Right-o, thank you for the explanation! Sounds like a safety reason then. Adjacent cabinet it is. Thanks again!

Do not install the junction box in the same cabinet space as the dishwasher. Dishwashers can occasionally vent into their cabinets if the one way air equalization valve fails, and junction boxes are a notorious spot for electrical failures, smoke, and fires. You need to be able to get at it if something happens. Pulling your dishwasher out to get to it is not a good option. Mount it as high up as possible as well.

The suggested area is in an adjacent cabinet (https://imgur.com/5KPnFvq), and instructions specify not to install the j-box behind the dishwasher (though they don't say anything about other locations within the dishwasher cabinet). If this was a new install I'd just do it as in the picture. Given the current location of the power cable and the available space beside the dishwasher in the dishwasher cabinet though, I feel like it would be a cleaner install to just put the j-box there (seems silly to drill a hole in the side of the cabinet to run the power line into an adjacent cabinet just to run the power right back in), but I only want to do it like that if there's not a compelling (i.e. safety or code) reason not to.

Read the installation manual of the dishwasher. It will show the available/suggested areas it should be located.

Try digging down until you find foundation. Depending on age of your house and the quality of prior owners* the beds may have filled up over time with decomposed mulch and need to be emptied out anyway.

*as a rule, are schmucks who couldn't DIY themselves a hole in the ground... as you will be too, to a future owner 😉

Depending on how far the lights are apart, you might get lucky and be able to use a fish tape to run the wire from fixture to fixture using the holes drilled for access

Since you want to discard the lot to replace it, you are free to hack anyway you can to free it up. So you could use a hacksaw to cut through the plastic and metal starting at the threads just inside the toilet tank, or you could cut through the plastic lever arm enough to free the set-screw up (and then use pliers if needed).

If u have a grinder or a Dremel tool, make a slit in the screw so that u can use a flat head. Or if u have a screw extractor bit, that might work too.

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What type of lock is it?

Hmm got it, thanks for highlighting the risk there. I don’t see any exposed foundation - perhaps the answer is dirt removal and not adding dirt

Really, I'd take a good look at the whole structure and try to see if that "weird gap" isn't there for a good reason. Sometimes things like that are designed in to allow for drainage or independent movement. I've made the mistake in the past of "fixing" things that didn't look right to me, and then later finding out exactly why they were the way they were.

Adding dirt is the easy answer ...but pay attention to your house.

You just can't fill dirt up against the house as high as you want. There should be some sort of concrete/cement/block foundation and then your house built on top of that. Generally speaking your foundation can be buried and the house shouldn't be.

Your asking for trouble if you bury any of your house's cladding, be it brick, stucco, or siding.

Yeah, it wasn't one of those clamping styles, or I would have done. It would have been much easier to get everything stuffed back in the box!

Good deal, will give that a shot. Thank you!

Needs to be high enough so the water does not pool by the house. Grades don’t have to be drastic to shed water. I would make it slightly higher than that walkway in the picture. If you have low spots in the yard you may want to think about a drainage channel. Yard work is easy, but time consuming.

Well As you might have noticed from the video I'm not from the US so plaster adhesive really doesnt say anything to me. But there exist a product that is used for putting drywall on concrete walls. In sweden its called gipsputs but I don't know what its called in the US, maybe plaster adhesive? Its sounds about right. The method for using it just clotting on the wall in big patches and then pressing the drywall to the wall.

If a standard metal key can open the lock, so can his tools of similar material and size. The locksmith scammed you, as he more than likely charged a hefty sum to replace the lock (with one of poor quality even). There is no reason why he shouldn’t be able to pick it.

By the way, you don't need a pigtail for the twisted wires - you can untwist them and put them both under the screw on the lightswitch (one on each side of the screw). Note this only works on this style of screw with the brass "clamp" that the wires go under.

Thanks - would I need to build up the level of the entire plant bed to be higher than the highest point in the yard? Or just enough to get the level in the plant bed itself to slope away?

Thanks - yes, the downspouts clear the plant bed and funnel water to the part of the yard that slopes away. Would I need to build up the level of the entire plant bed to be higher than the highest point in the yard? Or just enough to get the grade in the plant bed itself to slope away?

This has gotta be between some additions or something, right? I can't wrap my head around what's been done here.

Adding another layer of drywall will help, alot. It would be better to use acoustic plasterboard however

Add dirt. Make sure your gutters are sized right.

Well if you believe this is the problem....you need to add dirt/material to change the grade. Yes...that means you will probably have to remove the plants. Are your downspouts in that area keeping water away from the foundation?