the real world or reading the posts on this forum about all the plebs calling themselves builders recently.The thing is, pipes and cables are not put in the walls in random places. I seem to have managed without one for, well, forever.
At home, when mounting my TV on a party wall in our bedroom. I ran the wall chaser vertically to chase the coax. When doing the short horizontal cuts for the 1 gang electrical socket, I managed to cut through a lighting cable in a thin metal conduit. There was nothing in the room to indicate that that there would be a cable in the middle of the wall. Below is the hallway, again nothing to indicate a cable.
On another occasion a client asked me to move a light switch in her kitchen by 4cm to the right because she was having glass splashbacks fitted. The walls were concrete slabs. I removed the face plate to see which way the cables ran. They ran out through the top of the metal back box. I started hacking away the plaster to the right of the back box. All of a sudden BANG! The electrician had run the cable out of the top and then down the right hand side of the back box...
I wish I could find a reliable detector...
Hey Opps,
In case it helps all the capping in my house is ferromagnetic (if that's the right word). I find a decent Neodinium magnet is an essential part of my toolkit (no, not the puny ones like in the picture here, but a decent one for about a fiver off Ebay) which I use not only for detecting capping but also for finding dry-wall screws in joists. Very handy particularly for getting the joist position for a light fitting (if you don't want to use PB fixings). You just locate a few of the screws, then draw a pencil line through them and join them, chances are if you screw through somewhere on the line you'll catch the joist unless your plasterers put the screws all over the bloomin' place performing 'exploratory' scewings because they couldn't be bothered to mark up the joist on the adjacent PB. I told mine to stop doing that.
Try to find a magnet with a hole in the middle that you can stick a pencil through, that's also handy.
I know it relies on the capping being there and I don't think capping is required by law, but for the 2 seconds it takes you to wave the magnet it may be worth it.
In case it helps all the capping in my house is ferromagnetic (if that's the right word). I find a decent Neodinium magnet is an essential part of my toolkit (no, not the puny ones like in the picture here, but a decent one for about a fiver off Ebay) which I use not only for detecting capping but also for finding dry-wall screws in joists. Very handy particularly for getting the joist position for a light fitting (if you don't want to use PB fixings). You just locate a few of the screws, then draw a pencil line through them and join them, chances are if you screw through somewhere on the line you'll catch the joist unless your plasterers put the screws all over the bloomin' place performing 'exploratory' scewings because they couldn't be bothered to mark up the joist on the adjacent PB. I told mine to stop doing that
.Try to find a magnet with a hole in the middle that you can stick a pencil through, that's also handy.
I know it relies on the capping being there and I don't think capping is required by law, but for the 2 seconds it takes you to wave the magnet it may be worth it.
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Hey Opps,
In case it helps all the capping in my house is ferromagnetic (if that's the right word). I find a decent Neodinium magnet is an essential part of my toolkit (no, not the puny ones like in the picture here, but a decent one for about a fiver off Ebay) which I use not only for detecting capping but also for finding dry-wall screws in joists. Very handy particularly for getting the joist position for a light fitting (if you don't want to use PB fixings). You just locate a few of the screws, then draw a pencil line through them and join them, chances are if you screw through somewhere on the line you'll catch the joist unless your plasterers put the screws all over the bloomin' place performing 'exploratory' scewings because they couldn't be bothered to mark up the joist on the adjacent PB. I told mine to stop doing that
Try to find a magnet with a hole in the middle that you can stick a pencil through, that's also handy.
I know it relies on the capping being there and I don't think capping is required by law, but for the 2 seconds it takes you to wave the magnet it may be worth it.
View attachment 242915
I like the cut of your jib. I will order some magnets.
TBH, I don't know what metal was used for the "conduit". It seems to have have been a thin metal wall that was folded around itself, ie it had a seam. That said it made it easier for me to cut through it to then reconnect it.
I can see that the magnets will come in handy elsewhere though.
Thanks.
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One of the best sources for good quality and powerful magnets is https://www.first4magnets.com/
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