House Builder's Puzzle

You see it all the time, a developer puts up two houses right next to each other, identical except the floor plan of one is a mirror image of the other.


Make a list of the things inside the home that cannot be mirror imaged.

• hot and cold water
  
• hot and ground electrical
  
• toilet water supply
  

Anything else?

I guess it matters what you mean by cannot.

-- hot and cold water
The only things preventing mirroring these are tradition and building codes. Otherwise, no problem.

-- toilet water supply
Simple. Use tankless toilets.

-- hot and ground electrical
I assume you meant hot and neutral, as not all receptacles have a ground slot.
The only thing I can think of for mirroring these is to use old two-slot receptacles. Not a good idea, but can still be done.

Presumably a builder would follow code.

Yes. Presumably. And, presumably, the inspector would be flawless and honest. This is not always the case - ask the plumbers who were out in the rain fixing a gas connection at my house that had six code violations (according to the plumber). Six violations in about one foot of pipe and fittings.

But you didn't ask what items would violate code is they were mirrored (and the code for what year). You just said cannot.

Tankless toilets are allowed by code. So there's that one, anyway.