putting up curtain poles/pictures worried about electrical wires/pipes

Hi

We are due to visit our apartment next week and I am hoping to put up some curtain poles and pictures to make it more homely when we are there, but Im worried about electrical wires or pipes that maybe within the walls I will be drilling/nailling into.  How has anyone got around this before? are there any wire dectector devices in Spain that could help? I dont want to end up with a big mess/ leaks.  Any advise I would be very greatful.

Hi, You can buy a battery operated pipe and wire detector at any good DIY store, or take one with you if you are not near one £15-£30 should cover it.

Hi Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but a metal detector is no use in Spain for water pipes as they are all plastic and do not show up on the detector,also the Spanish builders do not follow the same rules as in the UK ie they do not run in straight lines from the sockets/taps so it is difficult to work out where the pipes are.

Ah!! Yes it would be hard to detect plastic with a metal detector!!! Do you think at curtain pole height she would be likely to find water pipes, she could still use it to detect for wiring.

Hi...

Just a point to bear in mind when using the wiring detectors; they work far better when current is flowing in the circuit, so when using the detector in the living room say, plug a relatively high current use device such as a fan heater into the socket closest to the area you want to check (and switch it on!) then trace around the area you want to fix the curtain pole brackets.

If you are concerned about lighting wiring, make sure the lights are switched on...

The devices used aren't actually metal detectors but current seeking devices and will react when directly over the wiring carrying the current.

All of our water pipes run at skirting board height, unless in the immediate vicinity of the taps serving the bathroom, kitchen and washing machine. Incidentally all our water pipe work is copper tubing not plastic...

Hope this helps;

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hi guys thanks for the replies, thats exactly what I was afraid of, if pipes are plastic there is no real way to know if I would be causing more damage, for the two bedroom windows I could chance it as I would think there is little chance of pipes but I wanted to put a curtain pole above the patio door and the air conditioning unit is preinstalled and on the balcony so pipes to do with it could be around the patio door.  I might try to check with some of our neighbours when we are there to see what they did? also I was checking out the Argos website for the live wire/pipe dectectors but they were getting quite bad reviews either over sensitive or not reading at all! Can I ask if either of you put up cutain poles in your apartments did it work out OK or if you had any tips it would be great?

We fit internal blinds so drill around windows all the while and have not as yet!!!!!!! had any problems. The comment about there being no piping around windows is fair but we are talking about Spain and they are a law unto themselves. As I said I have not had any problems but have drill into pipes in both the kitchen and shower room in my own place and would have expected pipes to have been in the place them were.A friend of ours who is a corgi registered' gas fitter was fitting a cooker hood over the cooker and no where near the sink and went straight though a water pipe!! All we can say is good luck and make sure you know where the stop tap is and if you are really worried have someone stand by to turn the water off as quick as possible

I'm no expert but i believe, in Spain,  electrical wires go vertically down the walls from junction boxes cited near the ceiling (apparently used to make rewiring easier).   So if there are no junction boxes (little plastic panels about 6" square) above where you are drilling i think you should be pretty safe.

Or better still call a man who can

As for air con the pipes are normally as short as possible and generally go straight out of the wall behind the unit.  So if there is no aircon near and there is no outside unit near the windows/patio doos (very unluckily) then you should be ok again.

Good Luck.