3 ms·
They aren't easier to work with for any reason other than that sizes of standard components (pipes, beams, etc) are sized conveniently in US units and have US u
by jbay808 8y ago
They aren't easier to work with for any reason other than that sizes of standard components (pipes, beams, etc) are sized conveniently in US units and have US units printed on the spec sheets.
If you go overseas outside of North America, you find that the sizes of everyday objects are conveniently sized in metric, and building codes and standards and material strengths and densities are specified in SI units, and suddenly working with the metric system in those industries is easy and convenient.
Do you deal with building insulation? How would you interpret a material spec of "1 BTU ft/(in^2 hr °F)"? I had to work with these units in the US and it was not at all convenient.
- ggcdn 8y agoI don't deal with building envelope. Its not surprising or unexpected that there are differing opinions among various professions on which set of units are more convenient. In Canada, all our building code, material design codes, etc are in metric, and yet we are still using US units for day to day design.
- jbay808 8y agoWhat lengths and widths of wood can you buy from the lumberyard? What is the common width and thickness of drywall sheet you can buy and the hardware store? What door sizes are available? What size of screws are cheaply available in Canada? I think these factors are far more likely to affect what unit of measure is commonly used in construction, rather than any intrinsic merit of the measurement system. If you were shopping at a Japanese or German hardware store, you'd probably suddenly find all of those 12 foot dimensions quite frustrating and not be at all surprised to find the hard-hat-wearing locals happily using the metric system for the same tasks.