The ultimate D.I.Y Shocker

in Reflectionslast year (edited)

Blessed

I'll set the scene, shall I? It was a slow day at work and I was on my lunchbreak, I had eaten my lunch quickly and glanced at my watch. I had just enough time to do a quick D.I.Y job that needes to be done.

So off I went and grabbed my drill and my toolbox. I'd have just enough time to get it done before my 2pm call. Three floating shelves to be hung up, no problem. No problem at all. That's what you'd think anyway. Well.... No. NO. It nearly killed me. literally!!

Ah stop....

Nearly killed you @ablaze, ah come on now, surely you are exaggerating a bit here? Nope. There I was drilling the last hole for the shelves, when BAM, BANG, 💥

Yes, you guessed it I drilled straight through an electrical cable and knocked of the power to every socket in the house. What a disaster. There would be no 2 O'Clock call. That was only one of many problems I was now faced with. We had a fridge and freezer full of food. If the power was out for too long that food would have to be binned or eaten immediately. No Tv. No broadband. No Oven. No way for me to work from home. Pure and utter disaster.

Would I take it on myself? Would I have to try? The first thing I did after calling myself every F, C, B and P word you can shake a stick at was ring my friend who is an electrician and he advised what needed doing. I put my shoes on and was about to go to our local hardware store to get what I needed, when my wife talked me out of trying to fix it myself. She asked me to call an electrician. So I did and I was in luck, the first guy I called randomly was available and could he here in 30 minutes. Result.

Rookie mistake

Right so the photo below shows you what I did wrong. Yep, in my wisdom I drilled into my wall directly above an electrical socket, which is an absolute no no.

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Looking back now, I was actually really lucky and this could have been much much much worse. It turned out that I only brushed off the live wire and didnt drill straight into it, and the circuit breaker kicked straight in and knocked everything off. All I saw was massive sparks and a bit of a bang, but I didn't feel anything. Actually that's not entirely true. I did feel something. I felt like a complete fucking Eegit! Anyway, what's done is done and in the end I was really lucky, firstly to be uninjured and secondly to get an electrician to site in 30 mins and have the power back on and issue fixed within one hour. That is almost miraculous.

Clean Up

Finally I just had to clean up the wall, so I drove to a hardware store and bought some Polly filler.

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The hole in the wall is fairly deep and this stuff says it works to 10mm, so I'm going to do it in two installments. One semi fill now and leave it over night and finish tomorrow.

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On reflection, the moral of the story is, don't try and squeeze in D.I.Y projects on your lunch break. Try to enjoy a little bit of downtime instead. It might just save your life in the short term and the long term.

Thanks as always for stopping by everyone.

Peace Out

Ablaze.jpg

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Very lucky man. But drilling directly over a socket, not good.

On the plus side you achomplished your main goal. The last time she ever asks you to do any DIY. 😂

Ha ha, all self inflicted man, there's not much I wont take on in D.I.Y. tbh... I rushed this job, as I was trying to get it done in 5 or 10 mins, lesson learned!

Damn - you are lucky!

Though to be fair - getting electrocuted is quite a nice feeling.

Ha ha, lucky I have little experience in that area, other than electric fences on farms. I take it you have experience!?

I do indeed. The first time was when I was about 8. There was a staple sitting out of a bedside table light cord. I touched it and couldn't let go - there were no circuit breakers at that time and when finally able to let go, I was talking like Porky Pig. Since then, I like the feeling of getting shocked a bit. Not quite a fetish though :)

Oooooooooooooh nasty dose that man, but you've a great sense of humour about it, talking like Porky Pig.. 🤣🤣

I think he has 230 volts climbing through those walls in Ireland. That would be quite a shock.

Ya 230 volt AC in Ireland and I work plenty with DC power at work too, which makes it all the more surprising I did what I did. Got away with it big time.

Maybe you should try a lottery ticket while your odds are with you. !LOL

Seriously, glad you are are well.

This guy said he was going to attack me with his guitar.
I said is that a fret?

Credit: reddit
@ablaze, I sent you an $LOLZ on behalf of @mineopoly

(2/4)
Use the !LOL or !LOLZ command to share a joke and an $LOLZ

Ha ha, do you know something, I think I will! 💰 🤑

Sorry to hear that man, that was a bad rookie mistake!

Yep, not my proudest moment!

The wife has a sack load of jokes for family dinner 😂😂😂
Good job, Bob the Builder 😃✨

Awkward Dance GIF by MOODMAN

Ha ha, yep, she sure has!

Lol. We’ve all been there mate! Glad to hear you’re ok though

!BEER

Thanks auld stock, felt like a right tool!

The power outlet could have been a hint :)
Shit happens I guess and luckily you will be able to laugh with it and have a great memory :)

Ha ha, there was a bed up against that wall so the socket was hidden when I was drilling 🙈

See we never know what story is behind the picture

Dude! Glad you're okay. That must have been more than a bit of a shock! (Hah!) I've drilled a lot of holes in a lot of walls in my day, and I'm always thinking that one day something like this will happen.

Mostly glad no one got hurt. Hopefully electricity was restored before the ice cream melted, which would have been the real crime.

Thanks man, unbelievably from me drilling into the wire, to surveying the damage, to contemplating attempting the fix myself (herself talked me out of that!), to searching Google for an electrician, to ringing him, to him arriving, to full fix was under 90 minutes! Unreal. Very very lucky and the ice cream didn't even melt a bit!

Ooft you were lucky!!!

I use one strike filter by ever build, it's fecking amazing. Light as anything and doesn't sag. It's a game changer!

Good shout man, I just picked up the Pollyfill premix in B and Q for around 8 euro for 1 kg and it's done the job 👍

I plan to take that advice!

Good stuff, never drill above a plug or between two wall sockets or switches. Wires will always be in straight lines up or sideways. There are metal detector devices you can buy too to check for wires which I will be investing in.

I missed this...sorry. I'll send something over directly in a gift thing considering you were almost killed. (When I have some liquid Hive.)

Note to ablaze: Drill not through power cables lest ye die.

Note to ablaze: Drill not through power cables lest ye die.

🤣🤣🤣

All filled up now, just needs a sanding and a lick of paint now and we can forget it ever happened, although the Blockchain will never forget 🚫 🤣
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just needs a sanding and a lick of paint now and we can forget it ever happened

Move along, nothing to see here...now.


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