Put my leg through the drywall ceiling while in an attic today. I had just suceeded in fishing some wires that did not want to fish down the wall through a hole that did not want to let anything pass, and in my excitement to get downstairs and finish pulling the *gee-dee* thing, I absentmindedly stepped on that *one* creaky board in the catwalk that I had noticed before and trod lightly upon every other time. I always privately laughed at anyone else who had done this, and today I joined the club. Thanks for listening.. This post has been cathartic

HVAC guys say "that's where the return goes".

Haha, I can relate, did so this weekend, on my belly in attic fishing a wire, goes through, and in my excitment to go downstairs I miss a joist and put my foot through the lath and plaster cieling *crack* although I could NOT believe how lucky I was, the cieling had another cieling laid below it-acoustic tiles on oneXtwos, so my size 14 boot only went through the non-visible part of the cieling *phew*

Ryan,
You aren't the first to do it and you won't be the last.
Personally I've never broken a cieling or wall, I have broken most other things as an apprentice though.

I fell through a ceiling when I was 17 yrs. old. It hasn't happened since, but a couple weeks ago I stepped on the ceiling from the attic. If it hadn't been plaster I probably would have done some damage. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

I learned a long time ago that it's OK to make a mistake, as long as you fix the mistake.

Dave

Ah, but before the repairs, you have to live down the laughter of workmates. Nothing is funnier than seeing someone else's short fat hairy leg, attached to a large work-boot, appear through a finished ceiling. Unless it's waiting for the inevitable string of muffled expletives that are bound to follow.

Alan

Could be worse....The one and only time I put my foot through the ceiling, it was the ceiling above the girls' shower room at a Jr. High School!

I've gone through twice.

Once in a hallway, the other into a closet.

Both times were in newer home with sheetrocked ceilings.

Never stepped through drywall but I did have similar experience with a block wall at my house. I was getting cocky with my new side grinder/diamond blade combo, cutting in boxes in the bedroom renovation. I would cut it in with the diamond blade and just tap it with my 10lb sledge in a slow pendulum arc.
The chunk would fall out and I had a perfect hole for the box. I got to the last one and when I tapped it nothing happened so I cocked the hammer a few inches farther back. The third time was successful but there was a bright shaft of light coming through the hole. When I bent down to see where the light was coming from I saw my dog, in the yard, with his nose in the hole.
The mason had dropped a little chunk of block in the hole and my "tap" was faithfully transmitted to the outside web of the block. The hole outside was about 8" in diameter.

This one is almost not funny. My time was because I passed out from heat stroke in an attic. I learned how to treat myself a lot more carefully after that one.

Wasn't me, but a guy I work with walked off the top of a large refrigeration area (deli department at a large grocery etc. wholesale place) onto the top of the drop ceiling above the bakery. Went right through, landed on top of a (luckily) empty table, and bounced up staring at the hole with a wtf look, nothing hurt but pride. Broken tiles are still on top of the ceiling and bring a good chuckle every time we go back.

I had an apprentice do that last year. Basically the same set up. He was alright, scared himself a bit. To this day, I still don't know what he was even doing that close to the edge of the hard ceiling.

However, today all of this customers facilities now have signs on top of the cooler areas warning not to step on the drop ceiling.

Great stories, although the heat stroke one scares me a bit. Reminds me of a friend of a guy I work with who was dirtbiking in the desert and fell off the bike and knocked himself unconsiouss, then lay there with his brain cooking inside his helmet. Nearly killed him- and definitely caused some brain damage- had to learn to count and tie his shoes and do simple things all over again. Sometimes you never know how much trouble you are in until you are already up to your neck in it, and you can only hope someone is nearby to bail you out. So who bailed you out of that attic?

When my wife was selling HVAC she used the "attic heat stroke" as a sales tool. Get the customer up there for a few minutes "to look at the air handler" and they will buy the best system you sell.

It was a remodel job. Two carpenter buddies. I had been complaining about how hot that attic was that day, but at that time I didn't know about feeling suddenly cold while in a hot attic. Now I do... I was stuck 1/2 way thru the sheetrock between two trusses.

glad I am not the only one to have done this...My journeyman and I at the time were working in a brand new used car lot and as I was working above the owner's office...I slipped and a size 10 1/2 Danner boot came through the ceiling...Thanks to camera phones and being the only ones on the job at the moment I was able to go back up there...stick my foot back through the hole and let my journeyman take a few pictures...It made for a good story...but the owner was not a very happy man...I am much more careful now after seeing his red face and having to listen to him basically call me an idiot...I don't really want to subject myself to that ever again if possible...

Here is my ceiling story.
Working in the summer in a attic pulling wire and I backed into a hornets nest. I started running through the attic to get away from them. I missed the beam and stepped down between them, Landed on the plaster and lathe, but in a instant ( and some very good reflexes at the time) I dropped the weight off the foot on the plaster and stepped onto another beam, put my weight on that one and kept on running. I didn't break the plaster and I just "popped" a nail hole in the ceiling below, "Just a little bit!" I put it back in and a little touch of drywall compound and it was good as new. That was the only time I ever came close to going through. However I have hit those !@#$%^& collar ties with my head too many times!( Now I hope I don't jinx myself)

About 5 years ago I was doing a re-wire of an old home. Someone had left an eight foot long 1X6 in the attic spanning over the ceiling joists which were 2 feet apart. I was crawling on this board to get to the other end. When I got to the end of the board, it started to tip downward from my body weight. It was then I realized the end of it wasn't sitting on a joist. The board hit the 3/8" drywall ceiling (which was bowing down because of the weight of the old rock-wool insulation), and before I realized it the WHOLE ceiling came down, along with the black insulation, and me going with it doing a complete 360 flip landing on my back on the floor 7 feet below.

I layed there as more black insulation poured on me, and I didn't know how badly hurt I was - my employee at the time thought I was dead. Somehow, I walked away from that without a scratch, although I was pretty shaken up. Looking back, the outcome could have been much worse.

They were going to cover the old ceiling with new drywall anyways, but I just made their job a bit easier

Sixer,

I've run into that "thought it was structural, but it ain't" problem more than once when walking on boards in an attic. The worst is when you step on the edge of a piece of plywood and discover it's cantilevered past the edge of a joist, and the whole piece of plywood starts to tilt down. It's a testament to luck--not my reflexes--that I've never gone through the ceiling with one of those.

However, to my discredit, I am still the only person I have ever met (or at least, who will admit it) who has managed to fall completely through a drywall ceiling. A bruised pride is a slow-healing thing.

-John

I haven't done it yet, thankfully! However last month I was doing a re-wire at a property for a guy who'd just bought the house. The whole installation was a nightmare as the previous guy had done a lot of additional wiring himself, and didn't believe in running earth wires.

Anyway, I had taken all the floorboards up to put in some new downlighters in the kitchen ceiling. Went home with the floorboards still up, and came back the next day to find the previous owner had broken in whilst under the influence, gone upstairs to where his bed used to be and then fell through the ceiling, ripping out all my wiring!

Found him asleep in the dining room the next morning, not injured just really hung over.

... Don't sweat it, trollog,..
Just the other day I was cutting in a plastic gem box for an outdoor GFCI (should've been a 45 minute job, at most) you know,..in the vinyl siding, and thru the plywood beneath that,..all was going well, until I saw a bright light,..mind you, I'm outside, in broad daylight, sun shinin' and all, and I STILL saw the spark..I checked my (now pitted) sawz-all blade, and it was just as I had suspected,..I cut right through a 12/2 romex line tacked to the wall stud..I had to refeed the receptacle inside the living room, as well as refeed the receptacle downstream of it, and make the hole wider now to accomodate a 2-gang box, as the "lightning" of my "wanton disregard" blackened the bleached white vinyl siding...the darn GE breaker didn't even trip...all the while my helper was sitting right there, saw the whole thing,...and I had just yelled at him the day before to be more careful, and to check before cutting or drilling,...I was mortified!!
I told him,... "even I, the Jedi Master can make mistakes...only,..I'm ALLOWED to....you're not"..

Does anyone smell a DOUBLE STANDARD?? LOL



[This message has been edited by Attic Rat (edited 04-08-2006).]

Is this is a free club to join, with no membership dues?


Fell from the attic into a masterbedroom. My pride got hurt more than my body, and it turned a $175 motion sensor job into a $600 loss...


Oh well...another life experience...


Dnk....

while doing work in a hospitial its now a respite for people who are real sick and a dementia respite but at one time it was a dry outhospitial. When I removed the ceiling tile a whole bunch of whisky,beer,and wine bottles fell out of the ceiling and onto me. What a mess and what a lot of broken glass.Although I havenot stepped thru a ceiling (YET) I did get the rest of the day off. Boss was laughing too hard to get back to work.

While working for an EC at a ritzy private school, I fell through the ceiling in a storage closet, standing on a very narrow area with lath and plaster ceiling. Thankfully it was planned that the closet was to be demo'd anyway.

I had an apprentice working for me who was quite small, very light. I was talking to the owner downstairs while the apprentice was waiting for me in the attic. He got tire of waiting, so he starting walking out of the attic. We could see every step he took, as he avoided every beam and walked on the sheet rock. He did not break one piece of sheet rock, but it all needed to be replaced. Imagine his luck.

Does this count? I was inspecting a brand new service installation, I was outside looking at the meter pan, and looking to see if any openings, duct seal, type of wire, etc. The next thing you know, I dropped straight down 5 feet. I didn't know it at the time, but the lady said that there was a slab of stone over top of an open pit. The pit dropped 5 feet down on top of an old sewer pipe. When I fell, my feet landed on each side of the pipe. Luckily I didn't hit the pipe wrong or break my leg,ankle or foot.
The poor homeowner was screaming, she thought I was hurt real bad. Once I took stock of my senses. ( I wanted to make sure that I had my wallet, keys etc.) Then I was able to shimmy myself out of this 5'deep by 4'round circle in the ground. I got out and contiuned doing my inspections for the rest of the day. Thank God, I wasn't leaning over or else I would have caught my chin on the ground. Just imagine the old silent film joke where someone drops in a manhole.

I've done the same thing. Walking across a piece of ply on a construction site when all of a sudden the ply flipped up and I ended up in the pit it was supposed to be covering.
Took off half the skin on my legs on the way thru.

Years ago,I worked for a guy who took his dog with him everywhere. One day a call came from a jewelery company located on the first floor of an old mill building. They were looking to expand onto the second floor. Boss took the dog,of course! After suveying the work,as they were making their way down the stairs , they passed a place where it was possible to see out over the drop ceiling of the office. Well, the dog saw a mouse run across the ceiling and he promptly gave chase!! Got about 20ft. before he fell through,landing on a girls desk while she was typing! We didn't get the job.

Stick this one under "stupid dumb things the GC did." While roughing in a new house one winter month, the GC got the bright idea to place a piece of sheetrock (wallboard) over an opening in front of a fireplace where the hearth was suppose to go. All was alright until another installer who was new to the job step off of a six foot ladder thinking that the sheetrock was on solid ground. He fell through the floor to the floor down below. Luckily, he didn't get hurt real bad. He could have broke a neck or leg, but luck was with him. Once he got up, he let the GC have it. I thought he was going to throw the GC down the hole.

yet another example where it would have been safer if the idiot hadn't done anything.
A few years ago I lost my balance while walking up a plank to the top floor of a house. Normally I would have grabbed the nearest stud and saved myself but the project manager thought it would be safer to have a railing which they fixed in place by shooting nails thru into the stud. When I grabbed it the nails pulled straight out and down I went. I now have screws and staples holding my foot together thanks to that "safety" railing.

OK Here's mine. I bought a new fall harness because I was a little timid about the camera I had to mount 35' up on the front of a large residence. All was well going well. I was wearing my new fancy harness when I had to go back down to first floor to check camera angle on the monitor. The monitoring room had a trap door that opened to a basement 7' below. Well, the helpfull homeowner knew I had to go down to the basement later in the day to move some wires so, while I was up on the ladder he graciously opened the hatch that is just out of view when approaching this monitor room. You probly guessed it. As I was quickly walking into that room with my new fancy fall harness on, I fell into the hole sideways - caught my knee on the edge of the hole and spun around like a cat to catch the edge of the hole as I fell. Needless to say I was quite PO'ed as I hobbled around rest of day, with swollen knee to finish the job. Never fell before I put that damb harness on. Murphy strikes again! Anyone want to buy a good Miller fall harness? (Used only once!)

[This message has been edited by TwinCitySparky (edited 04-18-2006).]

[This message has been edited by TwinCitySparky (edited 04-18-2006).]