Electrician cut through wood beams?

Jim
by Jim

Hi,


I had an electrician come to run a wire for a microwave receptacle. It felt like he did a pretty sloppy job cutting multiple holes in the dry wall to get the job done. He also cut three wood beams complete to run the wire. Are those beams just furring to hold the dry wall or should I be concerned about this?


Thanks

  17 answers
  • Annie Annie on Jun 24, 2020

    Hi those studs are to support the wall. Is that wall load bearing? If so, you do have a problem. Unfortunately.


    Is it an interior wall? Because then it is "probably" ok. (not load bearing) You really should get a carpenter to look at it.


    The electrician should have just used a drill to put a hole in each stud, large enough to run the wire through. Is this the same electrician who wired the house? This guy doesn't know what he is doing.


    If the wall is load bearing, see if you can cut blocks to "refill" those empty spaces. But really, it would be worth paying for someone who actually knows what they are doing to take a look.


    Hopefully we have carpenters here who can help you better. Sorry

  • Jim Jim on Jun 24, 2020

    It’s a load bearing exterior wall. Those are cement blocks on the exterior of the wall. He was a licensed electrician and had great reviews but he did a real hack job in my opinion.



  • Annie Annie on Jun 24, 2020

    He left you with a lot of patching to do as well. I wonder why he didn't just slice the drywall at the ceiling line so you could cut a new sheet to size and pop it in there.

  • Jim Jim on Jun 24, 2020

    He patched it back up but it’s pretty poorly done. I will have to do a little finessing to get it right assuming this doesn’t unravel into a much bigger problem.

  • Mogie Mogie on Jun 24, 2020

    Have you contacted the electrician and asked them about this?

  • Jim Jim on Jun 24, 2020

    I asked him while he was doing the job and he told me that wood is basically just to hold up the dry wall. That’s the finder block is for the load.

  • Jan32065531 Jan32065531 on Jun 24, 2020

    Is he licensed? If he is call and complain see if the will send out an inspecter.

  • Annie Annie on Jun 24, 2020

    I just asked my son who is a licensed builder, he looked at your pic and said those studs are just furring for the drywall. The concrete blocks should be carrying the weight.


    I hope this helps

  • Jim Jim on Jun 24, 2020

    Thanks so much. I appreciate the reply.

  • FrugalFamilyTimes.com FrugalFamilyTimes.com on Jun 24, 2020

    I think you’re safe - the load is likely carried by the concrete block wall vs the wood. I guess you have some drywall patching to do. Yuck!

  • Gk Gk on Jun 24, 2020

    Sloppy unprofessional job.


  • William William on Jun 24, 2020

    He had to cut the large openings so he could cut the studs and fish the wire thru. He just made it convenient for himself. The beams/studs just hold the drywall. Nothing to worry about. He's an electrician not a drywall guy so his patch job would be sloppy đŸ˜‚ Personally I would have cut smaller holes, located the studs with a stud finder then cut into them. Another option would be to cut holes in the cabinets where a patch job would be hidden.

  • Kathy Gunter Law Kathy Gunter Law on Jun 25, 2020

    First, I would contact him to correct this issue. There was no reason for this. He could have done it from the attic. He should be responsible for repairing your sheetrock and painting it. If he can't get a match, then he should paint the entire kitchen.

    Second, I would report him on all fronts: BBB, social media, anywhere reviews are available.

    Third, most importantly, it looks like that is on a wall of concrete blocks (a bit hard to tell in the photo). If so, you are "ok" on a support issue because it looks like those are there for the sheetrock, as you guessed in your post.

    I agree, very sloppy job. Sorry you got such a bad contracting result.

  • Agnes Chrzanowska Agnes Chrzanowska on Jun 30, 2020

    I would contact your electrician to correct that. Picture shows that he ran wire through beams

  • The blocks are what’s holding your walls up and the wood is to support the drywall. I agree, it looks like it’s horrible and a mistake and he probably could have done it a little better but you should be fine. Don’t report him.

  • Taysmine Taysmine on Jun 08, 2021

    He left you with a lot of patching to do, so I'd suggest turning to a different team of electricians if you want the job nicely done. I mean, you could try doing it yourself, but it would just take too much time and effort, and it could still end up looking sloppy. If you don't know who to turn to, I totally recommend the guys over Gordon's Powers Electrician. The team is friendly and always offers a superior level of customer service. They're also all level two specialists, so you can be sure they'll do a better job than the sloppy electrician you hire, haha.

  • JohnBorn JohnBorn on Dec 07, 2022

    This electrician really dirty and carelessly did his job, to be honest, I would also be very indignant like you. The three beams that he sawed are the support for the plasterboard wall, but there are much more of them there to hold it, so you don't have to worry about that, but as for the cutouts in the wall, it's just awful. You'll have to seal them up so that moisture and dust from the outside don't get inside the wall. I remember once ordering an electrician from goldfinchelectrical.com and he did the wiring for me in the kitchen, he had to cut down a piece of the wall to do his job. Then he inserted this piece back on his own. It seems to me that a professional electrician should be like this man, and not leave holes in the wall after his work. Good luck friend!