Best method for finding wires and pipes?

To save myself tapping stud walls and listening for echoes or faffing around with one of these scanners you can buy, does anyone know if it is possible to get the plans for a second hand house ive just bought (~2 yrs old) which show
things such as where the wiring is and where the plumbing is in the walls etc?

Before anyone recommends those scanners, they are absolute crap.

You can get the plans of your house from the County Council offices. Ring em up and give them your details.

Don't know if they show the location of wires though?? Plumbing yes but wires I'm not so sure.

Let me know how you get on as I would be interested in this also. Scanner I have is ****e!!

would these show the location of the support timbers in the stud walls also, handy for hanging stuff!

You ll be unlikely to find any of those details at the council office. If you do i would doubt their accuracy. IF the house is timber frame it might be worth going into the attic, you ll easily find location of studding. You ll also find where some of the wiring and plumbing is. What weight do you want to hang

The height would be whatever is ideal just for banging picture fittings into the walls or fitting wall mounted up-lights eg in sitting room either side of the fire place protrusion (cant remember what that wall is called) probably 5 - 6 feet high.

IF the house is timber frame it might be worth going into the attic, you ll easily find location of studding.

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It is a 2 story timber frame mid terrace, so do you think that, if the joists in the attic are those of the upper floor, that they should be directly in line with those of the walls of the ground floor? Is the ground floor joists I want to locate as well as wiring and plumbing locations.

morpheus said:

The height would be whatever is ideal just for banging picture fittings into the walls or fitting wall mounted up-lights eg in sitting room either side of the fire place protrusion (cant remember what that wall is called) probably 5 - 6 feet high.



It is a 2 story timber frame mid terrace, so do you think that, if the joists in the attic are those of the upper floor, that they should be directly in line with those of the walls of the ground floor? Is the ground floor joists I want to locate as well as wiring and plumbing locations.

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It was weight you may not need any additional support for light things.
The ground floor walls may be different to upstairs. If you find the location of two timbers you'll know the distance between the timbers (Use a small drill bit, be careful not to drill into gas pipe or cable. You may also be able to see where some nails in plasterboard have popped. An alternative is to find the wall vent,remove cover, measure distance to studding

As with anything else, you get what you pay for with these scanners. You could go nuts and get the Bosch D-Tect 100, but at around a €1k, this might be a bit pricey for a DIY job . I have the DMF 10, which is a lot better than the normal detectors you get, but still not going to find everything.

I wouldn't rely on old plans for a second hand house to be accurate. The chances are previous owners have modified or added to the wiring at least.

If you're only hanging pictures, you don't need to find the studs, normal plugs or [broken link removed], or even toggle cavity fixings should be more than adequate.
Leo