Put a screw through a pipe in my bathroom wall last Sunday

I was hanging a new medicine cabinet in my half bath here in Phoenix. Measured twice, marked the studs, everything seemed fine. Then I drilled in the first screw and water started spraying out from behind the tile. Turns out there was a copper pipe running right where I put the screw. I shut the main water off fast but there was already a puddle on the floor. Ended up cutting out a 6 inch square of drywall to expose the pipe, then used a sharkbite coupling to patch the hole. Took me like 3 hours total because I had to run to Home Depot for the fitting. The patch job is ugly but it holds, and now I gotta figure out how to fix the drywall without it looking terrible. Has anyone else dealt with accidentally hitting a pipe like this, and what did you use to make the wall repair look smooth?

2 comments

2 Comments

william_taylor17d agoMost Upvoted

Man, three hours? That's rough. I can't believe you didn't just call a plumber right off the bat.

kelly_hill17d ago

Yeah I get what you're saying but honestly the whole learning process was worth it for me. Last time my sink did that I watched like three YouTube videos and figured out the cleanout trick, saved myself a hundred bucks easy. Sometimes you just gotta get your hands dirty before calling in the pros you know?