An electrician told me to stop using nail plates for wire protection, here's what I do now instead

I was wiring up a new room in a basement remodel back in February and this old electrician walked by and saw me putting nail plates over the studs where wires ran through. He laughed and said those thin plates get pushed aside by drywall screws all the time. He showed me his trick - using short lengths of 1/4 inch steel conduit cut to fit between the studs and wires, then strapping it to the stud. Costs maybe $2 more per spot but I haven't had a single call back since. Has anyone else switched to something different for wire protection?

3 comments

3 Comments

quinna8920d ago

Had a buddy who trusted those plates and a drywall screw punched right through his wire. Almost started a fire. He swore by the conduit trick after that.

jennifer83320d ago

And that's the thing, @quinna89, the magnetic plates give folks a false sense of security. I had a similar scare when I mounted a shelf in my kitchen. The stud finder beeped right where I wanted to drill, so I went for it and nicked a Romex cable running through the wall. Lucky for me the breaker tripped before anything caught fire. Now I always take a picture of the wall with a cheap borescope before I put a screw in anywhere. Saves a lot of headaches.

avery_flores1720d agoTop Commenter

Oh man, that borescope idea is genius. I never thought of that. I just use a stud finder and hope for the best, which is probably why I've got a few patches in my living room wall from missed wires. One time I was drilling to put up a curtain rod and hit something that made a weird grinding noise. Turned out it was an old iron pipe for a gas lamp that was disconnected but still in the wall. Scared the heck out of me. Did you get yours off Amazon or something?