Should the Blocks between Joist be straight?

Hi there,
So when builders are building my home, I noticed they used some blocks (which are between joist) with cement on them , because these are ones used in footing before. So I asked the workers to replace them with regular ones. And when they replace, because they have taken out those with cement and put new one in, I found the blocks are totally not in a line, so I ask them to put the blocks in a line. Maybe I’m totally wrong. So my questions are:

  1. Should the blocks be in a line? or they should actually not in a line, it’s better to not in a line? or it doesn’t matter at all?
  2. Because they replaced the old cement blocks with new blocks, this will leave some nails in. and they take the new blocks out and put it back again for getting them in a line, this leaves more nails in. Is this creates a problem because more than regular nails have been left in the joist?

Thank you so much for helping me .

Roc kman, with all the questions, but no pictures, about the house I assume you are having built, it would benefit you well to hire an inspector to watch over the construction as it is being built.

Where are you located exactly?

Best regards,

Not an issue now, and wasn’t an issue to begin with. This builder must love you being around.

He’s being his own inspector & looking for free help on all his posts.
Listen to Larry. Where are you located?

I’m located in Los Angeles. Yup would like to have an inspector. But I also want to learn about this. So I would appreciate if any professional can answer my questions in this post.

I just called a few inspectors near my area, all of them said this is not some of their expertise…

I’d be amazed if the builder doesn’t get fed up with being micro-managed and walks, leaving “roc kman” with a partiallly built home!

Honestly, based upon your first post, if I were in your area… you couldn’t afford me… at any price!!! Too high maintenance, and not enough time in the day.

Leave the blocking alone. It’s not there for appearance. The cement wouldn’t harm anything. If by not in a line, you mean they are staggered, that was likely done to facilitate them being nailed through from the joist side. This is not the thing you should be worrying about.

It’s the windows that should keep you up at night. “Why Your Windows Leak”.

Yeap. Would have been best to leave original blocks alone, a little cement doesn’t hurt anything.

Lucky I am not the builder. I would have told you to pound sand. There was no need to replace them.

Exactly, there was a time in Construction that I participated in,
where all the plywood and 2"x4" lumber that was required to construct the foundation in the house all went back in the house. Dirty of concrete or not.
You pulled the nails off, scraped the lumber and reused it.

And as Chuck mentioned above. the blocking is nailed in an alternate fashion for ease of nailing.
Leave the Contractor alone or hire someone to oversee the work if you are that paranoid about work being done wrong.

Thanks to all your guys help answered my question directly, instead trying to teach me. I’m aware of the situation and now I just want to learn about the blocks.

Chunk, the thing is I already had them replaced the cement blocks with new blocks. Maybe I shouldn’t do so, but it is already the fact before I join this forum. The questions now are :

  1. They put them in a straight line, should I tell them to put into staggerd line? I heard from some people say the staggered line is better for anti-earthquake, while some other people say it doesn’t matter, so I can see this is a discussion.
  2. Because we take the old ones out and put new ones in, we leave more nails in the joist, is it going to be alright?

I would appreciate any professional answers to my questions to help me learning, because I want to learn and I’m frank and I don’t know much about construction. I’m here at this forum to seek professional technical infos, not to seek blaming or criticize or have someone try to teach how should I live my life, as we people all have different personalities. So you don’t have to answer my question if you just want to joke or teach me how to live my life. Meanwhile, I’m starting to call more numbers for local inspectors, but any discussion on technical is welcome.

Thank you all

#1. Doesn’t matter
#2. Doesn’t matter

Leave the blocking alone.

Stop answering these inane questions and let Mr homeowner either hire a professional or buy a book on carpentry to look at the pictures.

Only if he loves Shingles, Cluster headaches, Frozen shoulder or Broken bones. But you never know.

That was good Robert

Somebody hacked Robert’s account and used it for humor!

:lol::lol: