Hi Joe, Thanks for checking NAFTA and FTA. I do see a small connection between soft-wood lumber exports and metric sizing. As a mill owner would you rather keep two inventories of wood, one metric for the Canadian market and one imperial for the US market or would you rather just keep one inventory of wood that you could sell to both. If you needed to ship more to one market you just ship more. If you kept two inventories you would have to cut more of one dimension rather than the other. greg >>> Joseph B. Reid <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 2001-03-29 17:17:11 >>> Gregory Peterson wrote in USMA 11930: >>>> Joseph B. Reid <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 2001-03-28 17:34:36 >>> > >Back in the 70s or 80s I heard of a lumber yard that had a stock of metric >lumber, but could not get rid of it. If the house builders want metric >lumber the lumber trade will stock it. > >Joseph B. Reid >17 Glebe Road West >Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071 > > >======================== >Joe, the contractor I spoke with said the opposite. He said that if the >lumber yards stocked metric lumber, they would use it. >He sees the advantages of using metric, but the cost and availablity of >metric materials are prohibitive. I suspect this is a classic "Catch-22" >situation. > >I wonder if that same lumber yard would have the same troubles today >selling metric lumber now that people are much more are familiar with >metric than they were 25 years ago? > >I suspect it would require a co-ordinated effort between architects, >suppliers, and builders. >Residential architects would have to design houses using 1200 x 2400 mm >plywood sheets with 2320 x 40 mm studs at 400 mm centres at the same time >that the materials are made available for the builders to use. > >This could be a means of avoiding the impending trade dispute over >softwood lumber exports to the US! ;) > >greg It is a chicken-and-egg situation. I fear it will only be when the metrically-educated generation is the majority that there will be metric house building. Your contractor is in the vanguard, Unfortunaately our Metric Commission was more concerned with a detailed planning procedure than with practical results. I don't see any connexion between the trade dispute over softwood lumber and the question of metric lumber for Canadian housing. Canaian mills should have no problem is cutting lumber for both markets. I will try to get copies of the FTA and the NAFTA to see if they contain any reference to metric standards. Joe Joseph B. Reid 17 Glebe Road West Toronto M5P 1C8 Tel. 416 486-6071
