Home Improvement Today?

Who owns the sidewalk HOA, city, or you? Will anyone get pissy if you cut it? It could be a relatively simple task to just put a 4" pipe under the walk and run the cord through that. I don't know how much of a concern water is with those cables. A trench or pipe will almost certainly fill up with water in the rain.

 

Got 2 packages. Not UL listed though. Should I install?

 

WTF

Sadly, this is all too common these days

 

Definitely not skilled workers. That’s why they invented caulk. Looks like the work I see in all the new builds.

 

To add. I recently saw much worse on a custom $750K house. Unbelievable.

 

Tell them to fix it

 

I'm sure they could redo those small corners and few other pieces if needed and that would clean it up. Is your drywall completely straight? A lot of houses the drywall is bowed and that creates some challenges. Here's a trick for corners:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQsPwY-eoFI

 

Good video

 

I would be not paying them until the job is done right, that’s just apprentice quality work right there at best.

 

I cope all inside corners.

 

All the baseboard in my house was coped, I really did feel guilty mitering the new because when I learned watching grandpa that's how he did it

 

I had a guy come in that installed my hardwood floors when I bought my house years ago and he also said he would do the trim after they floor was down and included in the price. They did a great job on the floor, the trim and quarter round, not so much. Left the returns open, didn't cope the corners, gaps everywhere, etc. I called them to complain and they offered to come back and fix it but I wasn't confident after seeing that work. They took the cost of the material and labor for the trim off, I hired a carpenter that my dad knows to come in and do the work and it came out great. Trim work is one of those things that your eye is drawn to if it's not right, so it's worth getting it done with the best quality!

 

A good trim carpenter is expensive, anything that seems reasonable should be a sign haha

 

For sure, but for how often you'll be doing it I think it is worth to pay the price! I could have done it myself but I didn't want to be bothered and could make more money just working extra shift or two. Coping and trim work never interested me anyhow. I would curse myself if I walked into my house and saw a shitty gap in the trim every time I come home from work

 

The HOA owns it. Since it's a sidewalk, I'll need to pull a permit if I cut it. It's definitely going to fill up with water too.

 

Permits on sidewalks sound like an ADA nightmare.
I'd look into going under it, do you own the property on both sides of the sidewalk? Run a 4 or 6" pipe under it, maybe put a 45* elbow on each end to make it easier to get the cord thru. I'd also put a hinged or threaded cap on each end to keep some crap out of it. You could put some decorative rocks or bricks around it so the landscapers don't smack it.

 

Years ago I ran a few wires under the sidewalk via the water hose method for a huge mess but it worked. This time I ended up using a 6' long, 3/4" dia flex auger drill bit. It drilled the 6' under the sidewalk within a couple mins and I dug a small hole on the other side to find it quickly. Not sure how common this method is, but the whole job took 20 mins and that motivated me to run a few more for lighting purposes.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-3-4-in-x-72-in-Flex-Auger-Bit-53751/203872163

 

$45 Happybuy 3 Pack of 2 Channel 11000lbs per Axle Capacity Protective Wire Cord Ramp Driveway Rubber Traffic Speed Bumps Cable Protector

https://www.amazon.com/Happybuy-Pac...t=&hvlocphy=9011657&hvtargid=pla-760522543392

 

Just snagged a Makita Brad nail gun for 69 bucks. Does it matter what brand nails I use? Anyone have a preference?

 

I'm sure brand doesn't really matter but you need to stay in the gauge and length that it was designed for.