Drilled through house alarm wire - advice needed

Kashkai

Ok so it was a stupid thing to do but in my defence, the point where the alarm wires enter the plaster above the windows is 3 inches to the right of where I drilled so how was I to know that the wires were running diagonally up into the attic?:mad:

Anyway, I drilled into the wires just under the surface of the plaster which has short circuited the alarm. Is this repairable by myself, i.e. hack off the surround plaster and repair the wire or is there anyone who would be recommended to do the job (north Kildare area).

Thanks from embarrassed and annoyed (first time I've ever hit a wire in 20 years of pretty successful DIY:()

g.quagmire

These things happen twenty years is good going for your first time all the same.I would just hack away the plaster as you said and repair cores 4 or 6 however many just straight junctions all colour coded or else check the sticky in electrical forum there is a guy in south kildare who would help you.

blindman

Get back the person that wired the alarm.
Although there don't seem to be any rules about where alarm wires are placed, there are places that people drill holes in their houses to fit curtains/blinds ect. Commonsense dictates that wiring avoids these areas, also wiring should follow predictable pathways, not diagonally.

Kashkai

blindman wrote: »

Get back the person that wired the alarm.
Although there don't seem to be any rules about where alarm wires are placed, there are places that people drill holes in their houses to fit curtains/blinds ect. Commonsense dictates that wiring avoids these areas, also wiring should follow predictable pathways, not diagonally.

I've called the electrician who put the alarm in but he won't return my calls, presumably as I gave him so much grief due to the many wiring problems I had following completion of our build. We had him back on at least 6 occasions as the MCB kept on tripping for no apparent reason. It would trip when we weren't even in the house using power. Anyways, I thought I was safe drilling where I was as I would have thought that wiring should follow a near vertical pathway but this is definitely 3 inches left of where I would have thought the wiring was if it had been installed vertically from the point where the wires enter the plasterwork - I measured it as I was fuming when it happened.

ifah

just go ahead and trim off the plaster and put in a junction box to repair the wires - it's very low voltage so you won't have any issue

Raytown Rocks

As the others said. Break out the plaster and just join the wires like for like, Red to red blue to blue etc( or whatever colours apply).

Steve

I would have thought that alarm installers would follow the the same principles as elec installs - i.e. no diagonal routing.
I would have assumed the same and drilled to the side of where the sensor was.

Kashkai

As I said, the electrician, and I use the term loosely, made a bags of it when wiring the house. Only an excellent engineer supervising the build and a hefty sum held back on retention from the builder, ensured that the sparks came back to put right his "work". Although you should see the way he's run cables in the attic, all over the damn place with no effort to at least notch them into joists.

After yesterday's mishap, I'm pretty hesitant to drill anywhere there may be wiring. I have a wire detector but its pretty useless tbh. If someone could recommend a good detector, it would be appreciated. The wires are affixed to concrete blocks under a skim of plaster if that matters.

blindman

Sounds like there is little point getting that guy back, you might as well just patch up his work as others have said. Remember to warn people working in your house that normal rules don't apply, in case somebody gets electrocuted.
As regards detectors, I've tried most of them. If they say there's cable there, there usualy is. But none that I have tried, detect all cables.