Why is white not white?

[ARW]

Fitting a lot of PCV conduit and trunking at a school.

Different suppliers for each batch of the stuff.

Different coloured whites. FFS.

[alan_m]

I'm currently fitting some tapered edge plasterboard. I already had board some from a previous job and had to order more for this job. I'm not skimming the boards - just taping and using jointing compound.

The width of edge taper on the new and previously used board is different. Why cannot different manufactures standardise?

In my case it's not a problem because the taper transition occurs where I need to also butt join/tape the boards.

[Andy Burns]

Why would it ever be a problem, surely you're taping and filling a much wider strip than just the actual taper edge?

[alan_m]

I have two good quality jointing knives. On the original board with the wide taper the smaller of the jointing knives fitted well within the taper and was ideal for initially bedding in the (paper) tape. The newer board has a narrow width taper and the smaller of my knives is wider than the shoulder of the taper. The narrow taper just makes the job just a tiny bit harder :(

[jkn]

Hasn't that always been the case (eg. and annoyingly) for the 'white' of bathroom porcelain?

J^n

[nightjar]

There are about half a dozen RAL numbers for white, but if you want real variety, look at the different whites that even one car manufacturer has used over the years, let alone what all of them have used.

[Robin]

There were always differences in the the mix of chemicals and recycling has added further scope for variation.

If the client complains just tell them to park their white privilege and consider why they didn't specify a /more/ diverse range - though it's disgraceful how hard it is to find conduit etc in brown.

[charles]

wouldn't you expect to paint it?

[Robin]

not in an anti-racist country :)

Come to think of it, I wonder if I could interest Stonewall in requiring rainbow* conduit etc for organisations that want to get high marks in their Workplace Equality Index

• on the lines of rainbow laces, lanyards etc

[charles]

striped paint is a bit difficult to apply

[Andrew]

There is no such thing as 'white'. Just look at all the car paints that are called 'white'.

Even minor changes to the surface reflectivity alters the perceived colour. There is also the issue of how much (if any) recyled plastic ended up in the mix.

Just give the kids some multi-coloured paint pots and let them decorate then in rainbow colours.

[Robin]

printing on PVC piping in various colours is routine so I don't see what's hard about stripes of different colours.

[Owain Lastname]

They manage green and yellow on earth sleeving and insulation. And toothpaste, come to that.

Multicolour mixed recycled plastic is fairly readily available (although I don't know if in PVC) and would give an attractive mottled appearance not dissimilar to some types of marble. It would also show fingermarks and other dirt a lot less than plain white plastic, which would be an advantage in many applications like schools.

Owain

[charles]

just slow.

[Andy Burns]

But after bedding in the paper-tape/fibreglass-mesh you want about 10" width of jointing compound ...

[williamwright]

If a surface reflects the whole spectrum exactly equally, it's white.

Bill

[Alex]

Mirrors do that but aren't white

[Dex]

Different masterbatch ratios in the manufacturing.

[ARW]

If they could manage that for electric showers.

[ARW]

I have known insurance claims for some bathrooms that have clauses about matching the colours.

They were not always white in the 1970's :-)