Scratching my head over this one...

[AHI in AR]

Obviously, capping a plumbing vent and drilling holes isn't easier than just leaving the pipe open. And it certainly doesn't work better. There was nothing around that looked like a likely source of debris that might fall in the pipe and block it. Lastly, there are no plumbing-vent-nesting birds around here.

So why would anyone do this?

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[Terence McCann]

Wow - very odd. They cap the vent when their doing a pressure test but I've never seen that before.

[Tom Raymond]

It was probably the same home owner that thought to seal the flashing with a wax ring[:-bigeyes

Tom

[Bain]

I bet the neoprene boot was cracked and leaking, and some doofus thought the water was coming into the attic around the boot AND through the top of the vent.

[waynesoper]

Maybe the mexican sound man installed a speaker in there.

[Scottpat]

That is the beauty of this job. We just need to find it and report it, but we don't have to try and understand why folks do the strangest things!

[Nolan Kienitz]

So why would anyone do this?

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Just so you could ask the question during your inspection!! [:-bigeyes

[Erby]

That is the beauty of this job. We just need to find it and report it, but we don't have to try and understand why folks do the strangest things!

It isn't pertinent to what we do, but it's kind of fun to think about the why sometimes so we can, collectively, shake our heads in amazement.

I'd give the answer as:

They used the wrong pressure test cap. A good thick one that can't be broken out with a hammer like the cheap thin ones designed for pressure testing.

The system passed the pressure test. Whomever came back to uncap the system had a drill but not a saw to just cut the cap off.

Viola, solution. Leave the cap in place and drill the hell out of the pipe.

There, I fixed it!

Though the boot flashing is gunked up and should be replaced.

-

[AHI in AR]

I really wanted to ask the seller why it was done that way. But to put it bluntly, he was hostile. The home was out in the sticks so the agent declined to show up and unlock the home, preferring to let the seller give me access. I love those!

Actually, I suspect that it was just an issue related to ignorance. After all, the same owner/self-contractor also did the following:

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Apparently, electrical tape fixes everything...not duct tape!

[boilerworks]

The code requires vents to be sized based on the cross sectional area of the pipe. It is the wrong size vent when you do not have the full cross sectional area as it was to be installed by a licensed journeyman plumber.