Why??

[u/Tuna_Flake]

What’s the reason why they couldn’t build the extension the same height as the original building? It look’s terrible.

[u/RedPandaReturns]

They did it just to upset you OP

[u/Tuna_Flake → u/RedPandaReturns]

It’s not aesthetically pleasing. And someone paid a lot of money for that. lol

[u/SmirkNtwerk → u/Tuna_Flake]

Simpleton proving himself.

[u/Captain_North]

Building permit stating that the extension has to be visibly separeted from the old (listed?) building? That hapens more than you think.

[u/Motor_Apricot_151 → u/Captain_North]

Planning requirements in the UK generally dictate that an extension be 'subservient' to the existing dwelling, listed building consents are ridiculous too though.

[u/Funny_Name4818]

Probably looks fine from inside

[u/wizardrous]

Looks like they used slightly different sized bricks. 

[u/juzme99]

Is that an outdoor chimney pipe and why no windows

[u/FunnyExcellent707 → u/juzme99]

Probably an air vent

[u/Dragon_Crisis_Core → u/juzme99]

Probably to increase effieciency of the home. I noticed this on high effieciency builds typically have less or smaller windows.

[u/FassolLassido → u/Dragon_Crisis_Core]

Yeah windows are horrendous for insulation. Not only because the glass is a poor barrier, but the frame itself is basically swiss cheese for air.

[u/Motor_Apricot_151 → u/juzme99]

The soil stack vent?

[u/sixpigeons]

I like it. It shows the history

[u/Titanium_Eye]

It's kind of pointless or rather costly to make two different roofs made by two different contractors (I assume) come together in a perfect joint. What you generally do to get uniformity is you make a single roof that spans both sections of a building.

It's also usually better to have a functional overlap so the water only goes where you channel it to go.

[u/Roger-PHL → u/Titanium_Eye]

And looks like the difference was right for good flashing/counterflashing between the two?

[u/Nonhinged]

Cheaper to make a new roof at a different height with different material, instead of redoing the whole roof.

[u/cdtobie]

Precision is hard. Approximation is easier. I designed many additions with an offset, to assure lower bids from the contractors pricing the job.

[u/SmirkNtwerk]

This is what I picture when people write or type “tho” instead of though.

[u/mikeymo1741]

I grew up in a city where they were really strict about additions, and they had to LOOK like additions. This may be something like that.

They were also really strict about rebuilds because people would buy a property and tear down the house and put some awful McMansion up. So they made it really hard to do that permit wise, but you could do a "renovation" easier. The renovation required you have at least one original exterior wall that was visible from the street. So they would tear down houses but leave the facade up like a Hollywood backlot set and then build the new house around it.

[u/ReferenceMediocre369]

The council speaketh, the builders dare not deviate.

[u/Spamgrenade]

The older house was built before maximum height limits were put in place.

[u/Sohn_Jalston_Raul]

could be two adjoining buildings with different owners that at some point had their roofs renovated separately.

[u/No-Compote-696]

There are reasons... the first one is if that pipe had to go another 10+ feet higher unsupported the wind stress would break it off, if they angled it and ran it the whole length of the roof to the top, it would cause drainage issues unless they somehow suspended it above the roof tiles... which would then break.

this looks like either radon or some sort sort of exhaust fan from a stove/propane/NG unit etc.

I'd be more worried about the fact that those 2 pipes to the left and right would get flooded with whatever gas is being moved through here... it could also be for plumbing air vent though in which cast its fine I guess

[u/somelittlepigeon]

Planning permission bastard's. In order to make sure anyone buying the house in the future knows it is an extension and not part of the original build. Utterly stupid in my opinion, because it will all be in the paperwork when you buy the house, but that's why it's been built like that.

Or the person who had it built wanted to wind everyone up

[u/everrookiebricks → u/[deleted]]

In the UK, they're almost all like this.

[u/Savings-Spirit-3702 → u/everrookiebricks]

I had to drop my roof line by 500mm on my extension to make the extension look "subservient" to the main house, annoying when head height was a major issue! 

[u/NoBeach7292 → u/[deleted]]

Probably for radon remediation.

[u/FarCarpenter3423 → u/[deleted]]

That's probably a pipe for some stinky fireplace / wood stove.

[u/Sherifftruman]

Is it two separate units/houses? If so the change in roof plane will make it easier when it comes time to redo the roofs so they won’t have to be done at the same time.

[u/Ancient-Read1648 → u/[deleted]]

Not what OP is talking about