I know that studs need metal plates over studs where there is plumbing too close to the wall. This is to protect a nail going into the plumbing. I'm wondering about exceptions. What about plumbing behind the toilet? There is a stud directly behind the toilet where plumbing is running horizontally. I can't see anyone wanting to put a nail or screw in the wall behind the toilet. Is a metal plate still required here?
Phish, after all the time you've spent on this group, do you think there is anything a person would not do? T
Think about the construction sequence: first the stud wall is built, then the plumbing in the wall is installed, then the wall is sheetrocked, then the toilet is installed. Certainly the sheetrockers could hit that plumbing pipe, so the metal plate is required.
Cheers, Wayne
Had not thought about the sheetrock before the toilet install, thanks.
Those little goodies are about as cheap as they come, and spending a buck and saving a whole sheet rock replacement job (including retexturing and painting later) is a REAL no brainer to me.
Yes, it would be hard to get behind a toilet and shoot a screw or pound a nail, but at that stage of construction, the toilet ain't there, is it?
Steve
Phisherman wrote in :
We bought a new tract house back in the eighties. About six months after we moved in, we came home to find the living room carpet flooded. We reported it to the builder, and he took care of it, but it took a while to figure out what had happened.
The trim carpenter who installed the baseboard shot a finish nail right into the center of the cold water pipe for the bathroom on the other side of the wall. It rusted over immediately, then took six months to rust away enough for the leak to start.
Don't skimp on the nailing plates.
When we built our house a few years ago, I installed metal protection plates everywhere code required for pipes, wiring, etc.
The one area I was surprised a plate was "not" required was on the back side of an electrical box. In a 2x4 wall, with a deep box, the cables come out of the back of the box within an inch or less of the stud face. It seemed all too easy to me for a drywall screw or other fastener to miss the stud and pierce a cable where it exits the box. Or for that matter, to drive a screw right through the backside of the plastic boxes. There were no ready-made protector plates for this situation, so I bought a bunch of blank cover plates that are made for 4" electrical boxes, and screwed those to the backside of the wall studs. It usually took 2-4 of the 4" plates to protect each box.
The electrical inspector said they weren't needed, but for less than $20 for the whole house, it seemed like cheap insurance. It did no harm to add the extra plates, but could prevent a major problem later.
Anthony
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