Relocated the dryer vent

[KC]

Sometime in the last couple years I rerouted the dryer vent to exhaust into the garage because I wasn't ready to rebuild the master closet to take it outside where it should be (person builder either  buried it in the slab or went under the slab and brought it out with half of it below grade.  Didn't work real well
).   So Sunday I tore out the shelf cubby thing that was in the way in the closet, and chiseled/cut/broke though the exterior brick and fixed it.  It was a large PITA and will result in me rebuilding the entire closet (not just the shelf cubby!!)... but I've been irritated about it since the day we moved here in November 2011.  My 'fix the builder's mistakes' list is down to a couple things now.  

[Robert Adams]

Builders do everything to hide penetrations in the roof and walls from the front of the house. However they don't have a clue and don't care what the detrimental effect is. Have seen allot of houses since the late 90s with the dryer vent run in pvc and buried under the slab. Problem is the outlet is now at or below grade and pvc is not an approved pipe for a dryer. These types of vents lead to dryer fires. And years ago builders liked to dump the dryer vent in crawlspaces of pier and beam houses.

[daddo]

In New Braunfels there is a home I go to check the system and the dryer vents into the attic. Every year for 16 years I check the system and every year I tell her it is venting into the attic. Without her knowledge,  I finally started vacuuming the space in the attic around the vent area where the most lint collects to help prevent a fire.  I offered to fix it myself but every year she will have her handy man do it.   



 In the town of Marion there is a Commercial building (An Engineering company) who erected the new building and had 2 new heat pump Lennox split systems installed. They never worked well from the start.
  In the winter, one system would trip on high head psi and the refrigerant charge would be way off. The original HVAC company said it was working fine. I figured the indoor cfm or air flow inside would be the problem. So I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was causing this, only to find all cfm/airflow readings normal. Pulling my hair out I was determined to find the problem on my next trip there. It was by chance the system shut down via the thermostat but the outdoor unit kept running. That's when I found out the systems were crossed. The 4 ton was connected to the 3 ton and visa verse.

 Another new home in New Braunfels two years ago. The 4 ton system never worked well at all. 2 story. The architect and builder left no room for a plenum for the air handler, so the contractor cut the plenum down to fit a 6" x 20" slot between the framing.  I would imagine there were many homes built the same way.   ?


  Not all builder related, but fun to mention.

 This one escaped the inspector I guess. New home, leaking on ceiling, also no aux drain or aux pan switch. I never tire of looking at it.

[Robert Adams]

I thought water would drain uphill.....

[KC]

Builders do everything to hide penetrations in the roof and walls from the front of the house. However they don't have a clue and don't care what the detrimental effect is. Have seen allot of houses since the late 90s with the dryer vent run in pvc and buried under the slab. Problem is the outlet is now at or below grade and pvc is not an approved pipe for a dryer. These types of vents lead to dryer fires. And years ago builders liked to dump the dryer vent in crawlspaces of pier and beam houses.

The underground is indeed PVC.  The same builder did a proper job on the house next door and several others in the neighborhood, but I've also seen another one like mine.   Mine was worse still because they didn't put the vent behind the dryer.  It was almost in the middle of the washer and dryer, but just enough wrong so the washer had to be 18" away from the wall.  Putting it in the proper location costs quite a bit of space at the floor of the master closet.  Perfect place for a shoe-shelf.

[fredhargis]

My last house had all manner of truly half-butt things done by the builder/owner, most of them in the name of being cheaper. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who had to straighten out such crap (actually maybe I'm not glad to see it, but misery loves company). I got everything I found corrected only to sell the house last year for what we paid.
Wife wanted to buy another place she found.

[Robert Adams]

The underground is indeed PVC.  The same builder did a proper job on the house next door and several others in the neighborhood, but I've also seen another one like mine.   Mine was worse still because they didn't put the vent behind the dryer.  It was almost in the middle of the washer and dryer, but just enough wrong so the washer had to be 18" away from the wall.  Putting it in the proper location costs quite a bit of space at the floor of the master closet.  Perfect place for a shoe-shelf.

Ugh I hate a washers and dryers that stick out from the wall. When I redid our laundry room I stacked our units. The dryer vent runs through the wall into the garage then a 90* and about 6' through the exterior brick wall. I built a box around the vent to prevent damage. I didn't want the dryer vent making a 90 inside the wall if I could help it. 

        Oh and as for the stacking arrangement, it has been great. More usable floor space and the dryer is at a comfortable height. Course if I had the room I'd love them side by side and build a box under them about 3' tall. That puts the doors at a height that doesn't stress your back.

[rlnguy]

We just had a guy out to clean the fireplace chimney. As part of that, he also cleaned the dyer vent.
We remodeled a few years ago-moved the laundry. Contractor dropped the dryer vent, through the floor, in PVC, ran about 5 feet, to a 90 bend, through the rim joist, into the old crawlspace. There, he duct taped it to the old flex vent line, that ran 6 feet to where it exited, through the block and brick.
I hadn't ever seen PVC for a vent, but didn't really think about it.
Chimney guy "educated" me (and scared SWMBO), a bit-and offered to redo it in metal-and instead of all the flex and bends, punch a new hole, through brick, and do it right-shortening the entire run to about 6 feet,instead of almost 15.
For this, he quoted me 1100$ !
considering it is all exposed, and easily accessible, (and gave me a good excuse to buy a couple tools), I'm doing it myself.
I figure it will save me well over 1000$, (including the material and tools) that I can spend on something else.
Shoddy work, seems to be the usual anymore.

[Herb G]

When I first started doing electrical work, I got sent out on service calls with a mechanic. We got a rash of calls in a brand new neighborhood one time.
About 40 houses had problems with the lights staying on.
These homes were less than 8 months old.
Original contractors packed up & left town months before.

I open the panel to see what's going on, first thing I notice is the breakers hanging there. Not snapped in like they should be.
Then I notice the main breaker is a Square D. All the breakers are GE.
No small wonder they didn't quite fit in the panel.

They cheaped out & got GE breakers instead of Square D because they were fly by night electricians. We changed out about 1600 breakers in 3 weeks.
The company that built the homes was back charged a ton of money when we got through with them.

[daddo]

When I first started doing electrical work, I got sent out on service calls with a mechanic. We got a rash of calls in a brand new neighborhood one time.
About 40 houses had problems with the lights staying on.
These homes were less than 8 months old.
Original contractors packed up & left town months before.

I open the panel to see what's going on, first thing I notice is the breakers hanging there. Not snapped in like they should be.
Then I notice the main breaker is a Square D. All the breakers are GE.
No small wonder they didn't quite fit in the panel.

They cheaped out & got GE breakers instead of Square D because they were fly by night electricians. We changed out about 1600 breakers in 3 weeks.
The company that built the homes was back charged a ton of money when we got through with them.

   You can tell they did this when the cover is bulged out.  Didn't use a big enough hammer to get'em in there.