Tripped a cellular dialer with a drill bit, customer stood there laughing

Last month I'm running a new loop in a finished basement in Columbus, drilling through a stud about chest high. I hit something that didn't feel like wood, pulled the bit out, and the panel behind me starts beeping like crazy. Turns out the customer's old alarm had a cellular communicator mounted flush on the other side of that wall, and my 3/8" bit went straight through the antenna feed line. The unit was still live because nobody ever pulled power, so it started sending a tamper signal to the central station. Customer just stood there with a beer and said, 'Well, at least I know it works.' I had to tell the monitoring company it was a false alarm, replace the communicator out of pocket, and patch drywall. That cost me about $210 in parts plus two extra hours I didn't bill for. Now I always run a stud finder set to metal detection before I drill anywhere near an existing panel. Has anyone else ever drilled into a hidden wire or radio and had the customer watch instead of helping?

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evan_anderson1mo ago

My buddy Keith did this exact thing last year, put a 1/2 inch spade bit straight through a cable line running behind a fireplace mantel. The homeowner was more mad about the hole in the wood than the fried internet, but at least he didn't have to deal with a security company.

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