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Hello friends!

One of the reasons our name is Build Livable relates to the homeowner's experience. You have an important role to play in ensuring that your home fits your lifestyle. You can build for your own livability. Today, we're going to cover a specific example that applies to anyone planning a home.

Planning for Blocking

Imagine this scenario... You are about to move into your new home and it's beautiful. You're hanging a TV on the wall and it turns into a painful project. The TV is heavy and needs to be supported by the framing studs in the wall. You soon discover that the studs are a bit difficult to find and in the exact wrong place for hanging a TV. You finally get it installed, but it was painful and imperfect.

Now, let's consider a different scenario. When your home is in the framing stage, you identify specific locations around the house where you'll need to hang things on the wall. This includes the TV, coat hooks, shelves, and more. You share these locations with your team and request that they add blocking in the walls. This means filling the spaces with wood so you never have to find a stud.

Here's the blocking we added behind our TV:

Another example is the bathroom, where you're likely to need towel bars and other hardware.

These simple additions are quick and affordable. Your team will know what to do and those who install the hardware will appreciate it too.

The key, as always, is planning. In order to make this work, you'll need to have a solid understanding of your building plans and what activities will be occurring in each part the home.

When we moved into our home, we knew we wanted coat hooks in our primary closet, but hadn't yet found the right ones. When it came time to mount the hooks, it was easier because the studs didn't matter. We could space them however we wanted thanks to blocking.

What You Can Do

No one understands your lifestyle and daily rituals better than you. As a homeowner, you can help the team by thinking ahead about how you'll use the home and need it to perform.

Let's say you're planning to care for an aging family member who will use a bathtub in your home. The bathroom will work best with grab bars near the tub. If you can outline where the bars will be before drywall is installed, the team can be sure blocking is in place to support them. What you want to avoid is trying to add grab bars onto a finished wall that was never designed to support them.

One More Tip

When the blocking is in place, take photos/video and measurements so you'll know where it is after drywall is hung.

We cover blocking in our course: Custom Home Construction Navigator.

That's what I have for now. See you next week!

Lee LeFever, Build Livable​

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