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That hidden water line under the stair stringer ate my whole day | Carpenters - Free To Speak

That hidden water line under the stair stringer ate my whole day

Went to cut a notched stringer for a basement remodel near Pittsburgh and my level said the floor was fine, but the stud finder kept beeping weird. I assumed it was just old lathe and plaster messing with the sensor, so I marked my cuts and fired up the circular saw. About three inches into the second stringer I heard that wet hissing sound and stopped cold. Turns out there was a 1/2 inch copper line running diagonal through the wall, not even strapped down, just floating behind the drywall. Took me 45 minutes to patch the pipe, another 2 hours to move the stringer layout over 4 inches, and then I had to redo the riser heights on the last three steps to keep the landing level. That whole stair job that should have taken a morning stretched into a full 10 hour day, plus a trip to the supply house for a coupling and sharkbite. Anyone else deal with hidden plumbing that the blueprints never showed?

2 comments

2 Comments

reese_hayes711mo ago

Skipped the guesswork after that and started running a cheap borescope through any wall near the stairs before cutting, saved me a ton of headaches since. Now I always check for pipes with a magnet too, way faster than trusting old blueprints.

ray_williams1mo ago

Man, "trusting old blueprints" was exactly my problem too. I used to think a magnet was only good for finding studs, not pipes, so I'd just cut in blind and hope for the best. After one nasty surprise where I nicked a copper line behind some drywall, I finally got a cheap borescope and now I'm with you @reese_hayes71, it's a total game changer. That magnet trick is so simple I'm kinda mad I didn't think of it sooner. Now I check before I even grab the saw, saves me a ton of patching and swearing.