I Hit the Gas Main !!!!

[movnup]

After three months of drywall, sanding, fifteen gallons of paint, building cabinets, etc to finish off my 2 1/2 car garage/ shop I was down to just hanging four custom metal shelves from the ceiling I made for lumber storage plus the epoxy floor this summer. I decided to do a little task before I hung the last two (they're heavy) so I was drillin a small hole for putting a hook in to hang my little girls bike in the ceiling and felt some resistance where I had marked the stud w/ the studfinder. I got it back out and double checked it a second time, moved the bit over, and started drilling again and smelled / heard the natural gas leaking out. It was a aaaaaw s**t what did I just do type of moment.

I got my little girl in the back yard, woke up my wife from a well deserved nap, shut the main power off, and then ran out and turned off the gas main. I called the gas company for advice on how to patch it and just because I called they sent a guy out who red tagged / put a lock on my meter (nice guy that he was as I was going to use liquid weld).

So the next part of the story is in order to get my meter unlocked I cut out the pipe with the the 1/8 inch hole (broke two jig saw blades doing it), then had to use a 4 x 4 clamped to a pipe wrench to break the rest of the pipe free as it was stuck in the 45 elbow, ran to HD just before they closed, got a custom pipe cut for the patch, rented a thread cutter, and now the thing won't cut the new threads!!!! I told the always helpful HD guy that I thought the die wasn't right as I did a test fit before I left so now we don't have heat, my little one needs a shower badly as she kinda stinks (we have a gas water heater), and my wife is cranky because she didn't get her nap.

The pipe was lying right next to the stud behind a hidden wall panel so I couldn't see it and I couldn't of hit that thing more in the center if I tried for the next month !!! I was finally going to post something in the finished projects section and wag my tail a little bit for finishing off a very long project but now I have a huge hole in the ceiling and still need to make the pipe repair. Man I was sooooooo close to finally working on some true woodworking projects after months of getting things set up the way I wanted and smellin saw dust instead of drywall dust, metal shavings, and paint.

Some days I just feel like a highly educated idiot !!!!

[Ken Massingale]

Some days you're the windshield, some days you're the bug. Murphy is peeping around the corner all the time.
Sorry about your misadventure, soon you'll look back at this and have a good chuckle.
ken

[Slik Geek]

A friend of mine was doing a bathroom remodel and managed to drill a hole into the water pipe behind the wall. By the time he got to the basement and shut off the house water supply, he had a big mess to clean up.

So, while you are shivering and stinking, just remember that the clean up and repair might have been worse if it was a water pipe that you hit!

Hope that helps. Sorry for your misfortune.

[mater]

That was what you call a bad day. I hope you are able to get it repaired today.

[ejs1097]

Ouch, sorry to hear of your misfortunes. Good thing noone was injured. The gas company will probably had a hefty line item on your budget.

Sounds like your shop/garage is coming along great....will be looking forward to your of the finished project.

[Pappy]

At least you reacted quickly to eliminate the fire/explosion hazard. It could easily have been much worse!

The gas company locking out your meter, forcing you to do the repair right, was probably a good thing in the long run.

[Ed62]

That sucks! If you send that story in to Family Handyman, you might get a check for your story. Then it wouldn't be a total loss.

Ed

[movnup]

To finish up the story I was able to get the old pipe threaded, the new juction in, and the parts / tool rental cost $12. The new gas guy came to unlock the meter and he actually didn't even look at the work I did after sweating hard for two hours until I pointed it out. It took a 20 ton jack with a 2 x 4 and my big Irwin clamps as spreaders to get the two pipes to line up so it was definitely a lot of work for a 1/8 inch hole.

I started to patch the big hole in the ceiling last night and my wife looks up at me on the ladder and said "Why don't you quit working out here, I think you've done enough for awhile.... I really like having heat and hot water" !!!

[BearPipes-1]

"Darling, love of my life, I done broke it, but I done fixed it, too."

Ahem.

I drove through an enormous cloud of smoke a few weekends ago where somebody hit, and lit, a gas line while putting in a fence... a large fire and lots of damage ensued.

So seriously, well done getting your family out and getting things back in order. A little grumpiness on her part is probably merited, but this is one of those situations that could have unfolded far worse. Good job doing your part.

You'll have to ask for X-Ray vision for Christmas.

[Tom Slick]

I am always afraid to doing that. I have hit electrical before, not fun!

moral of the story is; always use nail plates when framing and installing utilities!

http://www.strongtie.com/products/co...NSP-PSPNZ.html

[JeremyM]

"moral of the story is; always use nail plates when framing and installing utilities!"

"The pipe was lying right next to the stud behind a hidden wall panel so I couldn't see it and I couldn't of hit that thing more in the center if I tried for the next month !!!"

Notice a difference? This was one of those things that will just happen when you deal with lines hidden in a wall. This pipe sounds like it was running parallel next to the stud. I could be wrong. But if it were, no nail plate would have helped short of a piece of plate steel covering the entire bay between the two studs.

Don't worry man, this stuff's frustrating, but it's life. I currently have a shallow well pump with the pressure switch being held together with duct tape as it broke on me the other day. I rigged it back together, but come to find out that my Tractor Supply Company pump is made in China and they don't carry any replacement parts and I'm going to have to redo a bunch of stuff because one screw took too much pressure and broke the plastic housing that it was threaded into.

Life's fun!

[scorrpio]

The drill went through a steel pipe that easy? Yikes. This is why I never drill at high speed. What size pipe was it? My gas main is 1 1/4" black steel, very tough. If you drill hard enough to punch through a pipe like that, you'd punch through a nail plate and hit the electric/plumbing it protects even easier.

[Cike]

When I read what actually happened here, I was actually relieved since the first thing that came to my mind when I saw the title was that you had rented a backhoe and severed the main going from the street to your meter. That would have been really bad.

Congrats on the successful repair!

C

[Tom Slick]

that wasn't a jab at you personally, just a reminder for all of us to do framing jobs properly and safely.

[LinuxRandal]

The drill went through a steel pipe that easy? Yikes. This is why I never drill at high speed. What size pipe was it? My gas main is 1 1/4" black steel, very tough. If you drill hard enough to punch through a pipe like that, you'd punch through a nail plate and hit the electric/plumbing it protects even easier.

Maybe you should tell us what brand and where do you buy your drill bits?