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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Yeah but how would you burn the building down sealing up around some pipes?
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.
As I added in another comment, I'm a tenant.