When I was in grade school in the 60’s/70’s we learned the metric system because, “We will all be using the Metric System by 1980.” Well 1980 came and went. I have yet to do a project in metric. Didn’t various branches of the federal government (GSA, NASA, NAVFAC, etc.) have mandates that all of their projects would be metric by a certain date?
-David
I’ve wondered about that too … but I didn’t want to get into it voluntarily. Has anyone worked out a metric conversion table to go from the Gregorian calendar to Star Dates?
I hope metric is used after I am long gone, as I am too old to figure it out anymore. However the AIA has a document that we can use to figure most of the things out with their niffty MasterMetric publication. This document has most of the conversions that I have needed, but you still need your caculators and sometimes your math skills.
The address is AIA Master Systems, Masterspec Specifications,
(800) 424-5080.
I found this reference book on sale at the CSI website:
MEASURE FOR MEASURE
Richard A. Young and Thomas J. Glover
SPI-02, 1999 edition, 864 pages
List Price $14.95 $12.95, CSI Members $8 + shipping
This book sets a new standard for accurate, user friendly conversion factor references specifically designed for engineers, scientist, teachers, construction and industry workers.
I found a list of resources for metric practice on the BSD website:
I’ve done several metric projects for architects working for NASA, the Corps of Engineers, CalTech, et.al.
Soft conversions, the kind usually used, are simple - and inaccurate. Hard conversions are difficult, and consequently, not much used. If you were a mechanic in the field, would you like a stair measurement of “7 risers at 222.74 mm”?
The real problem is not in building design, it is in manufacturing the things that go into buildings. What size is a “2” by 4"? It isn’t 2 by 4 and it isn’t 50 x 100 mm either.
The government has backed off several deadlines over the past 20 or so years, probably because of conditions like this.
I recently did some work for the City of Los Angeles, which involved my becoming intimately (more than I wanted) familiar with their Division 1 documents. One of their sections, which is listed as mandatory for all projects, says that metric measurements alone shall be used. In a conference with their people, it took one sentence “You don’t really want that, do you?” to eliminate the section from the documents.
I don’t think it’s going to happen in the near future, and when it does, I think it will happen because of international compatibility needs, such that domestic manufacture is forced to change, then those of us in the archaic professions like building, will have to change too.
We did an IRS building for the GSA a while back and metric measurements were required. There is a web site that will take a measurement and then convert it to just about any kind or type of measurement that you want. It’s on my list of favorites … Measurements Converter: Conversion of Weights and Measures Previously, we had someone who worked here who was originally from the Phillipines. If I needed something converted to metric, I just asked her because she was raised with that system.
To resurrect a dormant thread (rather than start a new one), does anyone know of an SI equivalent term or metric conversion for “English Perms” (for water vapor permeance, ASTM E 96)?
And when I was in grade school, Thomas Jefferson was promoting the idea of a decimal system. In 1866, Congress approved use of the metric system, but in 1902, rejected legislation that would have required its use. Looks like we’re in for a long wait…
You are going to love this SI equivalent for Perms
ng/Pa x s x sq. m
Thanks. (Sorry I asked…)
By the way, “Perms” are a measure of vapor permeablity that in Inch-Pound is correctly described using the following units:
grains/h x sq. ft. x inches Hg.
To get from IP to SI equivalent, multiply IP units by 57.4525. Richard Howard is correct regarding the units used to express the SI equivalent. The Perm rating is determined at 23 deg C.