Then there is laziness. A union carpenter
I love that you added 'union' to that. My wife is in a union (Teamster). Unions (and politics --but only because the union tells her which way to vote) are the only thing we don't talk about. The only time we have ever raised our voices at each other (seriously we don't fight) has been about unions so we just don't talk about it. I'm a small business owner and once had a Steward (carpenter of all things) walk through our office as we were moving out. He saw that we were removing the door badge-swipe-keypad things. Cost back then was about $1,200/each and we were a small startup company --and as tenants it was written into our lease that we were allowed to do the work. Because we weren't in suits and he didn't know us, he thought the company had hired non-union workers to help with the move. When we came in the next morning all of our network, data & low voltage cables were cut into 2' sections throughout the whole office. This was in the Prudential building in Boston --a union building... F'n unions... A bunch of bullies doing least common denominator work. (anyway... I'll probably get shot or banned for that comment lol)
The loop of AC (BX is a trademark) or MC cable may not pass inspection.
It won't or does not meet code. The two things in the house that do not meet code is that loop and I (intentionally) didn't put afci breakers on two kitchen circuits.... and maybe... I'm not sure, I did it so it's on me. It's safe, solid, sound, legit, etc. but may not meet plumbing code to the letter of the law --We have a bathroom that backs up against the kitchen so the dishwasher is behind our bathroom sink (under our medicine cabinet). I moved the dishwasher's water supply line from under the sink to coming off the hot for the bathroom sink. (so I could put a lazy susan in the corner cabinet where the dishwasher hoses ran). I made a bunch of built-in (in-wall, between studs) cabinets for the bathroom so there's a 4" hole in the side of the cabinet next to the sink where you can access the dishwasher's supply cutoff valve (nice, fancy, chrome 1/4 turn version of a regular ball valve). I put an access panel in the wall behind the dishwasher so you can get at everything from there too --but I'm not 100% sure that having the cutoff in a separate area/room is accessible or meets code --I just don't know. That f'n dishwasher was a pain in my ass. I'm still not 100% clear if I need a gfci blank plate above the dishwasher or if a gfci breaker & home run is 'accessible' enough (NEC 2014).
Anyway... Good news: our town inspector is my wife's uncle. We are both car guys and pretty good friends. He will often make up an excuse to get out of his house (get away from the wife) and come over to shoot-the-shit & have a beer or three. So the good news is he really helped and worked with me on my rough (let me do it in steps, not everything all at once). So I know he'll sign off on my final and either tell me what I need to fix (and then not follow up on it) or just sign if it's all good.
Bad news is (and why I ask so many questions here) I often feel like he doesn't check my work. He just signs or rubber stamps everything, assuming I know what I'm doing (and I don't know what I'm doing --this is first time for me doing all this type of work). I'd rather have a hard-ass go over every little detail (so it's all safe/to code) than someone just sign off on the work... A breaker is $40. I can put in an afci breaker then swap it back out afterwards. I have a vintage kitchen mixer thing that I restored and is basically perfect. It was my grandmother's. I paid to have the motor re-wound and spent a stupid amount of money (like $50) sourcing a cord & plug that are authentic looking to the mixer but not cracked & dangerous. I re-soldered & wired everything myself. It's fine & safe... but it pops afci breakers every time you plug it in & turn it on. So kitchen island & counter top are gfci only. No afci. But... As I said earlier: #1 if I put my name on it I want it to be done right/properly and #2, I can't really talk shit about anyone else (or their work) if my own work doesn't meet code.
Also before sealing walls check the cable. Thermostat cable from the big box stores is shaky (I've had bad luck). Two times new cable off the spool was bad and I had to re-pull.
Thanks. Wife's other uncle (it's like she's in the mafia... there's like 10,000 of them in a 5-mile radius) is an electrician. He left me a spool of (Honeywell brand) white 18/8. I have to give it back when I'm done with the house but he buys from the local supply house not the big box stores. Should I still worry? I'll do a chaser line from the tstat outlet box up to the attic either way so even if it's bad it'll be easy to re-pull... But I don't want/need that hassle. Thanks. Also, is there a place (website, tutorial, etc.) I can go to learn about wtf is going on with these hvac wires? Up at the air handler I've got wires attached to each other that are different colors. I'm capable of taking a picture of the current setup (at tstat and air handler) and then exactly matching the colors --but I'd like to know what's actually going on. What voltages are for what, what controls what, etc. Maybe the guy who hooked it up did it right... maybe he was lazy... maybe he did it confusing intentionally so that a homeowner would need to call them out for a service call in the future (company is notoriously shady)... I'd like to know about & understand everything we have under the roof.
Thanks again for all your help!