DIY disasters thread (AKA I done something stupid and need advice)

[Pablo Huntsbach]

So as it says above, it could be interesting to have a thread to share DIY stories so here it is but actually it’s just an excuse for me to beg for advice!

I just drilled a hole in the wall while hanging a picture, there was a small spark and it tripped the switch for all of the sockets in the flat. It all still seems to be working but I kind of need to get someone in to have a look don’t I? I guess I shouldn’t be using any plugs right now either should I?

[anewyear]

I'm not an electrician but I would say yep, deffo get it checked out. Problem is though that to see the damaged cable the sparky would probably have to remove a section of plasterboard which could be pretty disruptive.
My guess is that you nicked the insulation of a cable on the ring main. I'd say the immediate thing is definitely don't screw into that hole as you run the risk of screwing into the cable and making the screw live.

[Pablo Huntsbach]

Cool, if the damage to the wall isn’t too bad by the time they’ve finished I might just try and cover it up with the picture I wanted to hang in the first place (without drilling into that section of the wall, obviously).

[Mr. Nobody]

You say it's all still working, is there definitely nothing affected, are all circuits still operating,.lights, heating, sockets etc.?

You could turn off all electrics at the board and get a Stanley knife and cut a square around that hole (making sure your picture will tastefully cover it) (just small enough to hook the wire out to work on it.)
Pull back that square of plasterboard and see what damage has been done to the cable
This could be quite costly to fix as officially the electrician wouldn't be allowed to just put a joint in, they'd probably be duty bound to run a whole new cicuit cable,
Depending on how long the run is, it might be simple, or troublesome (and so, expensive )
But if you feel up to it, you could simply cut your cable (if it's damaged) and rejoin all the wires using a small piece of connector block (there's lots of different types on the go)
You'd need to remove a small piece of insulation of each wire to make a good connection)
If you're happy with the connection, turn the power on again and check that circuit is working okay,
Then, just paste some glue around the plasterboard square and slot it back into place to set.

[Pablo Huntsbach]

To be honest whatever I did myself, I’d be paranoid I’d done it wrong and it would spontaneously cause a fire 6 months from now!