Sometimes when I travel I like to try to take a look at how other people do things. Well, when I was last in Utah, I had some free time. I drove by a place that had some new construction going on, so I stopped in to take a look.

One of the first things that stood out to me was the flat roof design. That’s something we really don’t see much of in Dallas. I know that has nothing to do with plumbing, but I still thought it was really interesting.

When I stepped inside, the first thing that I noticed was multiple refrigerant lines. Now in Texas we usually have one or two big AC units to cool the whole house. This house had multiple units, each with its own set of refrigerant lines, running all over the house. This house had a serious cooling set up going on.

One of the coolest things I came across was the plumbing setup for the water heater and filtration system. They’ve got a dedicated space where everything’s neatly organized. You’ve got your water main coming in, a regulator to control the pressure, and even a drain arm to handle condensation from the water heater. It’s all laid out in a way that makes maintenance really easy, especially if you need to shut off the water. And it’s so smart because cities don’t want you messing with the meter boxes outside. This is something I wish we’d see more of in Texas homes.

Now, let’s talk about the bathroom. The shower in this place is massive—about six by five feet, giving you almost 30 square feet of shower space. But, oddly enough, it’s got just one showerhead. If it were me, I’d definitely add a rain showerhead or even a second showerhead to make the most of it. Little details like that can make a big difference.

In the kitchen, the plumbing setup was done really, really good. They’ve got a two-inch line coming up for the island sink, and they’ve planned for everything—sink, dishwasher, trash compactor, and even an ice maker. Everything was planned for, and it looked amazing.

What’s really unique is the dual roof drains. They’ve got a main roof drain and an overflow drain set two inches higher, which is smart because it prevents water from backing up into the house if the main drain ever gets clogged.

Another interesting thing was the venting setup. The vent pipe was reduced to an inch and a half as it went up through the roof, which is a bit different from what I’m used to seeing. They also used a lot of gray glue on the PVC without any primer. Not sure how I feel about that.

One thing I found a bit odd was that the gas wasn’t stubbed in yet. There was a note on the wall saying it was for the range top, so I’m assuming they’ll bring it in later. But in a house like this, I’d want everything—oven, range, you name it—to run on gas.

All in all, this was a really interesting look at how plumbing setups can vary so much from place to place. I thought a lot of this was really well done, but there are just a few changes I would have made. If you enjoy seeing how different regions handle plumbing, let me know—I’d love to do more of these on-the-road plumbing inspections.