# Contractor cut into our firewall-help!



## mouseland (Mar 2, 2011)

Ok guys be easy on me.  First post & I've had a rough day today.

So our laundry lines were moved from our master bedroom into our garage 5 months ago.  Everything worked great until 2 days ago when I heard a distinct bubbling noise in our wall that connects to our garage.  Hubby and I started looking under our house and realised that the plumber never installed an air vent!

Last night I found our garage flooded presumably because the waste water backed up.  So a call to our contractor was made & he came out with the same plumber again to refix his mistake.

At this point, I handed over the task of monitoring the plumber to my husband.  But I suggested that he take a photo after he installed the air vent, just so we could have a photo on hand showing where he installed it & how it ended up looking.  I finally came home to see the results and immediately looked at the photo, only to discover that he pulled off a 2 ft section of our firewall in order to fit in the air vent pipe.  

I'm livid to say the least.  But at this point, am turning to anyone here who can give me some solid advice on how to rectify this situation.

1. can the firewall be patched?  If so, what do you use? 
2. could a fire retardant spray foam be used to cover this entire area? or do you need to completely patch the firewall back up with original materials?

We have a single family house, 1 car garage.  And the firewall sits between both SFH & garage, along one main wall.

Any tips/advice etc would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!!!



My husband tried to explain that he had to do this because he couldn't fit the pipe into the 2 x 4 + between the laundry lines....anyways, I digress at this point


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## inspectorD (Mar 3, 2011)

Hi Mouseland,

Your going to be fine, at least the problem was fixed without lawyers getting involved. 
You just need to match the firewall material , which most likely is some 5/8 sheetrock. Not a big job at all, and probably nothing you have to rush out and do today. 
Then,  talk to the cotractor to fix the wall, and be polite, it gets things done easier. Nothing sends em running faster than someone livid and fumming.:hide:

Send us the picture if you can, we give better advice that way.


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## inspectorD (Mar 3, 2011)

That's normal, just replace the piece that is missing. 
They will cut the sheetrock to the center of the studs, and tape joint the seams, paint and it's done.
Really easy job, and the contractor should fix it if they warrantee their work, or want you to use them as a reference for future jobs. 
Please Remember, there are always home issues and jobs that have problems, only the good contractors come back to fix what is broke. Even if they have an additude.


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## mouseland (Mar 4, 2011)

Thanks for yoour advice!  And for explaining how to fix.  I feel a lot better about the situation now.  Just need to call the contractor and start that conversation.  All the best!


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