This is for a rental unit, so I’m trying to keep the cost low, while also sealing it away from silverfish. I have very fine steel wool on hand as well as a tube of DAP ultra clear flexible all purpose sealant.

  • BombOmOm@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Sealing a basic hole is a straightforward job that doesn’t require $100 - $400 for a contractor to do. His business sounds like it has one employee (himself) and sending that employee to complete basic jobs is quite logical. While a contractor could certainly get the job done, I have seen my fair share of contractors that are actively bad at their jobs and will produce a worse result than researching the issue and solving it in-house.

    • Hello_there@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      “this is for a rental unit so I’m trying to keep cost low”

      This sounds like the kind of BS that gives you apartments that are infested by bugs and still somehow charge 4k a month.
      He says there are bugs already. Just lucky it’s silverfish and not cockroaches. Do the job correctly and it will save money in long term.

        • Hello_there@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Imo, duct tape the shit out of that. I had a similar hole in my apt, and I just did maybe paper over it and then long strips down, layering them a bit, and then over, and it all gets a bit fucked in the middle, but point being you can get a seal. Cost is a half a roll of duct tape

    • Belgdore@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      If he messes it up based on internet research and burns the building down, or causes some other harm to a tenant then he’s going to have a lot harder time dealing with the insurance claim than if he hired someone whose job it is to do that kind of thing.

      As a business expense the contractor price is tax deductible as well.

        • Belgdore@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Wrong foam insulation resulting in overheating or toxic/ flammable off-gassing, wrong amount of foam, attaching something conductive to the copper pipes, accidentally nicking a wire in the wall, I don’t know about a billion things could go wrong, and you don’t want it to be your fault if it does.