Remanulaclurer

Metrics For Building Materials

. California's Orange Countyls now requiring all new housing site plans to be plotted in metric measurements. The next two years is expected to see further metrication of other building and safety permit requirements.

To the north, Los Angeles County is in the process of metricating its public works department, while niighboring Riverside County expects to complete its own conversion plan by mid '98.

The anival of metrication to your markets brings sev_ eral questions:

(Q) How will metrication change the dimensions of such products as plywood, concrete block, drywall, and suspended ceiling and raised flooring systems?

(A) The dimensions of these products will change to fit into a 100 mm module.

(Q) What about cabinets, trusses, ductwork, commercial doors and windows, concrete work and other products that are fabricated or formed for eachjob?

We operate an Olympic prestain machine which prestains sid_ ing, trim and decking packages with clear, semitransparent and solid stain- We provide a quality-controlled product and prompt seMce. We prestain four sides which aids durability. The back.side is.sealed against moisture, creating a longer lasting exterior product.

(A) Products such as these usually can be easily manu_ factured in inch-pound or metric sizes.

(Q) What about products that are cut to fit for each job, such as framing lumber, trim, siding and sfuctural steel?

(A) These products can be simply relabeled to reflect metric units. This also applies to products that are not di_ mensionally sensitive, such as fasteners, hardware, electrical components and plumbing fixtures.

(Q) What will the changes be for 2x4 studs and other "2-by" wood and metal framing members?

(A) The only change will be in spacing, from 16,' to 40&nm and24" to 60omm, otherwise, all framing member cross sections will remain the same.

Since "2-bys" are manufactured in ..soft" fractional inch dimensions, there isn't any need to convert them into new, rounded "hard" metric dimensions. Lastly, it is more than likely that 2x4s will continue to be labeled with their traditional name.

(Q) Wlat about plywood, OSB, particleboard, drywall and related sheet products?

(A) The widths will change for these products from 4'0,, to 120omm. The heights will change from 8'0" to 240omm and from l0'0" to 3000mm. All thicknesses, however, will remain the same, eliminating the recalculation of fire, acoustic and thermal ratings.

(Q) What will the changes be for batt insulation?

(A) There will not be any changes for batts, however, they might be relabeled to include nominal metric widths. Everything else will stay the same.

(Q) How will doors change?

(A) Door heights will change from 6'9" to 2050mm or 2100mm and from 7'0" ro 2l00mm. Widths will change from 2'6" to 750mm, 2'8" to 80omm,2'10,'to g50mm, 3'0" to 900mm or 950mm, and 3'4" to lfi)0mm.

Door thicknesses, materials and hardware will remain the same; however, commercial doors and door frames can be ordered in any size since they are usually custom-fit for each job.

L&G Equipment Rolls On

Shipments of lawn and garden equipment increased 3Vo to over 7.3 million units last year, estimated the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute.

Walk-behind mowers and front engine lawn tractors slightly increased, while rear engine riding mowers, riding garden tractors and walk-behind tillers decreased.