I drilled a hole in my bathroom wall and when I tried hammering the light turned on and off!?

Question

I had just painted the bathroom and was trying to hang up new towel bars. I decided to hang this one above the toilet. I drilled the holes, as the instructions said, and pushed the anchors in as far as I could get them. When I tried to hammer them in the rest of the way, the light fixture above the sink shut off. Then I'd hit the wall again, and it would turn back on. (The toilet and the sink and light are on the same wall) What did I do? Is this something easily fixed or do I have to cut a hole in my wall?

Answer 1

sounds like someone hooked up  the light carelessly, turn off the breaker and make sure all those connections are tight and with wire nuts

Answer 2

Aside from the other answers, you may have hit a wire with your drill, damaging the wire covering, causing a slight short.

If you can remove the anchor, you may be able see the wire with a flashlight, if it is the cause.

If so, you'll have to enlarge the opening and repair the wire by taping.  It won't be able to be pulled, as it should be anchored or fed through a stud.

To repair a hole in sheetrock, you can cut another piece of sheetrock, or a thin piece of plywood, into a rectangle, longer than the opening but slightly shorter in height.

In the center of the piece, place a s***w that you can hold which can be removed later.

Insert the piece inside the hole, and hold it in place with the center s***w.

Through the wall at each end of the piece, drive in a s***w into the piece.  When this is anchored, remove the center s***w.

Now you can spackle or mud in the hole and the insert will keep the mud from falling through.

Good luck.

Answer 3

i've seen this on the "three stooges" - forgot which episode. anyone out there know ?

Answer 4

It would help to know how old your home is but I am assuming that it is reasonably new (say 30 years or less) For many years now the wires in a wall are put in as such as to make it difficult to drill into a wire so I don't feel that is your problem.

More than likely what has happened is the wires in your light fixture are loose. A very dangerous situation that can cause a fire!!!!!!!! Fortunately a very easy fix.

Turn OFF the light at the switch and make sure no-one will flip it back on while you are working on the light. Tape it if you need to, or click off the circuit breaker (fuse).

Take the light down and check the wires to be sure they are tight. There should be wire nuts screwed on the ends of the wires. Hang on to the wire nut and pull on each wire separately.  The black and the white. If one comes out you need to re-s***w it together again. It;s a good idea to turn the nut tight anyway after p[laying with them.

It isn't necessary at this point but I ALWAYS take a piece of electricians tape and tape the ends with the nut anyway for safety's sake.

Remount the light and you should be good.

Answer 5

Your best bet is to first don't stand in water. Look to in the hole and see if you can see wires if you can then i would call a plumber that also knows about elec. dont try it on ytour ownb

Answer 6

you probably hit your electric  cables

Answer 7

It could be that the light bulb is loose in the socket or the wires to the light are loose. It is also possible that you drilled a hole into the wires and was lucky that you didn't get shocked. To find that out you need a tool like a stud finder but it picks up the metal in the wires.

Answer 8

Sounds like a loose wire, it's probably not from anything you did the hammering just made it apparent.First make sure the bulb isn't loose if not Have some one with electrical exp. to check the light and the switch wires.

Answer 9

You may have hit wiring inside the wall. It's not good to leave damaged wiring, it could arc and cause fire. To repair wiring damage you would need to make an access hole. It may just be a bad connection in the light fixture though.

Answer 10

You have a loose connection either at the light fixture or the switch.  Try tapping lightly by either and see if you can get the light to blink again. If its by the switch either the switch is bad or there is a loose connection. if is by the light either the bulb is going bad, the bulb is loose or you have a loose connection at the light.