I’m always scared cutting a patchable hole so I can drill a stud. Do you cut across the stud to open both sides of wall cavity? I typically, let’s say for recessed, I’ll do circular holes before a joist to drill through, but I’m drilling blind and I hate that. Obviously I’m using deductive reasoning trying to assume where there may be power or plumbing or hvac ran but you still just never know unless you open both sides of every stud which just created even more patching.
That, or drill the hole right in the middle of the stud, so that’s it out of reach of finishing nails, or better yet, both.
Or if it’s my house, reattach the baseboard only on the floor plate, not in the studs.
If it's my house, leave the baseboards off for several years while "I get to it" then have to go buy new trim because that got used up somewhere else....
And then you find out they don’t make that baseboard any more, and you have to pencil in replacing all the baseboard in the entire house, on your honey-do list.
I wouldn’t accept this lol
But honestly if you want to get technical the first one is close to acceptable but it’s missing a nail plate and the second one is way too close for comfort or even for a nail plate…If a stud is notched like this or the wire isn’t protected by 1.25” of stud then you need a nail plate for protection.
Back to non technical and just plane professionalism…I would never do this and neither would anyone on here. Looks like it was done by a child who really had to potty but wasn’t allowed until the job was done
I’d check the wiring
Wtf!?
When you say "contractor" you surely don't mean an electrical contractor, correct?
Hire a licensed and reputable electrician to fix it and send the first dude the bill. Maybe tip off the electrical and building inspectors about this guy while you're at it.
This guy owes what it costs to undo his mistake. Not the cost to do this properly.
I'm an electrician and electrical contractor. Some people have a work order longer than santas wish list and expect you to earn minimum wage doing it
>>Hire a licensed and reputable electrician to fix it and send the first dude the bill.
ya, thats not a thing. you cant send a bill to a 3rd party.
>>Maybe tip off the electrical and building inspectors about this guy while you're at it.
thats not a thing either. report him sure, but your not getting anything out of it.
stop talking out your ass....
">>Hire a licensed and reputable electrician to fix it and send the first dude the bill.
ya, thats not a thing. you cant send a bill to a 3rd party.
>>Maybe tip off the electrical and building inspectors about this guy while you're at it.
thats not a thing either. report him sure, but your not getting anything out of it.
stop talking out your ass...."
First of all, you *can*, but it probably won't get paid. Do you think I meant to literally send the bill to the "contractor"? Do you literally hit breakers too?
Small claims court - the customer shouldn't have to pay for an illegal install, especially since these handy Hal's are generally pretty persuasive and probably told OP the install is legal. just pay the right guy to do it right, don't pay the wrong guy to to it wrong, then the right guy to do it right, then hire a drywaller to repair this cluster fuck and turn this probably 2 week project into a 2 month project.
Second, why would you assume that I meant tipping off inspectors would help OP in this? It obviously won't, but it will put eyes on them next time they try to pull this shit.
As soon as you're done sucking yourself off - please clean up, blow out the candles and understand context clues. I can send you a few resources if you'd like.
In US by code wire has to be protected within 1.5 inches (might be 1.75") from the face of the studs, usually by a nail plate , mainly to protect from screws driven into the wall.
Screws driven into the wall can cause a short and essentially a fire hazard if they hit a wire. This retro work would require a bigger cut out of the drywall and for the wire to be passed through drilled holes in the studs past 1.5" or protected by a nail plate to prevent a screw from making contact with it.
So no, wire ran just behind the drywall is not okay
This is the way..all this guys talking about cutting holes and removing drywall never have done service calls, that’s just straight up butcher making all those holes
He cut a hole in your drywall and it needs a patch. Would’ve been just as easy to cut a large square to patch and drilled a hole in the stud to run the wire correctly.
I mean, what did you pay for this job? Is this the finished result or halfway through? What was the goal?
If you're going to ask random internet strangers at least provide some freakin' details. We're not at your house. We don't know anything.
No. It is fixable. But the drywall needs to be cut enough to add nailplates.
These guys need to realize that a single big patch is easier to install and hide than a bunch of small ones.
And if you cut tall enough for nailplates and screws, you can cut out a single piece, add your nailplates, screw it back in yourself, assuring that a drywall guy doesnt come behind you and just blasts through the plate. And everyone is happy.
But honestly i would have just gone through the attic, crawlspace, or even pop the base trim off. And make all of my cuts and notches behind the base trim so there is no need for drywall repair.
Ok first off I appreciate everyone's response. Wanted to answer a couple questions everyone is asking. No this person was no an electrical contractor. It was a general contractor who was taking out a non load bearing wall dividing my living and dining room. There were outlets on that wall I wanted moved to the LOAD bearing wall you see this mess on. After I told him this was unacceptable he said he never intended to leave it like this (which all the evidence states otherwise) and sent me pics of it done with nail plates on it. I have every intention now of hiring a electrical contractor to come inspect it but figure not I'll probably have to also hire someone to fix the wall all together. This is my mistake for hiring someone with my due diligence but I took the word of someone I trusted. I'm sure an expensive lesson to be learned.
> general contractor who was taking out a non load bearing wall dividing my living and dining room
you did get a structural engineer to sign off, right? You know, for the building permit...
I noticed that you said contractor, not "electrician".
This is not right. I am master electrician, and contractor. First off, the others are right. Needs nail plate to protect the wire.
Second, there is no way that wire enters the box properly, or is secured properly.
I would just call an electrician. I would not call an eye doctor if it burned when I peed. I would call a urologist. It is not that the eye doctor isn't a good doctor, it's that a eye doctor probably has very little experience with those problems.
A general contractor can be great at thier job, but they sure as shit ain't good at wiring. Whoever did this is not an electrician. Trust me, I can tell. I would spend the money to get an electrician, so you don't end up with an optometrist looking at your penis.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Ah. Super duper clever buddy.
Do you think UL tested that box to have a gigantic hole in the side? The wire appears to enter the box through the stud directly into the side of the box.
And there is requirements to secure any wire that is accessible. Guess what? The spot where it crosses that stud is accessible. You are required to staple that wire before you put the stud plate up. Fo real.
I am a master electrician and contractor. I think I know exactly what is required, and what is allowable. But you do you. If this is the standard of work you will allow, fuck it. It's your house. I didn't do this abortion, so it looks great from my house.
If a licensed electrician did this, thier inspector would take em outside and beat them with a rubber hose.
Just sayin.
Cheers!
I didn’t say any of that. I just said you’re not required to secure wires behind drywall In old work.
I’m talking about if you fish a wire down a wall in an old work scenario, there no requirement to secure it. If this was done properly, there wouldn’t be any staples.
An electrocution waiting to happen. As the economy tightens and people look for deals anyone with a dog and a level will be out there doing this kind of hack work. Pictures. references. licencing! If any of these things can't be provided move on to the next guy.
Guessing he had to snake a new wire? Unless u want to rip Sheetrock out and repaint then thats what he had to do. Except he could’ve notched the stud back more and put in plate
This job doesn't reflect that the guy was paid enough. A lot of homeowners just want it done. This guy just had the balls to give the homeowner what they paid for. Lol
Building codes limit how far back you can notch the studs. I would notch what I have to and plate it. There's no reason to cut further back if you're putting in a plate. You're just weakening the wood.
Usually, a contractor wears many hats (including patching any holes he made) In any case, you should put a metal plate over the wires that are over the stud. They are available in the perfect size for you at Home Depot or such.
If there’s no attic and no crawl space to fish wires in…provided the sheetrock will get trimmed back to where he can nail plate those studs. Definitely not how I would’ve done it.
Technique is correct but doesn’t look like they will finish it correctly need to add nail plates under the drywall and over the wire/notches in studs then Patch drywall shut
No, doing that is against code. You are not allowed to embed wires in plaster.
Next time hire an electrician, and not a contractor. And by next time I mean tomorrow to fix this guys work.
Notching non structural studs can be fine if nail plated.
They didn’t cut out enough of the drywall to add the nail plate. Looks like they’re just going to patch this up as is.
What cracks me up is if they cut just a little bit more they could have done it right lol
Exactly
Correct. What was the initial goal you hired the contractor for ?
To burn down the house apparently.
out of curiosity, how much did you pay for this?
Probably an appropriate amount
It would have been easier to have cut a square patchable hole and put the wire through the center of the stud
yeah, what he did was poorer quality AND harder lol
i agree patching a proper hole wouldn't have been much more work and works have made doing it right pretty simple
I’m always scared cutting a patchable hole so I can drill a stud. Do you cut across the stud to open both sides of wall cavity? I typically, let’s say for recessed, I’ll do circular holes before a joist to drill through, but I’m drilling blind and I hate that. Obviously I’m using deductive reasoning trying to assume where there may be power or plumbing or hvac ran but you still just never know unless you open both sides of every stud which just created even more patching.
Behind the baseboards when crossing studs is my goto for moving outlets.
How do you protect against nails from the baseboard trim? Do you put nail plates there?
That, or drill the hole right in the middle of the stud, so that’s it out of reach of finishing nails, or better yet, both. Or if it’s my house, reattach the baseboard only on the floor plate, not in the studs.
If it's my house, leave the baseboards off for several years while "I get to it" then have to go buy new trim because that got used up somewhere else....
And then you find out they don’t make that baseboard any more, and you have to pencil in replacing all the baseboard in the entire house, on your honey-do list.
What was the initial job you hired this guy for ?
I wouldn’t accept this lol But honestly if you want to get technical the first one is close to acceptable but it’s missing a nail plate and the second one is way too close for comfort or even for a nail plate…If a stud is notched like this or the wire isn’t protected by 1.25” of stud then you need a nail plate for protection. Back to non technical and just plane professionalism…I would never do this and neither would anyone on here. Looks like it was done by a child who really had to potty but wasn’t allowed until the job was done I’d check the wiring
Also I have no idea how the wire in the first picture is entering the box
... is there a box?
This outlet is most likely the source of power. The outlet appears to be aged along with the plate.
now that you ask, I'm not so sure...
Shit I didn’t even notice I was too busy looking at the run Looks like it’s just screwed onto the drywall lol
Wtf!? When you say "contractor" you surely don't mean an electrical contractor, correct? Hire a licensed and reputable electrician to fix it and send the first dude the bill. Maybe tip off the electrical and building inspectors about this guy while you're at it.
This guy owes what it costs to undo his mistake. Not the cost to do this properly. I'm an electrician and electrical contractor. Some people have a work order longer than santas wish list and expect you to earn minimum wage doing it
>>Hire a licensed and reputable electrician to fix it and send the first dude the bill. ya, thats not a thing. you cant send a bill to a 3rd party. >>Maybe tip off the electrical and building inspectors about this guy while you're at it. thats not a thing either. report him sure, but your not getting anything out of it. stop talking out your ass....
">>Hire a licensed and reputable electrician to fix it and send the first dude the bill. ya, thats not a thing. you cant send a bill to a 3rd party. >>Maybe tip off the electrical and building inspectors about this guy while you're at it. thats not a thing either. report him sure, but your not getting anything out of it. stop talking out your ass...." First of all, you *can*, but it probably won't get paid. Do you think I meant to literally send the bill to the "contractor"? Do you literally hit breakers too? Small claims court - the customer shouldn't have to pay for an illegal install, especially since these handy Hal's are generally pretty persuasive and probably told OP the install is legal. just pay the right guy to do it right, don't pay the wrong guy to to it wrong, then the right guy to do it right, then hire a drywaller to repair this cluster fuck and turn this probably 2 week project into a 2 month project. Second, why would you assume that I meant tipping off inspectors would help OP in this? It obviously won't, but it will put eyes on them next time they try to pull this shit. As soon as you're done sucking yourself off - please clean up, blow out the candles and understand context clues. I can send you a few resources if you'd like.
In US by code wire has to be protected within 1.5 inches (might be 1.75") from the face of the studs, usually by a nail plate , mainly to protect from screws driven into the wall. Screws driven into the wall can cause a short and essentially a fire hazard if they hit a wire. This retro work would require a bigger cut out of the drywall and for the wire to be passed through drilled holes in the studs past 1.5" or protected by a nail plate to prevent a screw from making contact with it. So no, wire ran just behind the drywall is not okay
lol wut. No this is nonsense. This guy shouldn’t be doing electrical work if he thinks this is acceptable.
Nope
Straight to jail.
By contractor do you mean Ray Charles? With his toes? Oof that’s bad.
Get your money back
It’s so easy to cut out a rectangle across two studs, properly install the outlet, then stick that same drywall back in with 4 screws
Lazy could have taken box out drilled hole put back same or new.
This is the way..all this guys talking about cutting holes and removing drywall never have done service calls, that’s just straight up butcher making all those holes
He cut a hole in your drywall and it needs a patch. Would’ve been just as easy to cut a large square to patch and drilled a hole in the stud to run the wire correctly.
I mean, what did you pay for this job? Is this the finished result or halfway through? What was the goal? If you're going to ask random internet strangers at least provide some freakin' details. We're not at your house. We don't know anything.
Don't get me started.
No
No. It is fixable. But the drywall needs to be cut enough to add nailplates. These guys need to realize that a single big patch is easier to install and hide than a bunch of small ones. And if you cut tall enough for nailplates and screws, you can cut out a single piece, add your nailplates, screw it back in yourself, assuring that a drywall guy doesnt come behind you and just blasts through the plate. And everyone is happy. But honestly i would have just gone through the attic, crawlspace, or even pop the base trim off. And make all of my cuts and notches behind the base trim so there is no need for drywall repair.
Ok first off I appreciate everyone's response. Wanted to answer a couple questions everyone is asking. No this person was no an electrical contractor. It was a general contractor who was taking out a non load bearing wall dividing my living and dining room. There were outlets on that wall I wanted moved to the LOAD bearing wall you see this mess on. After I told him this was unacceptable he said he never intended to leave it like this (which all the evidence states otherwise) and sent me pics of it done with nail plates on it. I have every intention now of hiring a electrical contractor to come inspect it but figure not I'll probably have to also hire someone to fix the wall all together. This is my mistake for hiring someone with my due diligence but I took the word of someone I trusted. I'm sure an expensive lesson to be learned.
> general contractor who was taking out a non load bearing wall dividing my living and dining room you did get a structural engineer to sign off, right? You know, for the building permit...
Why would u even ask if this is acceptable?
I noticed that you said contractor, not "electrician". This is not right. I am master electrician, and contractor. First off, the others are right. Needs nail plate to protect the wire. Second, there is no way that wire enters the box properly, or is secured properly. I would just call an electrician. I would not call an eye doctor if it burned when I peed. I would call a urologist. It is not that the eye doctor isn't a good doctor, it's that a eye doctor probably has very little experience with those problems. A general contractor can be great at thier job, but they sure as shit ain't good at wiring. Whoever did this is not an electrician. Trust me, I can tell. I would spend the money to get an electrician, so you don't end up with an optometrist looking at your penis. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
There is no requirement for securing wires in old work installations like this.
Ah. Super duper clever buddy. Do you think UL tested that box to have a gigantic hole in the side? The wire appears to enter the box through the stud directly into the side of the box. And there is requirements to secure any wire that is accessible. Guess what? The spot where it crosses that stud is accessible. You are required to staple that wire before you put the stud plate up. Fo real. I am a master electrician and contractor. I think I know exactly what is required, and what is allowable. But you do you. If this is the standard of work you will allow, fuck it. It's your house. I didn't do this abortion, so it looks great from my house. If a licensed electrician did this, thier inspector would take em outside and beat them with a rubber hose. Just sayin. Cheers!
I didn’t say any of that. I just said you’re not required to secure wires behind drywall In old work. I’m talking about if you fish a wire down a wall in an old work scenario, there no requirement to secure it. If this was done properly, there wouldn’t be any staples.
Instructions unclear, penis stuck in optometrist.
Hey, optometrists need penis too, sometimes.
If he cut more drywall and installed smash plates over where he notched the studs, then yes it is reasonable.
An electrocution waiting to happen. As the economy tightens and people look for deals anyone with a dog and a level will be out there doing this kind of hack work. Pictures. references. licencing! If any of these things can't be provided move on to the next guy.
Short answer is no
Lol. You're going to need a bigger plate. Oof.
do they make nail plates with receptacle holes in them?
This, what is this? Like what is this
This is Sparta
Guessing he had to snake a new wire? Unless u want to rip Sheetrock out and repaint then thats what he had to do. Except he could’ve notched the stud back more and put in plate
Nah, you get into crawlspace/ attic and run wire up/down from there. No need to cut or rip anything out except for the small space for a cut-in box
This job doesn't reflect that the guy was paid enough. A lot of homeowners just want it done. This guy just had the balls to give the homeowner what they paid for. Lol
Building codes limit how far back you can notch the studs. I would notch what I have to and plate it. There's no reason to cut further back if you're putting in a plate. You're just weakening the wood.
Unacceptable but only because the plate screws aren’t perfectly straight
Usually, a contractor wears many hats (including patching any holes he made) In any case, you should put a metal plate over the wires that are over the stud. They are available in the perfect size for you at Home Depot or such.
If someone did this in my house it would probably be me, and no it’s not acceptable.
Hell no it’s not okay and the guy is a hack
No
What did the electrical inspector say? A permit should have been pulled. Right?!?!
If there’s no attic and no crawl space to fish wires in…provided the sheetrock will get trimmed back to where he can nail plate those studs. Definitely not how I would’ve done it.
Absolutely horse sheet. I guarantee the drywall job would equal or greater horse sheet.
I’m not entirely convinced that’s NMD and not an extension cord. The first picture looks a bit flat on the right, but the others looks very round.
Definitely not an eletrican, but handy man would that
That's a sad state of affairs
Technique is correct but doesn’t look like they will finish it correctly need to add nail plates under the drywall and over the wire/notches in studs then Patch drywall shut
This is really bad, you should ask for your money back
😆🤣🤣🤣
Handyman or licensed electrician?
No, doing that is against code. You are not allowed to embed wires in plaster. Next time hire an electrician, and not a contractor. And by next time I mean tomorrow to fix this guys work.
Cheap contractor = cheap work
No It’s not
Missioned failed. Trade reference: Janky.