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.
You are a landlord, treat it like the business expense it is and hire a contractor.
I'm actually a tenant trying not to deal with my landlord. But I fully agree with your take on it.
In that case it’s even better. Check your jurisdiction, but you might be able to get a contractor to fix it then charge your landlord.
What would be the rationale there? Bug prevention?
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.
"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.
I'm actually a tenant trying not to deal with my landlord. But I fully agree with your take on it.
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
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.
Assuming you can't just deal with the pest problem because you don't control what's on the other side of the wall, I'd put in steel wool to keep rodents out, and spray foam this side of it to seal off the insects.
Home Depot sells a high-expanding foam that's supposedly pest proof. The Great Stuff Pest Block is probably what you want.
I used the pest block one (green can) to seal a few gaps in my house and it worked great! Keeps bugs and weather out!
I would probably plan on fixing the hole by first cutting some pieces of (looks like particle board??) down to size and reducing the overall size of the gap.
Filling that thing with foam seems like a mistake in the making should you ever need to service it again and a kind of shitry diy cus I didn't know better solution.
The hole in the back is more concerning to me. If that goes to the exterior of the structure you need to much more seriously consider sealing.
like wise those seem like water pipes? maybe gas? so condensation should be a consideration. You should put some kind of sealing insulation around them to prevent condensation build up otherwise you'll be setting up a mold bonanza.
Honestly, with the tools and solutions you are proposing, just get a contractor if you are the owner. you prob gonna end up setting this shit up to be redone regardless, and thats maybe a 200 dollar job
What's on the other side of the wall?
Regardless, I wouldn't use the sealant you have. That's a huge hole. Expandable foam could do it, but it might need to be fire rated if that's a shared or exterior wall (check local code requirements), and that might be a bigger hole than foam recommends. Also, if there's nothing behind the wall, the foam might just fall back into the void. Expandable foam also looks like shit, so if the spot is visible, do something that looks more finished.
The right way to do this would be to make the opening in the cabinet large enough to properly repair the wall. Cut a rectangular patch that fits around the pipes and secure it to studs, then spackle. If you make the gap smaller, then you could use the flexible sealant, but I still wouldn't use clear.
Since you're tenant, I'd not give too too much of a fuck. Measure the dimensions of the square shaped hole & grab some mdf. It's the mildly cheapo stuff cabinets are made out of lately. You should plan to cut into two pieces so you can fit the upper and lower around the pipes. If you cut it right it should shimmy in and you can glue it. If maintenance needs to get in there they'll just cut it open again.
Very helpful! One of the pipes is hot water to a sink and the other two are cold water and wastewater. In that case I think I'll do some mdf / scrap wood then fill remaining hole with steel wool I have in hand. I'm guessing the hot water pipe wouldn't be enough to pose a fire risk with the steel wool / mdf?
Spray foam the void if possible, but most spray foams will only expand up to 2 inches. This provides a bit of insulation and protection against pests.
Might be the angle, but those shut-offs look a bit close to the wall, might be hard to do anything that will finish it off/cover the spray foam.
I work in the power industry, we use foam to fill ducts. The inside of the duct is filled with little rubber tubes (I think 1" diameter, maybe smaller), these provide structure for the foam to fill bigger holes. Without that though it isn't suitable.
If I'm being a cheap ass but also worried about fire I would get fire resistant big stuff and fill it up. may have to wait till one layer cures to close the gap enough for a second layer and then cut some sheet metal and make a crappy escutcheon type of thing to slap on top of it and call it a day
Why are you avoiding the landlord?
I'd be pretty adamant that insects are entering the property and they need to come out and spray and seal it. It's his problem to fix.
You could get some duct tape and thick plastic sheeting like people use to seal broken windows. Just make sure it doesn't melt from the hot water pipe.
Do you have a fire insurance?
Not sure if this is being facetious but yes, I do. If the materials I have on hand are a fire hazard, then I'm open to using alternatives.
Spray foam. But your landlord should be fixing this, not you
A foam sealant would be my go-to for a hole that size. Only costs a few bucks for a can.
Thanks, are there any that you'd recommend which are heat and rodent resistant?
Most of the time rodents will not go through expanding foam sealant, most of the time. If you use some steel wool and then inject the foam into steel wool that would keep even the adventurous rodents out. How much heat? Expanding foam should have a heat rating. If you are worried about just hot pipes you can get a little piece of pipe insulation and put that around the pipes first.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any experience with the foam sealants that claim to be rodent resistant (my use case was air, moisture, bug sealing). But, they do exist, so that is likely a good place to go.
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