Housing Item Limit and Building Blocks

               ==Building Blocks==
[[File:Building_Block_Example.png|thumb|275px|Examples of building blocks when placed in a house. <br><br> The distance and angle is slightly different to accommodate the (square) Tile in the top image and the (biggest) Room Divider in the back was scaled down to its smallest size. All other items are at their normal size. The ratonga standing here gives a sense of normal scale.   ]]
[[File:Building-blocks-raiiny-example.jpg|thumb|275px|An example of extreme, skillful building block use by decorator, Raainy. Published on Maj'Dul under Miisty as "Perfectly Ridiculous Sanctuary". The ''entire'' space has been covered with building blocks. Click to see full size. ]]
[[File:Perfectly Ridiculous Sanctuary|thumb|right|275 px|A video tour of the house pictured above. ]]
Over the years what does and doesn't count as an "item" that reduces the item count has changed. 

In late 2013, one item category was split off into its own category and given an item count that matches the item count of "normal" furniture.

To help make sense of these, the various options within the category are addressed first. 

'''Types of Building Blocks'''

*'''Tiles''' are any square (equal on all "side"), flat building block items that can be easily places on the floor. On occasion, items of this shape and thickness will not have ''tile'' in the name, but will have ''square'' instead.
:*'''Rounded tiles''' are a polygon in shape, rather than round, but function in the same way as tiles. They tend to be smaller in size when initially placed. 
*'''Walls''' were the first type pf building block added to EQ2. The first kind still have the name "Room Divider". 
:*'''Room dividers''' these are walls that can easily be placed to divide up areas in a room. Walls with this name will always have a small ledge along the bottom portion of the wall, while the one described nest do not. 
::*'''Narrow dividers''' are walls that will appear taller than the tall version in the examine window, due to the fact that they are an elongated rectangle that's taller than it is wide. The name can be confusing, but once you place the next type described, the name of these dividers makes sense.   
::*'''Tall dividers''' appear larger in general than the Narrow walls described above and, when initially placed they do take up more overall space. They are still rectangular in shape, but each side of the rectangle is more "balanced", making them appear less narrow than the Narrow dividers. 
*'''Blocks''' (not to be confused with the general category name) come in two types:
:*'''Full blocks''' are cubes, equal on all sides and larger than the next type described. 
:*'''Half blocks''' are quite literally half of a normal Full block.
:*'''Triangles''' shaped as one would expect, but unlike other blocks which appeared in normal tradeskill recipes, these must be purchased after gaining faction in [[Maldura]] by completing the [[Tradeskill Timeline]] quests there.
*'''Stairs''' are flat and rectangular and, like tiles, can easily be placed on a floor. They have a slight bit of depth to them, like an individual stair you'd find in the real-world.  
*'''Railings''' are small and very narrow, but not unlike a miniature version of the stair building blocks. In scale they mimic the size of real-world railings relative to the other building blocks, but they are flat on all sides.
*'''Columns''' are pillars similar to those seen in real-world classical Greek architecture. There are many types that include the word column of pillar in the name, but most will have a wider base and top.   
:*'''Tall Column''' are typically smooth cylindrical pillars that are more narrow than they are broad.  
:*'''Short Column''' are just like the tall version, but they are broader than they are tall.  
*'''Doors''' come in a wide variety of styles, most of which can be opened and closed after they are placed.
*'''Triangles''' are not as thick as a wall and not as thin as the stair blocks. While most other crafted building blocks are included with the regular carpenter recipe books, (most) of these are from a special recipe book at can be purchased the end of the [[Terrors of Thalumbra Crafting Timeline]].

===Why are They Called Building Blocks?===
[[File:Building-block-flag-example.jpg|thumb|250px|Highlighted for emphasis: the building block flag in the examine window. ]]
All such items are known as building blocks because they are often used to build unique structures of all kinds and can radically alter the appearance of any house. 

If you ever wonder which category something falls into, R click on the icon for it while it's in your bag an chose Examine. In the corner of the examine window it will have the "flag" Building Block, no matter which shape it may be.

===Why They Have a Separate Category===
Because building blocks were given their own category, the Housing window now shows a count for each category. For example, it will read: 900 Items / 900 Building Blocks. 

Though the two have split, the houses are still described as having a 900 limit, rather than an 1800 limit. This is (primarily) because the blocks tend to serve as generic building pieces, rather than finishing items. It's not uncommon to tour a house that uses 5 or 6 Building Blocks and the full 900 items.