In neighborhoods going through a wave of redevelopment, you see all kinds of builders constructing all kinds of homes. You may have to wade through a torrent of Home Depot specials before finding the home that fulfills all your hopes and dreams. Likewise, you may run into a situation where a builder, for reasons that are perhaps a little unclear, makes some questionable construction decisions that will end up costing you money in the long run.

Here’s a great example: Looking at the photo below, do you notice any potential problems with the home?

Hmmm

Now, let’s look at the rear of a couple of other homes on the same block to see how another builder approaches the challenge of venting.

Aha

In the first photo, a second floor bathroom appears to vent out of the party wall, and the roof deck has venting coming off of the side of the building as well. In the second photo, vents all come off the back wall, and ostensibly through the roof, though we didn’t want to climb up there to make sure.

While the setup at the first home isn’t harming anyone at this moment (though we imagine it’s a building code violation), we can picture a situation where it could become a problem in the future. Let’s say the next door neighbors sell their home to a developer who wishes to demolish that structure and build a new home that’s got the same footprint as the existing new home. All of a sudden, the first homeowner won’t be able to vent from their bathroom and will have to rework the weird PVC venting next to the roof deck.

Closer look

And good luck to that homeowner, getting the original builder to take care of those repairs. Whether you’re a barista at a coffee shop or a city councilman, we imagine getting the builder back to fix such a significant mistake would be a nearly impossible task.

So be careful out there, people!