Building a new shop at my house. Tore down the rotten old 20x30 pole building to build a 26x36 in its place. After digging out a bunch of dirt to get a good pad and setting batter boards I had my girlfriend help me run my lines. The only long tape measure I could find at my house read in meters. I figured no problem, just divide feet by 3 to get meters. So my 26x36 turned into a 8.66x12 meter building.
We measured it all up and did the diagonals and I was happy. Rented a mini excavator that weekend to dig trenches below frost and filled them with crushed rock with plans to pour a spread footing on top. Now they're all filled with rock and it's time to set up forms so I put my lines back up. I remembered to grab the long tape measure that actually reads in feet and inches from my sawmill and was immediately confused when my shop measurements weren't even close to what they were supposed to be. It didn't take me long to realize that 3 feet = 1 yard, not meters. So what was supposed to be a 26x36 shop now turned into a 28.4x39.3 shop.
That mistake wasn't so bad because the net result is that I get a larger shop. But the really dumb thing is that somehow when we were pulling diagonals we got it wrong! One corner was off by nearly a foot and by the time we shifted everything around so it was square again it's not sitting so accurately on the rock filled trenches.
It's not the end of the world and I think I'll be able to fudge/nudge things good enough but I'm sure going to feel stupid (maybe even stupider than I feel now) when the concrete guys show up to pour the retaining walls and have to set them on the footing all catty-wompus. I have no idea how I could have missed those diagonals. I can only think I somehow misread the metric tape measure but don't know how I could have done so repeatedly as we went back and forth and adjusted lines.
My only consolation is that it's not the dumbest thing I've ever done or will do in the future, although to be truthful I'm having a hard time recollecting that last time I did something this dumb.
Alan
Stuff like that just happens once in a while 🤷🏽♂️ Missing the rockbase would bug the heck out of me too, but I doubt it will have any affect.
Time to do a ritual sacrifice and burn that tape? :)
Quote from: alan gage on July 23, 2019, 11:09:54 PM
Building a new shop at my house. Tore down the rotten old 20x30 pole building to build a 26x36 in its place. After digging out a bunch of dirt to get a good pad and setting batter boards I had my girlfriend help me run my lines. The only long tape measure I could find at my house read in meters. I figured no problem, just divide feet by 3 to get meters. So my 26x36 turned into a 8.66x12 meter building.
We measured it all up and did the diagonals and I was happy. Rented a mini excavator that weekend to dig trenches below frost and filled them with crushed rock with plans to pour a spread footing on top. Now they're all filled with rock and it's time to set up forms so I put my lines back up. I remembered to grab the long tape measure that actually reads in feet and inches from my sawmill and was immediately confused when my shop measurements weren't even close to what they were supposed to be. It didn't take me long to realize that 3 feet = 1 yard, not meters. So what was supposed to be a 26x36 shop now turned into a 28.4x39.3 shop.
That mistake wasn't so bad because the net result is that I get a larger shop. But the really dumb thing is that somehow when we were pulling diagonals we got it wrong! One corner was off by nearly a foot and by the time we shifted everything around so it was square again it's not sitting so accurately on the rock filled trenches.
It's not the end of the world and I think I'll be able to fudge/nudge things good enough but I'm sure going to feel stupid (maybe even stupider than I feel now) when the concrete guys show up to pour the retaining walls and have to set them on the footing all catty-wompus. I have no idea how I could have missed those diagonals. I can only think I somehow misread the metric tape measure but don't know how I could have done so repeatedly as we went back and forth and adjusted lines.
My only consolation is that it's not the dumbest thing I've ever done or will do in the future, although to be truthful I'm having a hard time recollecting that last time I did something this dumb.
Alan
I put a boiler in the wrong house once.
Well at least you had a measuring tape. :D
About 20 years ago few friends and I went out in the woods to build a small 20' x 20' camp, after a few weekends of hauling materials we went to start on the build but when we got there nobody brought a measuring tape. No one wanted to go get one so we used a rope to frame the floor. One of the guys (Roland) is a bit over 6' tall so we used his arm span three times to mark the rope. If anyone asks the size of the camp I say "it is 3 Rolands by 3 Rolands".
Brings back memories of the "Six-Four-Door". We were working on re-building the outhouse at a woods camp and my supervisor told two of the guys to build a new "Six four door" while he and I worked on the frame. So a little while later here come those two walking toward the now framed outhouse carrying the door they built. As they got closer and closer the door appeared to be getting smaller and smaller, got to the opening, stuck it into the hole, and sure enough, too short, wayyy too short!!
Let the blame begin!! Took a couple of minutes to sort it out but the guy who held the tape measure while cutting the boards saw "64" on his tape - must be the same as "Six four" (76"), so he cut them there - right at 5'4". Of course access to this camp was boat, float plane, or snowmobile only and we had just enough lumber for the project - not a spare board, so the solution became to use the cut offs and fill in from the floor so guys would not knock their head on the way in or out. Only trip hazard enabled outhouse in the history of mankind.
Mistakes happen, if it were me I would try to fix the mistake now before its set in concrete, especially if a corner was out of square. Even numbers make it easier to layout if you use sheet steel siding, and whether you will have to cut odd size panels to fit the walls and roof.
Toss that metric tape in the bottom of the form just before they pour the concrete.
I don't think I even own a metric tape measure, but actually when setting square it might be easier when using Pythagorean Theorem as you wouldn't need to convert the decimal point into imperial fractions. Whatever the means, set the foundation real level and square and the rest of it falls into place. I have built several buildings on others installed foundations and fought it all the way through the roof whether it be out of level foundation or out of square its a fight to the end.
We can use that metric tape measure. :D My grandparent's house is a heritage home so it can't be torn down or modified on the street side. The current owner, a cousin, decided to add an addition at the back and discovered the house wasn't square! What to do? Building square would have been very noticeable so they decided to follow the lines of the house. Every piece had to be cut to fit, an expensive pita.
Imperial measurements make me angry. When you have to do math before you start the math you really want, you're doing it wrong. Imperial is just as dumb as Roman numerals. I use decimal feet for just about everything, even when I'm not at work, but I'd prefer metric. The smallest mark on decimal feet(.01'(~3mm or ~1/8")) is too big. 1mm has sufficient precision to cover 99.9% of what I need.
Quote from: lxskllr on July 24, 2019, 07:22:10 PMImperial measurements make me angry. When you have to do math before you start the math you really want, you're doing it wrong.
I agree but haven't been able to make myself change. I did buy metric tape measures for the shop and thought about converting completely to metric. I did do a couple small cabinet jobs completely in metric but then I fizzled out. I never got to the point where a number like '36 cm' meant anything to me without converting it to inches. But it sure is nice adding 4+6 instead of 3/16+7/32.
Tonight I went out and took another look at my mess. I was able to rotate the whole footprint 2" clockwise and moved a couple walls a few inches to get it sitting a little better on the trenches. I planned out how the spread footings will be formed up and I think it will be fine. The stem walls won't be sitting on them evenly everywhere but there will be plenty room to keep them from being right on the edge.
I still have no idea how I got them so far off. Been racking my brain all day trying to figure it out.
Alan
You know you can get free tape measures at Harbor Freight don't you? Might come in handy for the rest of the construction. I must have a dozen around here. More power to you if you can nudge/fudge to take care of a one foot mistake. Maybe use a string next time so all those numbers don't throw you two off.
I am so used to metric that I find myself converting when I go south of the border. I like it, it is a lot easier adding whole numbers instead of fractions as everything is based on multiples of 10. Alan, I am curious about the crushed under the footings. Here building codes dictate they be on undisturbed ground.
Quote from: sawguy21 on July 25, 2019, 11:52:54 AM
Alan, I am curious about the crushed under the footings. Here building codes dictate they be on undisturbed ground.
A little info: Rubble trench foundation - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubble_trench_foundation)
In my case I'm using 1x2 crushed concrete as fill. I dug an 18" wide trench and will have a 16" wide footing/grade beam on top of that. Well, except for one wall which will now get an 18" wide footing to give the stem wall some extra room.
I used it on the house I build 7 years ago and so far no issues.
Alan