Is a cable/pipe detector essential for putting up picture frames and mirrors on walls?

[smallfurryfriends]

I have never put up a picture frame or mirror before as everywhere I have ever lived, there has always been nails in place etc.

Do I need a detector thing for pipes and cables or would it be perfectly OK to just put the hooks in wherever?

Worth doing to be on the safe side. I've never had a problem hammering a picture hook in, however I did once drill through an electricity cable and wouldn't want to repeat the experience!

As a general rule, electricity cables go directly up from light switches to the ceiling, and directly down from power sockets to the floor. However they could also go directly left or right. Google safe zones for more info.

However if you live in a house that was wired by a master bodger the cables could go literally anywhere, I'm which case a cable detector could come in useful!

I've just gone for it and always been lucky

'Twas a diagonal cable I drilled through. Shouldn't have been there. Luckily for me, everything worked as it should have done and the fuse tripped. I got thrown off the ladder though.

Cables should never go in diagonally, it's highly illegal and extremely dangerous. Anyone that does this should have their arses sued off them as they could kill someone.

OP, just use common sense look at where the cables will be running (up/down or sideways) and consider whether the electrician might have been a cowboy. Actually, buy a cable tester just to be sure.

DH drilled through the main waste water pipe for an entire building once while putting up shelves. Multiple shelves. So he drilled through it five times.

Don't hang pictures above light switches (or sockets, if you want to be on the safe side) or to the left/right of sockets. You should be fine, unless your house has form for weirdness.

cottage - you don't have to tell me that - in fact it probably wasn't even an electrician who put it in. I would always recommend using a cable/stud/pipe detector because it is better to be safe than sorry. Regs have changed considerably over the years and older properties may have more anomalies and incorrectly installed cables, etc from crap DIY from the days before a qualified electrician had to sign things off.

Following that incident our electrician checked everything in the house and found some more potentially dangerous bodges which he rectified or blanked off.

It is not worth causing serious damage to yourself or your home for the sake of a few quid spent on a detector.

wowfudge - did you try a claim against anyone for your electrocution?

against whom, if wowfudge owns the house?

I wasn't electrocuted - I'm still here.