Title: Re: [USMA:35363] Re: furniture in the UK
Dear David,
That's an interesting range of sizes in comparison with the Australian experience.
Here, we took the opportunity afforded by metrication to introduce the idea of the metric module to coordinate building components. This was a 600 mm x 600 mm module and it worked like this.
Rooms are designed with the preferred size in lots of 600 mm. Items such as sinks, stoves, and refrigerators are also designed usually in 600 mm sizes. Kitchen cupboards also usually come in the preferred 600 mm modules. This coordination allows for most kitchens to be planned and made from timber panels that are themselves designed and made in 600 mm modules (the most common sheet size is 2400 mm x 1200 mm). These can be readily fitted as the wall stud spacings are also 600 mm and the bricks are also designed to fit within a 600 mm module.
However, even when people choose not to use the 600 mm module they tend to go to the next preference, the 300 mm module. This happens when, for example, they choose a 900 mm wide stove and then have to design around it. (By the way the next, third, preferred module size is 100 mm and this seems to be the first choice of builders in the UK.)
The coordination provided by preferred modules leads to incredible savings in waste materials. In the early days of metrication in the Australian building industry a demonstration was carried out by building two houses side by side — a metric house and a pre-metric house. The waste from the metric house did not fill a wheelbarrow while the waste from the pre-metric house was taken away in two 5 tonne trucks!
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://metricationmatters.com
On 10/12/05 4:12 AM, "David King" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> When I had my new kitchen installed earlier this year, the builders used
> millimetres exclusively for all measurements. The cupboards they
> installed came in sizes of 400 mm, 500 mm and 800 mm.
>
> Next month the same company is installing radiators and gas central
> heating. They specified sizes of radiators in mm only.
>
> I have not bought much furniture lately, but in the past I was always
> able to find metric dimensions given without any problem.
>
>
> David King
>
> Buy UKMA's report "A Very British Mess" ISBN 0750310146
> http://www.ukma.org.uk/Docs/pubs.htm
>
> Avoid confusion with conversion, just learn to think metric!
> http://www.thinkmetric.org.uk
>
>
>
>
> Martin Vlietstra wrote:
>> Self-assembly furniture is always in metric sizes (sometimes imperial
>> as well). Kitchen units are usually in multiples of 600 mm.
>>
>> Web sites to visit are:
>> www.ikea.co.uk <http://www.ikea.co.uk>
>> www.habitat.co.uk <http://www.habitat.co.uk>
>> www.magnet.co.uk <http://www.magnet.co.uk>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> *From:* john mercer <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> *To:* U.S. Metric Association <mailto:[email protected]>
>> *Sent:* Thursday, December 08, 2005 6:42 PM
>> *Subject:* [USMA:35354] furniture in the UK
>>
>> *Hello: Could anyone who lives in the UK tell me if you buy
>> furniture that needs to be assembled are the dimentions on the box
>> in both metric and imperial? And if so is the metric givin first?
>> I'm thinking of things like book cases tables and such. Thanks for
>> the info. John Mercer. *
>>
>
- [USMA:35369] Re: furniture in the UK Pat Naughtin
- [USMA:35370] Re: furniture in the UK Anon Anon
