kk, If it was made from PVC pipe I would say it is a bubbler and would be controlled from your controller but it is made out of what looks like a threaded black iron pipe which makes me think it might be a gas line but for what? Some kind of torch or maybe under some kind of BBQ set up. But why so low and close to the house. Could be a vent from your stove. Best Bet, have a plumber check out where it goes up inside the wall and goes into your attic space. Go into the attic and see if you can see a iron line coming from that wall edge across your attic to another wall that may have a valve somewhere. Hope someone can recognize it specifically because I am getting brain damage from guessing. JMHO Aloha

If you made the interior height higher, the roof would be even taller. And uglier. The lower plate height is what determines the living space height. It has zero to do with the roof. There's your interior height. It has zero to do with the roof height. The roof height has to with the width it has to span, and the pitch. The wider it has to span, the taller it will be. The higher the pitch, the taller it will be. Those things are why a big wide and deep house starts lice with a big ugly tall fat roof. Add in a tall pitch, and you get the horrid eyesore that is a 30’ high roof on a single story home. It has nothing to do with the interior living space. Theres’s room for more than twice as much living space in a house like that if it were stick framed and had a second and third floor. Which it could. It’s a ridiculously bad design. https://mcmansionhell.com/101

Thanks everyone for all the advice! I took out both giant bushes, but @olychick I left one bougainvillea! I couldnt bear to remove it as the wild birds ove it. The landscapers I hired were terrible! They did not finish the job. All they did was remove one bush and a couple dead plants. They were terrible. Luckily the nursery that came out planted everything and removed the other bush. The mastic was just too big and didnt fit the landscape so the nursery took it back. They did an amazing job planting things. I will add some fillers in between the plants but I’m waiting for it to cool down. Now I just need to find a new mailbox!

I contacted the seller and received instructions - they recommend using the baking soda sprinkled on the carpet, roll up overnight and vacuum. Flip the rug, do it again. After 2.5 weeks of airing out the smell is greatly diminished but not gone. The smell is similar to a ball of twine or burlap. The rug description says 100% wool but my guess is it's wool woven on a jute foundation and everything I read about the smell in jute is related to moisture. That explains why it's better now - the AC has been pulling moisture out of the rug for 2 weeks. Since we get about 2 weeks/year where we can actually have the windows open (!) there's either AC or heat most of the time and the moisture should continue to disappear. At least that's what I'm telling myself ;-) The seller gave me a nice discount when I bought it over the phone (always pays to call rather than purchase online) and then gave me another discount due to the smell. DH and I both really like the rug so yesterday we cut the pad and got it set up. I'm happy with it and as DH says, that's all that matters - smart man.