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Green Building Bible, Fourth Edition
Green Building Bible, fourth edition (both books)
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Fundamentals: Sheet sizes

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1 to 18 of 18

  1.  
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeJul 10th 2013 edited
     
    Why ever are plasterboard sheets 1200mm wide and plywood sheets 1220mm wide? Other sheets match one or the other.

    How crazy is that and how much unnecessary waste results from this?

    It is even a waste of my time having to trim plywood to fit 600mm centres
    • CommentAuthorEd Davies
    • CommentTimeJul 10th 2013
     
    Yep, way past time we went properly metric. Doing things in multiples of 600 mm is fine but these silly approximations to multiples of light nanoseconds or whatever are getting tedious.
    •  
      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeJul 11th 2013 edited
     
    And studs/rafters still customary @ 450c/cs.

    Rather than studs/rafters @ 2440/5 = 488c/cs, or 2400/5 = 480c/cs, 450c/cs allow for inevitable stretched/shrunk stud c/cs here and there, and for external angles, because there's always a bit of board spare to run on a bit further - and at worst, with long-run perfect c/cs, 7.8% wastage.

    This is Walter Segal stuff!
  4.  
    Yup! We did a T/F extension a couple of weeks ago, laid out the 'flat' roof joists/rafters at 400 ctrs and then spent a happy while ripping down all the boards with a circ saw. What makes it worse is that, a few days before, I had remarked that we needed to check whether the boards really were '8 x 4' or 1200 x 2400. Then I forgot. But if you do remember, 16 inch ctrs are a lot easier than 406.666mm ctrs if your eyes are getting old!
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeJul 11th 2013 edited
     
    Posted By: Nick Parsons406.666mm
    There is a beasty in there, 6x10^-6m, why do we still call micro preprocessor micro, are they not smaller than that. I agree, hard to work to that level, I like inches. A standard seat hight is 18 inches, nice and easy to remember, a whole number, much better than 457mm
    • CommentAuthorrhamdu
    • CommentTimeJul 11th 2013
     
    If anybody is wondering why sheet materials are not sold in the same 'A' sizes as paper, each exactly twice the area of the next size down, it's because if the sheets are long enough to reach normal ceiling heights (2.1-2.4m) they are going to be nearly 1500mm wide, so probably ~35kg per sheet of 12.5 pink plasterboard or 18mm ply.

    What a shame. It seemed like a bright idea.:sad:
  7.  
    Posted By: tonyWhy ever are plasterboard sheets 1200mm wide and plywood sheets 1220mm wide? Other sheets match one or the other.

    How crazy is that and how much unnecessary waste results from this?

    It is even a waste of my time having to trim plywood to fit 600mm centres


    Timber sheet materials are not metric as they are mostly sourced from the States and Canada where measurement is still Imperial
  8.  
    Just replaced a run of 1970s plasterboard, adding insulation, cut to fit tight between studs.

    Got to the stage of fitting the new plasterboard before realised that modern metric plasterboard is 20mm narrower than it used to be, so doesnt line up with existing studs.

    Grrrr had to pull insulation out again, move some studs, re cut insulation, job took twice as long.

    Plus new pb is 12.5mm where old was 9 mm so doesn't line up with corners doors etc.
  9.  
    And why doesn't insulation board come in 350 and 550 width to fit straight between studs without the messy trimming?
  10.  
    @willinaberdeen

    we occasionally supply boards sized to fit stud bays (taken off framing drawings) nine times out of ten they still don't fit right, timber tolerance is not high high enough, never mind measurement/installation..... VERY satifying when one goes in perfectly though!
    • CommentAuthorEd Davies
    • CommentTimeJul 15th 2013
     
    I rather like somebody here's (tony's, I think) suggestion of putting the insulation and studs/rafters/joists up together; start from one end and work to the other squishing them up as you go.
    •  
      CommentAuthorfostertom
    • CommentTimeJul 15th 2013
     
    Posted By: WillInAberdeenwhy doesn't insulation board come in 350 and 550 width to fit straight between studs
    Because stud c/cs are rarely accurate, so you still get both gaps and trimming work. you can get 'squeeze-fit' insulation incorporating an elastic crumple zone.

    Blown-in (or spray-in) insulation is the way to go - has overwhelming multiple advantages similar in scale to EWI vs its alternatives. And is similar cost to trying to do board insulation to high standard.
    • CommentAuthorEd Davies
    • CommentTimeJul 16th 2013
     
    Posted By: SteamyTeaI like inches.
    Just been listening to a bit of the press conference on today's ISS spacewalk water-leak problem where the EVA office reported the amount of water in the astronaut's helmet in litres, the amount in their drinking bag in ounces and the amount in their cooling system in gallons. We've got to put a stop to this shit before it kills (more?) people. SI is a dreadful system of units but the others, used by no more than about 6% of the world's population (though a particularly obstreperous 6%), are much much worse.
    • CommentAuthortony
    • CommentTimeJul 16th 2013
     
    I would buy 355 or555 wide insulation, that is what we cut it to when going joist insulation joist.
    •  
      CommentAuthordjh
    • CommentTimeJul 17th 2013
     
    Posted By: Ed DaviesEVA office reported the amount of water in the astronaut's helmet in litres, the amount in their drinking bag in ounces and the amount in their cooling system in gallons.

    And was that avoirdupois ounces or fluid ounces and US or imperial gallons (the US dry gallon seems an unlikely third alternative!)

    As you say, it really ought to stop. It is the International Space Station, so everything ought to be metric. (although the Americans' use the so-called International Building Code of course, so International is a very flexible word)
    • CommentAuthordb8000
    • CommentTimeJul 17th 2013
     
    The Mars Orbiter was an infamous case of the metric mixup in space tech: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter.

    As Ed says above - it could kill someone.
    • CommentAuthorEd Davies
    • CommentTimeJul 17th 2013
     
    Another goody which came very close to killing a lot of somebodies:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gimli_Glider

    Actually caused by the transition from customary to metric so could be taken narrowly as a counter-argument but the basic problem is having multiple systems in use at the same time.

    Like the Mars Climate Orbiter problem units weren't the only issue - in both cases management skimping resulted in what should have been redundant systems failing to pick up on the problem.
    •  
      CommentAuthorSteamyTea
    • CommentTimeJul 17th 2013
     
    Posted By: djhalthough the Americans' use the so-called International Building Code of course, so International is a very flexible word
    That will be Alaska and Hawaii then:wink:

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