Spending the week helping my brother build a covered porch. The random thought about deminsional lumber in other parts of the world came about. Here in the states we have 4x8 foot sheets of plywood etc, and most lumber is 2xsomething. Not to mention pipe sizes etc. What are some common sizes for things where they use the metric system?
Canadian here. Base 12 works better in construction, partly because its what we have, but partly because 12 is divisible by 2,3,4,and 6, while 10 is dividible by 2 and 5. Mostly tradition.
I remember being amused and a bit pissed when I discovered that 3/4 inch plywood suddenly measured 18mm. RTeally a pisser when I owned a Craftsman socket that said 3/4-19mm on it.
At least according to the British guy I used to work with, dimensional lumber was the same but backwards. 4x2 instead of 2x4. Never asked about the other stuff.
Any of the countries in which I've needed to purchase dimensional lumber, they've all conformed to English dimensions. In Costa Rica, many of them list studs as 2x4s with the metric equivalent below it, but they're all 1.5" x 3.5"
Canada kinda doesn't count since they were "English" until England went Metric, but even in the UK there are still many who stick with the English measurements.
John Welsh said:A 2x4 is not 2" anymore.
Except that almost all 2x and up lumber is actual length while most 1x lumber is just close. If you buy a 1x4x10, it is probably about 121.5" long. They do that on purpose since 2x and up is meant to be used as-is for fast framing, while 1x is often used for appearance boards.
I can tell you that, at least in Canada, we order electrical conduit in imperial units 1/2”, 3/4” etc as well as in 100’ bundles. However wire and cable is sold in metres. This has been known to screw up a fair number of estimators and purchasers.
In Australia standard ply sheets are usually 1200x2400, so 4ft x 8ft. Same goes for gyprock (drywall), it's either 1200 or 1350mm wide and starts at 2400 long. You get 2700, 3000 and then 600 incriments up till 6000 long.
Framing timber is either 70x35 or 90x35 with 70x45 or 90x45 often used around openings, some junctions or load points. 90x45 is about as close as we go to a 4x2.
Most beams are lvl, and are usually 35, 45, 63 or 75mm wide with section widths of 90-300mm moving up in 30mm incriments. Example a 3000 window opening might require a header of 70x180 in a 70mm frame, so you'd take two lengths of 180x35 and sister them together to get the right sized header.
In reply to daeman :
All that metric is giving me a headache :)
It's far too expensive for the timber producers to plant metric trees.
In reply to Gearheadotaku :
If you buy your wood at the sawmill rather than the lumberyard, not only is it massively cheaper but it’s also actual dimension a 2x4 is actually slightly more than 2 inches by 4 inches and an 8 foot long board is likely 8’ 6”
How about this: Your 15x7-inch wheel might feature a 4x100mm bolt pattern and 38mm of offset.
Your spark plugs that takes a 5/8" wrench fits in 14mm threads.
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