What am I drilling into?
#1
08-01-21, 12:26 PM
What am I drilling into?
I was drilling here for an anchor and ran into some resistance, and wanted a sanity check before I put any more grease behind it. Whatever I'm running into is present for all three of the holes, within about a half inch of each other and about 7-8" from the wall corner (this is an interior wall). The two anchors above had longer screws than the ones I'm drilling for so presumably the wall is clear behind those (I can't use them for the new mounting though). Thanks in advance for any input.
#2
08-01-21, 12:39 PM
Group Moderator
Hard telling, but you typically don't want to blindly drill holes in a wall without knowing what's there for sure. You're kind of rolling the dice, hoping you don't hit anything important. But if you've already drilled through it, it might be too late to ask the question. Could be a plumbing vent pipe or drain pipe for all we know. Cold air returns or ductwork might be another obstruction. There is no magic solution for seeing through walls, although some products promote themselves as such. You may have varying degrees of success with them. (Products like walabot.) A wall camera with light would allow you to actually see into the wall, but a hole big enough for the camera needs to be made.
With no info about how deep you were when you hit it... what sound it makes when you tap it, etc... we are just guessing.
With no info about how deep you were when you hit it... what sound it makes when you tap it, etc... we are just guessing.
#4
08-01-21, 12:41 PM
Group Moderator
If it feels like you are drilling into metal or if you see gray, metallic chips coming off your drill STOP. Steel plates are placed over where electrical wires and plumbing pass through the wall studs to help prevent people from nailing & drilling into them.
#5
08-02-21, 02:13 PM
Thanks for the move, mods, I was having trouble figuring out which subforum this belonged in.
Re: the advice: It being made of metal is something I suspected might be the case, I'd already stopped to ask here to be more certain before I figured out next steps. Thanks for confirming that stopping was probably the right decision, haha. To depth, it's about a half inch or so in, barely further than the drywall. I suspect it's covering something important, so I'll seek another location to mount this.
Thanks!
Re: the advice: It being made of metal is something I suspected might be the case, I'd already stopped to ask here to be more certain before I figured out next steps. Thanks for confirming that stopping was probably the right decision, haha. To depth, it's about a half inch or so in, barely further than the drywall. I suspect it's covering something important, so I'll seek another location to mount this.
Thanks!
Norm201
voted this post useful.
