I’d appreciate some thoughts from the experienced pros here.
I’ve gotten through my electrical, plumbing, mechanical and just last Friday, my interior framing/structural inspections. Now on to insulation.
But I’m staring at my open stud and ceiling joist bays, thinking that this is my last chance to put in the wall anything that should be there.
I’ve put in low voltage stuff (G6 and Cat5 to every room), doorbell, Monster cable speaker wire (UL approved, of course), gar opener wire (ancl 2 wall switches), thermostat wire, refer ice water line and extra gas line drops at el water heater, el stove, el central furnace and where future gas stove might go.
What am I leaving out that I might want in there in future years?
Thanks
Bruce
Replies
Blocking for handrails, towel bars , etc.
A little extra time spent on blocking now will make installation of these things MUCH easier later
You could put in empty electrical boxes with stubs of conduit up to the attic or down to the crawl space/basement. This would give you the option to move low voltage applications around in the future, and to put in new ones that haven't been invented yet.
-- J.S.
blocking,blocking and blocking..all cab runs upper an lower..behind where doorknobs will punch out the SR. TP holder and such..
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations.
What am I leaving out that I might want in there in future years?
Alarm pre-wire.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
Unused conduits running between utility area, attic, garage, etc. Will allow running more power to garage for your shop, fiber optic cable for Internet when that becomes the thing, etc. You don't need a conduit into every room, but if you can get whatever it is up into the attic or down into the basement/crawl then you can wire up most parts of the house with whatever new stuff comes out.
I agree with Shep and Sphere and would add blocking whereever you might install drapery rods and grab rails in bath for when you get old.
Blocking, conduit and empty elec boses, and digital photos of all walls so you have a road map if you ever have to update/repair/change anything. Mike
Also blocking for crown mold, picture rail, chair rail, and tall baseboard if there's any chance you'll ever want them.
Wow!!
What a collection of ideas!! Is this a great board or what!!!
I've printed out all of the suggestions and am headed back down (Manzanita, OR on the coast...about 2 hours from here) for another week of work, and will incorporate most of the suggestions you all have offered.
Thanks a billion!!
Bruce
hey! before ya go...did anyone mention 'blocking'? -- well, ferget it... just sheet off the interior with 3/4" plywood and be done with it, then ya can hang whatever ya want wherever ya want - -"there's enough for everyone"
Excellent idea! Except I think I'd use 1-1/8" or 1-1/4".
You're very thorough. Here are some others. Did your doorbell include the garage entrance (where all your friends will come to anyway)? Telephone in all bedrooms, office, and where your answering machine will be (kitchen?). Cable TV. Intercom. Power for your kitchen appliances, including the hood over the stove. Smoke detectors. Central vac. Well-blocked ceiling boxes where ceiling fans might go. Bathroom vent. Washer and drywer utilities. Outlets in garage, porches, outdoors, and for Christmas lights. Outdoor faucets.
Time capsule.
Make sure you take photos of every wall before the drywall goes up, and ceilings showing plumbing, blocking, etc.
John Sprung covered most of what I had. The only other thing that comes to mind is that you might consider installing removable panels, as opposed to plaster or mudded in drywall, around the main mechanical and electrical centers. Strategically placed these can pay dividends in the future.
A removable panel made of plywood, possibly skim coated to blend, or clear finished to celebrate what cannot be completely disguised. Done well and mounted with bevel washers and screws, brass IMHO looks quite nice with clear finished wood, these panels offer great benefit when changes or repairs have to be made.
Primarily I have seen this above and below any electrical panels they also work well in relation to plumbing fixtures and certain air handling equipment, like gaining more complete access to the condensate drain.
I have seen at least one house that virtually every mechanical or electrical component could be completely replaced without damaging any finished surface. Removable panels inside, many within closets, and out allowed complete replacement of the plumbing, electrical system and AC in a very tight time frame.
These panels can be placed in close relation to any empty conduits. The combination can save loads of time at a minimum cost.
With potentially all those cables running through the walls, is there some way one can verify that one's particular grouping is okay? We're not just talking electrical here. Even for just electrical, the average HO does not have a copy of the Code....
You may be well advised to run existing video/audio/network cables through conduit. With the technology changing so fast, you won't find yourself locked into some kind of dinosaur technology down the road....
In my "basement" (under the garage and above the lowest houselevel) I have one wood wall and a short concrete wall that had wiring and plumbing. They where never ment to be covered and moving stuff would have been a real pain.
So I took sheets of plywood and trimed them to fit. Then covered each one with wallpaper. Used a "random" pattern that did not need tight matching to look OK.
Then attached them with screws and beveled washers.
Central Vac?
Fire caulk?
Insecticide?
I run some empty conduit from the basement(or at least the service panel) to the attic.
then Video Tape every nook and cranny.
Recess can for dryer vent connection, such as: http://www.dryerbox.com/
Blockout for medicine cabinets
Blockout in master closet for a tall medicine-like cabinet for jewelry. I saw it in a magazine somewhere. Lots of small hooks keeps all that tangled stuff separate in a space that is normally wasted.
Blockout for a small wall safe.
Blockout for recessed magazine rack next to thrown if you are a reader. This got a lot of good comments in a house I sold last year.
You can rock over these blockouts and install recessed cabinets down the road if you know where to find them.
Electric outlet under lavatory sinks. Drill 1½" hole in cabinet above drawer sides for a small extension cord. Keep hair dryers and electric shavers plugged in while in a drawer. Also can be used if electric sink valves ever become the rage (and affordable).
Recessed cabinet for fire extinguishers or maybe: http://www.safehome.com/
A heavy-duty hook in the garage ceiling for a chain hoist, if you are into hobbies that can use it.
>> A heavy-duty hook in the garage ceiling for a chain hoist ...
Good thought. If you foresee lifting much more than one person's weight, put in a real beam sized for the expected load and make sure the wall is up to the task as well. The real risk of overloading a ceiling joist is not that the joist may break, but that it may break right when you've got some favorite bodily part, or friend, or child, etc. under the load.
" A heavy-duty hook in the garage ceiling for a chain hoist, if you are into hobbies that can use it"
Sounds kinky!
After climbing in a client's attic...blocking for ceiling fans!!!
Peace,
MartinHeads I win, tails you lose.
Extra pieces of drywall floating in the wall will stop noise better than insulation.
Take digital pictures of it all.
You can located all the studs by marking it on the floor.
Is there enough plumbing clean outs?
Sprinkler line under future driveway.
Sprinkler line under future driveway.
Ooh, that's a good one. Really, a pvc sleeve under the paving & sidewalks is probably a good idea al around (not just the irrigation, but the LV landscape lights, the driveway sensor, anything that gets to skip the bore-under-the-concrete-for-one-little-thing exercise . . .)Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
After you put all of these great recommendations in place, take pictures of all of it. Hold a ruler up as point of reference. This way you can figure out where that pipe is before you drive a screw into what thought was blocking. My digital camera has a feature that lets me stitch pictures together. Here's one that shows where the wiring, vents and blocking is in my master bath.
Quickstep
Thanks. I've video taped it all, but I'm also sketching out on paper where all the blocks and pipes are. Takes a bit of time, but I've got lots of that.
One other point raised above was insecticide. Because I'm on the coast, it seems the local ant population views us as intruders...or that we're building this house just for them. I spoke to some local exterminators, who suggested I spray all wall cavities with borate. I'm headed down this morning to do just that...after, of course, I install some of these good ideas.
Thanks again. I'm gone for the next 2 weeks.
Bruce
Another trick you can do with these pictures is get a digital projector with a zoom lens. Set it up on a stand at exactly where the camera was, and you can project the picture of the open stud bays on the finished wall. Use doors, electrical boxes, etc. to line things up exactly. Then you can hit the wood and not hit the wires, just like x-ray vision.
-- J.S.
One more blocking thing which I don't think anybody's mentioned: blocking for curtains.
I haven't taken the time to read through this thread all the way yet but here is a link to the best blocking discussion I think we've ever had here. http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=32934.1
Kevin Halliburton
"The Greek comic poets, also, divided their plays into parts by introducing a choral song, ... they relived the actor's speeches by such intermissions." Vitruvious, (Book V)
Bruce,
Be absolutely sure to add in whatever you can think of to take advantage of all the wireless technology that will be coming out soon. Someone I know spent a pretty penny on cat5 and optical and cable 2x over.
BTW, if it's not obvious, I"M KIDDING. IMO other than empty conduit (and that's pushing it) you can't plan for the future.
Jon