On Monday 30 July 2007 21:20, J. Ward wrote: > Pierre, > > Sounds like a big challenge, opportunity, and risk all rolled into one. > On the one hand, it might be an opportunity to introduce metric measures > and find ways to show how practical they can be. On the other hand, if > the people involved in the construction have never worked in SI units > and all the supplies are sized in feet and inches, then going metric > will potentially make the job way more complicated and thus risk > alienating a lot of people who may find that going metric increases > time, effort and cost.
I think the people involved in construction will be the church members, many of whom work in construction. All of us either are from, or have at least one parent from, a country where Spanish is the main language (counting Puerto Rico as a country). I don't know how many of us have a metric tape, but all of us know how to use one. > A few years ago when I first switched to doing engineering in metric, I > didn't know what I was doing. For example, I did my first drawing in > centimeters. I realized I needed help. So I studied some hard-metric > drawings by some experienced engineers. You can't imagine how much this > helped. Now I'm very comfortable designing in hard-metric and strongly > prefer it over designing in traditional measures. Nonetheless, I will > still occasionally design a part in inches if for practical reasons I > can't justify going metric. I would guess that 90% of my work now is > hard-metric, and 10% is in traditional units. Could you send me some sample drawings? > By the way, I'm not sure what your pastor means by "design." You mean > do the complete design, including all the detailed drawings and bills of > materials? Or do you mean to sketch out roughly what you want to hand > off to an engineering firm? I'm not sure either. I haven't yet seen the lot, or a survey of it, and until I do, I don't know how to connect the sanctuary, the fellowship hall, and the parking lot. I'm planning to do at least a well-dimensioned sketch, with top, front, and side views and a foundation drawing. I've drawn plot plans and it's very frustrating when the foundation drawing isn't well dimensioned. There probably is someone in one of the area churches who works for an engineering firm. I'm not he, though; I do CAD, but I draw things that already exist. I'm also going to start taking surveying classes in a few weeks. I could ask if anyone can advise me on materials and such. Pierre
