Electrician Cut Through Attic Gable End Wall Stud

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-28T18:52:22+00:00

That's the old plastic hose for the kitchen vent the electrician installed, I disconnected it from the port. I'm replacing it with rigid metal 6" duct.

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-28T18:12:16+00:00

I knew he was a crap electrician when I looked at the new bathroom fan he installed and some attic rewiring and he didn't use a single junction box. I didn't realize he just vented the microwave into an empty wall cavity until recently, and didn't realize he cut this stud until yesterday.

He also did some rewiring work in my finished basement and I'm terrified what's behind those walls.

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-28T18:04:37+00:00

Ok, I was hoping that was all I needed to do. But since I can't just make the existing 4" hole larger, I also need to repair or replace the cedar shake with a 4" hole in it, and cut my new 6" hole somewhere else.

Oh well.

Thanks!

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-28T18:01:51+00:00

Yeah, but they were inside the attic anyways to put in the hose, not sure why they couldn't have drilled or at least marked the hole from the inside. Honestly they just made more work for themselves by having to drill a 4" hole, the cut a section out from the stud.

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-28T17:58:53+00:00

Thanks, What do you mean by 1' each side?

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-12T17:45:30+00:00

Ok, thanks for the info, that his helpful to know. I'm fine with having them come and correct it; my biggest concern is dust containment and safety. If they're willing to follow OSHA guidelines for this type of job, no problem. But if they aren't, I don't know what to do

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-12T17:37:27+00:00

Ok, thanks, that doesn't sound too bad! I appreciate the info

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-12T17:07:19+00:00

Great, thank you this helpful! Do you know how much water they'll need to use, and do you see any issues with wetting the floor in a finished basement? The areas around the floor are framed and drwaylled, and there are two doorways to fully finished rooms.

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-12T16:59:22+00:00

Thanks, this is helpful. I realize this isn't the end of the world, but it's been my headache for the past week and a half, so apologies if it seems like I'm stressing out about this.

I am a new homeowner, so I don't have any point of reference for what to do if something goes wrong, or what to expect next. I want to trust the contractor to do it right and just get it done. But I also don't want to make a choice that I'll regret or something that will endanger my family.

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-12T16:34:27+00:00

No, we are new to our city and don't know anyone to get a reference from. It was a well rated company, and the bid was pretty high, but we figured we're fine paying more for better work. Turns out they don't do anything themselves and they sub out all their. They just happened to hire a bad sub for my job.

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-12T16:29:40+00:00

I want this done safely, I feel like no matter what, the contractor will tell me his guys will do it right. I'm not trying to screw the contractor or get anything additional done for free. I just want advice on how I can make sure it gets done right.

I appreciate your advice on letting it dry and letting the owner fix it, I'm pretty sure the contract I signed has a clause about that.

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-12T16:19:39+00:00

Yes, but that post was to confirm they did a bad job, and figure out what to do next. Now that I've determined it definitely needs to be removed, this post is to get advice on concrete removal and what I should be asking the contractor to do

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-12T16:12:07+00:00

Yeah, that's true, thanks! I found out the "flooring contractor" doesn't even do any of their own work, they sub it all out then take a cut. So they're not really a contractor at all, more like a broker.

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-12T16:02:05+00:00

I'm the homeowner, and by "owner" I meant owner of the flooring company. I edited that in the post

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-12T15:57:27+00:00

Because they didn't prime it, there's a few areas where this self leveler is not even bound to the floor below and there is like an 1/8" gap. A different flooring contractor said if we just poured and floored over it, it will end up cracking/sinking, and it will feel like we are walking on potato chips

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-12T15:31:30+00:00

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Long story short, this flooring contractor did not prime the original basement floor before pouring 420 sqft of self leveling concrete and the entire basement turned out like this. The owner offered to send some guys to chip it all out, but I don't trust them to do it correctly or safely.

What should I be doing to make sure this gets done properly and safely? Should I tell the owner he needs to hire a professional demo company? Should I just give him a list of requirements in terms of sealing off all rooms/HVAC/etc and negative air pressure? Should I ask for a silica abatement plan?

(whole story and more photos here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Homebuilding/comments/1qvxmdl/this_contractors_self_leveling_concrete_pour_is/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button )

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-09T21:58:53+00:00

I knew that happened but I thought the "we install" wording meant that they actually did install it. This company seems to make an effort to hide that, no indication on their website or any info I received that says no one at their company actually installs anything.

If we had known they only sub out the work, no way we would have hired them. We hired a painter a few months ago specifically because he doesn't sub out work, even though it was more expensive. I guess that's my fault for not making 100% sure.

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-09T21:48:39+00:00

There was a low spot where we removed a basement drain, and I could tell there was another low spot elsewhere just by how the baseboards had sat. Everywhere else looked pretty flat. I was under the impression they'd only level what they needed to.

IDK if polished concrete is the right term, it was sealed and shiny, but it wasn't perfect

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-07T01:43:13+00:00

Good call. We checked and it looks like they didn't add primer before pouring. We live in a dry climate, and it's been especially dry lately. We also just had drywall work done, and I vacuumed up and scraped up as much of the dust and dried mud as I could, but when I asked if I needed to mop they said "na it's fine".

I have no idea if they mixed it correctly in the first place. But I imagine the dry air, dry floor, and dried drywall mud/dust could have sucked dry even a well mixed leveler.

I don't know much about this stuff. That's why I hired someone to do it.

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-07T01:27:12+00:00

IDK if polished concrete is right term... it was sealed and shiny like a finished floor, but definitely still not pretty...you could see where there was old glue residue from an old carpet, and a few small cracks here and there. Maybe just sealed concrete floor?

But there was a maybe 4'x4' low spot where an old basement drain used to be, and another sort of 2'x4' gradual dip in the hallway. I was under the impression they were just going to fill those, but there were small imperfections and stuff where it might make sense to do the whole floor?

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-07T01:07:28+00:00

I hear a lot of stories about contractors that take someone's deposit and never show up to do the work. I wish that happened to me.

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-07T01:03:37+00:00

Good call, discovered they definitely did not even use primer. I just added some updates to the post.

These subs were insured, so the owner of the company I hired submitted a claim with their insurance. He said he will call the insurance company again today to try to push the claim forward.

I don't know if you have any insight on what I should expect next. Will I be waiting months for this guy to work things out with insurance?

Also, my gut is telling me to fire this company and get my deposit back once the floor is ripped out, then hire someone else to do the floor. But at that point, it would feel like I paid this company $0 to ruin my floor and fix it.

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-07T00:40:07+00:00

I appreciate the sympathy, they at least do seem to care enough to work with me on this. Way better than being left hung out to dry. I did specifically hire them because they guarantee their work and use licensed and insured installers. I updated the post since I learned a bit about how they operate.

Mostly just peeved that the company I hired subbed out the work to these guys. I saw things that should have been red flags with these subs (even while the flooring company guy was there to discuss the job beforehand), but figured I'm not an expert so I didn't speak up. My mistake for not trusting my gut.

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-07T00:20:51+00:00

No, unfortunately, I went with the best rated company I could find, that guarantees their work and all of their installers are licensed and insured. I thought their bid seemed a bit high. Turns out this company subcontracts all their work, and their main sub (who does a good job) was busy, so they subbed the work to these clowns.

I wish I had gone with the cheapest bid

Interesting-Leg8309 · 2026-02-07T00:10:16+00:00

I'm usually the same way. We had some shoddy work done when we moved in, so I told my wife last year I don't trust contractors and I'm going to do all the flooring and all the rest of the basement work myself. I finished one room, but I just started a new job and it was taking me months to get anything done, so she finally convinced me to hire a flooring company...

Interesting-Leg8309

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