Pipes/wires

[JoanneEliz]

Hi all,

I have bought some lovely shelving to put on this wall but im wary about drilling into a water pipe or electric wire. The area about 2metres, with the shelves been 1.3m. I'll be putting two shelves up.

So, this wall was the back of the house but an extension was put on years ago (which is where the bathroom and kitchen are).

On the other side of this wall, the left hand side is part of the bathroom where the sink is whilst the right hand side is just a tiny area which divides the bathroom and kitchen.

Are those detectors you can buy reliable in finding water/central heating pipes and electric wires?

I really don't want to drill into anything and cause a mini catastrophe!

Thanks.

 

[pete01]

Obviously no way of knowing for sure but this should give a good idea on wires as they should be run in zones although not everyone does things the right way

 

[JoanneEliz]

Thanks. I should have mentioned that there's no sockets or switches on this wall, on either side.

 

[CountryFan]

Can you post a photo of the underneath for the pipework? Pipe/wire tracers I don't think will find plastic pipes

 

[JoanneEliz]

Sorry if im been dumb but underneath what?

 

[CountryFan]

Sorry if im been dumb but underneath what?

Not dumb, I should have said, Underneath the radiator

 

[JoanneEliz]

 

[CountryFan]

View attachment 426391

So your heating pipes come from below, so providing no electrics the other side of the wall and no plumbing, I'd say you would be ok.

Edit: just re-read - where does the plumbing come from? Surface mounted?

 

[JoanneEliz]

The plumbing in the bathroom? If so, it comes up from the floor to the sink, no pipes come out of the wall.

Ye, when we had new radiators fitted, all the pipe work was under the floor.

 

[CountryFan]

The plumbing in the bathroom? If so, it comes up from the floor to the sink, no pipes come out of the wall.

Ye, when we had new radiators fitted, all the pipe work was under the floor.

Yes, the bathroom plumbing. Should be fine to proceed then.

 

[JoanneEliz]

I've just felt the wall and where ive drawn the red line, it sounds hollower when I tap it and its actually warmer - my son is in the shower and the CH is on.

 

[CountryFan]

I've just felt the wall and where ive drawn the red line, it sounds hollower when I tap it and its actually warmer - my son is in the shower and the CH is on.

View attachment 426393

But heat rises...

 

[JoanneEliz]

Its literally in a straight line, a couple of inches wide- no other part of the wall is like this though?

 

[CountryFan]

Its literally in a straight line, a couple of inches wide- no other part of the wall is like this though?

It's a tough one. Only other way (if pipes are plastic) would be a borescope

 

[JoanneEliz]

That sounds bad! I doubt the pipes are plastic tbh, all the CH pipework is really old and a narrow diameter compared to standard as the plumber told us this and had to replace sections of it when we had every radiator replaced.