Mexican and South/Central American Standards?

novena

Hi Krisidious,
at least in Mexico, in general it is used the metric system, in some cases along the borderline with the US sometimes it is used the imperial system...
what do you mean with platform framing, balloon, block??
best
V

Krisidious

Thanks Noveno...

Balloon Framing is a method of framing used in the US and Europe in the last few centuries. It has framing members that span from foundation to roof plateline without any stopping point. See this diagram.

http://oikos.com/esb/27/framing.gif

Platform framing is similar except it builds one level, then puts floor joists or trusses on top of that level to create another platform. Then framing is begun again to create the next floor. see this diagram.

http://www.inquiring-eye.com/anatomy/images/framing_platform.jpg

And by Block I mean concrete block buildings.

Again thanks for your input.

solo

Kris

Besides The USA only Liberia (USA created) and Burma/Manyanmar (changing to metric at moment) still use this archaic system

Krisidious

Yes Solo... But, I figured Mexico would still be on the system and perhaps many Central American nations because of their close proximity to the US and the shear size of the American construction market. That they might want to sell their products to America and use products from America.

Besides... Who counts in units of 10 anyway? That's HERESY!

solo

I'm guessing that there may be some overlap on border cities, however most manufacturing there is large companies and auto makers and they are all metric, as for Canada, from what I have seen it's a clean cut metric starts where USA ends.

I also assume it's based on your early education, Mexico schools teach metric as do all south American countries,I struggled to get to grips with Imperial when I moved here 15 years ago.

Krisidious

I would have thought the same thing... But, KrisM is from Canada I believe and says he's using Imperial and a few of my Canadian clients have not been interested in Metric Conversion or Optimization.

Here's one of his posts. He's in British Columbia and is using Imperial scaling and such plus mentioning local board wanting an imperial scale.

http://sketchucation.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12%26amp;t=56657

I found that surprising.

solo

That is strange, my only experience with Canada is Quebec, Montreal specifically and they are not welcoming to Imperial nor the imperial language either.

Krisidious

I've done Vancouver, Toronto and a few others and pretty much the same. Metric only. But for some reason some clients haven't cared about getting the plans converted.

KrisM

I thought I had done a post here but it seems to have gone into internet limbo. We started to change to metric in Canada quite a few years ago and were partly through the process. There was a mish mash of materials on the jobsite. We would build the building ( foundation, block walls etc) in metric and put the roof on in imperial because there was no metric plywood. After a few years, we went back to imperial for everything because we were ruled by the manufacturers who were shipping the majority of there lumber and plywood to the states. So now, we have a situation where most residential and small commercial projects are done in imperial and larger and government projects are done in metric. We can submit drawings for approval in imperial except for the site plan which is in metric. We order concrete in cubic metres but gravel in cubic yards. Keeps you on your toes. Of course, I'm only speaking about here in BC and can't comment on other provinces.

KrisM

Krisidious

That explains a lot Kris... That's what I've always thought is that the shear volume of American construction and the fact that imperial has permeated into every aspect of every industry, it makes it difficult to change.

We do our site work in decimal feet. Engineers hate fractions.

KrisM

Many years ago when I was an apprentice, I bought a beautiful leather covered 100' tape. We were on the job laying out some trusses, being very careful to put them on the mark but I could see that something was wrong. Some of the trusses were crooked. I had bought a tape that was in decimal feet. I didn't know such a thing existed. My first lesson in different measurement systems. Like I say, it keeps you on your toes.
KrisM