Model Railroading > Near disaster in the layout room

Here's a big heads up tip for model railroaders who are drilling into their walls for their layouts.  Make sure you know what is on the other side the drywall.  Read all about my near disaster Monday in the layout room at my blog:  
http://www.virginiamidlandrr.blogspot.com/

Shannon Crabtree
Fredericksburg, VA
Virginia Midland Railroad Blog

I avoided drilling floor plates into a gravity sewer main by about 30 seconds while constructing bench work for a branch line, back in 2011.  

Almost a Big Mistake was a blog entry talking about that experience!

If it had to happen, glad this happened in a spot where you could easily make repairs!

~RGDave
www.onondagacutoff.blogspot.com

Thanks for shariing.

Apparently when you installed the shelf the screws went right in the pipe and plugged the holes. Luckily you didn't have a leak then, as you would have water behind the wall and might not have noticed it until it had done some major damage.

It behoves all of us to know where to shut the main water supply off in case a pipe bursts, etc. There are other reports of pipes bursting (often overhead).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/15 07:12 by wabash2800.

I go to the stud when attaching anything that way if the pipe or electrical has been installed properly there will be that metal shield as shown to protect it.. Also easier than cutting a section out is they make snap over pieces that glue on and the pipe doesnt have to be cut to install.

Good news and bad news about plastic pipe... bad is very little change in resistance so it's easy to puncture. But since you hit on center, the screw held and sealed itself... had you hit a copper line like this, the dissimiliar metals would have started galvanic corrosion and you would have had a slow drip in the wall that steadily got worse... a lot to be thankful for in the end!

Some learning in there for all of us!

Actually they make a pipe cutter that makes it real easy to cut.  We had that back when repalced the water heater.  It's the main water line coming in from the well so no need to take any chances.  Definitely a learning experience for me! 

Shannon Crabtree
Fredericksburg, VA
Virginia Midland Railroad Blog

You could have always put the screw back in to plug the leak for a short time. I've always worried about finding the romex cable in the wall, and avoid inserting screws at wall socket height.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

When my layout room was all framed and the sheet rock about to go on, I took pictures of all the uncovered walls and made accurate  notes, keyed to the piactures, as to where wires and pipes had been run.

Works so far :)

Bob

VAmidlandrr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here's a big heads up tip for model railroaders
> who are drilling into their walls for their
> layouts.  Make sure you know what is on the other
> side the drywall.  Read all about my near
> disaster Monday in the layout room at my blog:  
> http://www.virginiamidlandrr.blogspot.com/

We're all human.

I have a similar story about over-eager firemen rearranging and re-mounting brackets for tools in the fire engine.  
*Don't drill through just "anywhere" inside the cabinets.

Don't fee bad. You are in like company!

I was drilling holes to mount a bracket for a large steam locomotive numberplate on an exterior wall in my drywalled garage. I located the studs with a stud finder and began to drill, The first hole was a piece of cake, but the second went a lot harder, then btoke thrrough with a loud hiss and the smell of natural gas. The roll up door was closed and I did not want to open it to dissapate the gas for fear of a spark so I garbbed a cresent wrench and mad a beeline for the pedestrian door to the kitchen then out the front door and around to the gas meter on the side of the house to shut off the gas. When I cut away the drywall to expose the pipe i discovered I had nailed it dead center!

Cheers,
Jack



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/15 13:34 by africansteam.

Cut your drywall patch a about 4 inchs larger than needed. Turn it upside down and cut the back paper 2 inchs in on all sides. Peal that sheet rock off the front paper. Add some wood to the existing drywall to provide a lip for the patch to sit on. Then place drywall mud on the paper tabs you created in the first step and put your patch in. My father used this method to patch holes while doing work commercially.

My Round-Robin HO group was invited to visit a five level layout in New Jersey some time back. We noticed that the top level of the layout was suspended from the cast iron sanitary piping. We discussed the concept of priorities in contruction on the way home, somewhat in awe.

Stud finder, measuring tape and a pencil  go a long way.. 

Yes and do not assume that the place was built with studs on any center either. My garage had either a bad tape measure used or someone who didn't care when they did it. When we attached the brackets to the studs they varied as much as three inches in some places. Guess that is why the ceiling sheet rock is separated in two places.
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> Stud finder, measuring tape and a pencil  go a
> long way..