Question about building material sizes out side of america.

[Hillmann]

I am wondering the stander sizes of sheet goods and stud size and placement in countries that use metric. I am just curious what is used outside of the US because I have never heard of a one meter by two meter sheet of plywood, just the 4x8 that is standard in the us, and also it is normal for studs to be 16 inches on center or 24 inches on center. From what I remember of being in Canada and Mexico it seems like they use standard accouterments instead of metric in construction. Also when you by fabric how wide does it usually come and do you buy it by the meter or the yard? Here it is common to be 60 inches wide and bought by the yard or fractions of a yard. It just seems to me that since so much stuff is made in china that it would be unlikely that they would have equipment set up for standard to be shipped to the US and metric to be shipped everywhere else.

[Hillmann]

Also what about standard paper sizes? I assume that the 8.5 by 11 is the standard size everywhere but could be wrong.

[angib]

The worldwide metric standard for plywood sheet size is 2440 x 1220 mm. That just happens to be 8 x 4 feet!

But other than plywood, most things tend to vary by country, because it can be made/cut to suit local traditions. So for example here in Britain we use metric equivalents of old inch sizes for timber - what used to be a planed 2x2 is now called a 44x44 (mm) or 1-3/4"x1-3/4". So note that a British 2x2 is not the same size as an American 2x2.

On paper, North America is fast becoming the odd one out in the world as most other countries have switched to the ISO (International Standards Organisation) standard paper sizes. A4 paper is the international equivalent of 8.5x11 and is about 8.3"x11.7" One lovely feature of ISO-sized paper is that it steps up and down in size by doubling in area - a sheet of A3 folded in half makes a sheet of A4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_size

[rainjer]

So for example here in Britain we use metric equivalents of old inch sizes for timber - what used to be a planed 2x2 is now called a 44x44 (mm) or 1-3/4"x1-3/4". So note that a British 2x2 is not the same size as an American 2x2.

An American 2" X 2" is actually 1-3/4" x 1-3/4" also. It is refered to as dimensional lumber.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lumber

A lot of our plywood thickeness are changing also. You can get both metric or standard thickness these days depending on where you buy it.

Jeremy

[sagebrush]

In Wyoming a nominal 2x2 is 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 and a nominal 2x4 is 1 1/2 x 3 1/2 Will

[Weirdnerd]

Somehow I believe the nominal is the original rough cut, then it loses about 1/4 inch per side when they plane it, I may be wrong, depending on what my wife has in mind....