What did I drill into?

[Cog70]

Hi,

I decided to hang a large picture above a radiator in my living room (the wall being a partition between living room and kitchen). The walls are plasterboard. I (stupidly) assumed that there would not be a pipe in the wall directly above the radiator (from the middle). I drilled into the wall, into what I assumed was a stud, planning on inserting a screw. However, the drill encountered a great deal of resistance after perhaps an inch, so I (stubbornly) gave it a bit of welly, but no go. I then came to my senses and stopped. Shining a small torch in the hole showed only a white region, no evidence of wood or metal. However, I've since bought a pipe detector which gives a signal at that point.

My question is, was I a whisker away from drilling into a pipe? If so, is it encased in plaster or something like that? There is another radiator in the bathroom directly overhead, and one of the pipes from this is about an inch to the left of the hole. Could it be this pipe coming down to join up with the other radiator?

I guess I'm a little paranoid now that (after filling the hole), I may at some point get a leak because I damaged a pipe or something, so any advice to set my mind at rest (or any action that should be taken) would be greatly appreciated.

Colin

 

[doitall]

Probably the head of a nail

 

[seco services]

are your radiator supply pipes white plastic piping.
if so its common on new builds that they come down the centre of the wall behind the rad then come out a plastic square plate behind rad. they are useally covered by a thin metal plate in the wall.

 

[Cog70]

The pipes (where visible) supplying the radiators come up out of the floor and are metal (gloss painted). The house is 26 years old, so not a new build.

 

[seco services]

as said then must be a screw head or something.

 

[JohnD]

chip a bit of plaster off and have a look.

It might also be metal capping over electric cables.

It sounds the wrong height to be metal joist strapping (usually found near floors or roof timbers)

 

[Cog70]

chip a bit of plaster off and have a look.

It might also be metal capping over electric cables.

It sounds the wrong height to be metal joist strapping (usually found near floors or roof timbers)

Yes, I've also attempted to drill into metal joist strapping (I believe) in the bedroom . I guess I was curious as to what the plaster was doing at that point behind the plasterboard, if it was covering a pipe or something - would it be used for such a purpose?

 

[John506]

Does where you are drilling line up with a joist?

Knock on the wall to see wwere the joists are, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about so I won't go into depth about that

If it does it will be a screw or nail as people have said.

Or you could just be trying to drill through the joist with a masonary drill bit, and when you try that, it goes no where.

Would the picture not look nice anywhere else?

 

[Cog70]

Does where you are drilling line up with a joist?

Knock on the wall to see wwere the joists are, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about so I won't go into depth about that

If it does it will be a screw or nail as people have said.

Or you could just be trying to drill through the joist with a masonary drill bit, and when you try that, it goes no where.

Would the picture not look nice anywhere else?

I thought it was a joist originally, and the joist detector picked it up as such as well. I didn't have a pipe detector at the time and assumed I was safe. I was surprised to find myself drilling into what appeared to be a solid lump of plaster - wondered what was going on there. Could there be a lump of plaster between the joist and the plasterboard? My main concern was that I had attempted to drill into a pipe underneath the plaster - the responses so far reassure me that this doesn't appear to be the case. Of course it would have been pretty obvious if I had done so at the time - but after getting a pipe detector this gives a positive reading. Anyway, all seems well so as long as I haven't caused a hairline crack or anything (if such a thing is possible).

In addition, I wouldn't have been using a wood drill bit, so perhaps that is the reason for the resistance as you say. OK, I can rest easy I think. Thanks everyone.

Colin