Changing Building Materials to Metric

[Goedjn]

Hmmm.. French plywood is apparently sold in 250x122cm panels.

Thats about a millimeter more than 48" wide, and almost 12mm more than 8' long

[Goedjn]

It's not. It's 45 mils, or 25 mikes,

[m4rcone]

"the commies" managed to get unmanned probes into space and onto the moon before the US did. Nothing to do with metric of course, but still.

[m4rcone]

will go down.

Uhm, a liter is *more* than a quart.

[m4rcone]

Not sure what standard window sizes exist in metric, but a 32 5/8" window would be measured as 82.8 centimeters, so halving that is pretty easy.

What makes you think one can't measure fractions of a millimeter when needed?

[m4rcone]

That's 92.075 centimeters. Given that these are *rough* openings, you'd probably go with 92 centimeters in decimal, which is easily divisible by 2.

[Michael Daly]

Temperature and volume or mass without temperature. Mass isn't affected by temperature, whereas density is. Currently, gas sold in Canada is measured in litres with correction to 15C. If the underground storage tank is warmer, you are getting ripped off. If colder, you are getting a bargain. Obviously, both differences are probably only pennies per tankful.

Commercial aircraft are fueled by weight, but pumped by volume. The conversion is done based on actual temperatures, not an assumed temperature like auto fuel.

Mike

[Michael Daly]

You mean those building code manuals I have on my shelf in SI units don't exist? The oldest is from 1976 - it even has a code change based on research I did in university in 1975.

The fact that lumber is still made to the old dimensions only shows that converting to metric doesn't require conversion of all materials to new dimensions.

Mike

[Harry K]

Can't find the original so replying here.

Why would one need a calculator to half a metric measurement? It is simpler than the Enlish (actually American now) system. Or do you mean to convert from 32 5/8" to metric then halve it? If so, why the hell would you want to do that? If the naysayers would just forget about converting back and forth they would realize their objections are baseless.

For another exampe, try 37 11/16, quick what's the 1/2 point? In metric it is just as simple no matter what the size.

Harry K

[Chris Lewis]

will go down.

Bwahaha.

Which quart?

An imperial quart is 40oz. A US quart is 32oz.

A litre is about 35 oz.

And people think metric is harder ;-)

[Chris Lewis]

Uh, the whole point of doing the correction is so that you don't get ripped off.

[RicodJour]

A 50 degree temperature differential would make an 8-10 gallon difference in volume for a 500 gallon tank. A bit more than pennies...

R

[marson]

The code manuals can be in metric. But are carpenters using metric tape measures or english tape measures? Lets hear from a canadian carpenter!

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Most likely in the advantage of the consumer. Below ground storage temperature for fuel is relatively stable year round. The delivering tanker may well be 50 degrees higher (but the load was probably temperature corrected anyway) and after dropped, it would densify as cooled.

[RicodJour]

The first time this was brought to my attention was by an oil company employee. He asked me if I had ever seen an oil truck with snow on it. Nope. He pointed out that all the trucks are kept in a heated garage for a reason, and it ain't security. The truck pulls up, offloads X gallons as read by the truck's meter. The warmer oil coming out of the truck is what is metered. The normal outdoor temperature is closer to the temperature in an underground tank, at least around here (obviously an indoor tank is different), so why heat the trucks if accuracy in metering is the intention?

R

[Goedjn]

My tape measure's got both.

[Harry K]

Densifying as it cooled would result in -less- fuel than paid for unless the load was temperature corrected.

Harry K

[Chris Lewis]

According to marson :

Most of my tape measures have both.

Carpenters will tend to use english measures for construction, but there will be times where they will need metric.

Basic construction materials are still (mostly) english measures. Plywood thicknesses are sometimes given as metric, depending on supplier/purpose.

Cabinet grade plywoods etc (especially that sourced from overseas) are often fully metric.

"Official" publications & standards (eg: building code, electrical etc) are officially metric, will give metric as the base/official specification, but will often include english measure equivalents. If there's a conflict, metric takes precedence.

Eg: roof sheathing/span table specifications are given officially in metric with english equivalents using "english" spec'd materials.

Other "fields" are more firmly entrenched in metric. Eg: surveying, transport weights and measures, containers, etc.

Generally speaking, a DIY or tradesperson's work is almost entirely english measure.

But once you get into manufacturing, especially those export related (except construction lumber or liquid fuels to the US ;-), metric takes over almost completely.

[Chris Lewis]

Precisely. That's the whole point behind temperature correction.

By doing this correction, the consumers gets the same quantity of fuel per buck no matter what the temperature is.

The "15C correction" means that it's figuring out how much volume you get if the temperature was at 15C. Which is equivalent to paying a fixed rate for the fuel _weight_, but you're metering it by volume.

If the pumper trucks are trying to stay warm to "ding" someone, they're dinging the gas station, not the consumer.

[Michael Daly]

From a consumer's perspective, I was thinking of a _car's_ tankful. In my case, that's about 40l.