I posted in a bit of a state of panic. Sorry. The damaged area is directly under a window that held an ancient air conditioner for years. It's a small area between the window and the top of a built-in radiator. The area was damp and another forum suggested that it is carpenter ant damage as they like wet areas. I've seen one or two of them here over the years, but I think they are pretty much gone. It was suggested I put down boric acid, stuff it with insulation and go ahead and put the sheet rock repair back up. (and probably pray for the rest of the house, but I can't do anything about that.) Here is a link that might be useful: Pictures - right side up, it's a long thin area

SOLVED! I got what is called a service weight gasket, or doutite. Basically it's a rubber bushing that fits tightly into the cleaned out cast iron hub, then it accepts PVC pipe.

Billie Leeth, 'Most' air conditioning companies are set up in which the license holder of the HVAC company sits in an office and the tech's (and when I say tech, I use the term loosely) run service. So if you take a contractor to small claims court for some 'act' the license holder shows up to court, unless you are somehow knowledgeable enough to know 'who' was sent to your home for the actual service. The judge asks you if this man was the one who 'said --- this or that'. You say no, it must have been an employee of the company. The judge then informs you cannot quote what this person said to you because it is HEARSAY. You know this the part of show in which I reveal the magic 8 ball. Because this is all hypothetical we don't know because no information was provided to the contrary. -------------- Mike, there is a provision in the law that doesn't allow 'intentional' venting to any degree. Realize what I posted in the post a few posts back is a small snippet of the law. Venting: De minimis / Intentional / Accidental are different parts of the same law. If an operational AC system is low on charge there are instances in which improper or lax methods in servicing may have occurred and as such a contractor can take approaches to rule these things out as a cause for the refrigerant leak and be well within the range of the law. If you have an old AC scrap pile in which the equipment was used to pump down the equipment and the person recycling said equipment is knowledgeable enough to know this equipment has refrigerant in it but 'intentionally' vents the refrigerant. They are breaking the law as it was written. Mistakes do happen, the law allows for what is called 'incidents' in which something occurs in which illegal venting occurs due to sudden rupture of the appliance or in which a mistake is made by the servicer. If you are on a scrap pile and you cut into a system thinking the system is devoid of refrigerant and it blows the charge this could be deemed an accidental release of refrigerant. However, if after that system you start stripping another system and blow the charge on that system it would no longer be considered an 'accident'. In the modern era of cell phone video a case like this would essentially be a 'slam dunk'. If a AC service contractor runs a service call in which the system in question is devoid of refrigerant (flat), which in most cases signifies a leak in which recharging the system could be deemed an 'intentional' release of refrigerant due to the severity of the leak. This example is to show you the 'context' of the law and how it was written.

Hey guys! Thank you so much to everyone for posting suggestions! Just to clarify, what was previously there was the original builder's grade stock 90s countertop with an overhang. If there was a gap with the previous countertop, we couldn't tell/never thought to look for one. The countertops and kitchen backsplash are all fortunately level thanks to the shims that the countertop installers put in place. No one informed us that the cabinet base wasn't level (including the template person) until the installers started putting everything in place a week later and said they would have to shim this area. I reached out to a contractor I know this afternoon and they suggested just putting a piece of trim to cover it up, but it wouldn't match the rest of the kitchen. :/ Anyone have suggestions as to what type of service I should reach out to, ie. custom cabinet maker, general contractor/handyman, for an estimate? Thanks again for your help! :)