Old 1950 house plans in Imperial change to metric?

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dalomasi, Feb 14, 11:05am
Hi everyone, we are looking at changing our kitchen and lounge to open plan. We have old house plans and they aren't printer friendly also everything is in imperial measurement. How can we update our plans so we can work with it? as in metric measurement and A3 printer friendly. TIA.
budgel, Feb 14, 11:49am
You could get the old house plans scanned to size, then white out the measurements, and re enter the metric ones and reprint.
A contractor who will submit plans would just measure up the relevant area and submit the new drawing. If you are planning to do the work yourselves, a talk to the building inspector would be fruitful.
sr2, Feb 14, 12:27pm
Avoid the building inspector like the plague, with any luck your Council will not have good records and you'll be able to avoid a huge amount of red tape b/s.
bill-robinson, Feb 14, 12:35pm
buy an imperial tape measure and learn something new.
apollo11, Feb 14, 1:17pm
I think you mean 'learn something old'. And imperial is a dog of a system, better buried and forgotten.
oh_hunnihunni, Feb 14, 1:28pm
Building inspectors aren't always bad news. When we were renovating ours was a huge help, suggesting ways to minimise costs while maintaining standards and compliance, all with no charge to us.

Perhaps it was all about the way we approached him?
mrfxit, Feb 14, 4:43pm
Probably the best way to start with is to get an experienced person with a decent laser measure.
Give them the old plans to cross reference & get it all re measured in metrics.
That will give you an accurate internal measurement as a reference.
It should help with avoiding mistakes
apollo11, Feb 14, 5:42pm
I prefer my measurements to be soulless, accurate and easy to work with.
oh_hunnihunni, Feb 14, 9:04pm
It is a generational thing. I was raised with imperial, and though I use metric, I often double check. Just in case.
soundsgood, Feb 14, 9:58pm
Back in the day the government said that they would only decimalise the currency but - give them an inch and they'll take a mile.
sr2, Feb 14, 10:45pm
How many years ago was it my dear?
smallwoods, Feb 15, 6:49am
fixed for you
blueviking, Feb 15, 7:48am
Can you use a metric tape measure to measure the length of walls?
hazelnut2, Feb 15, 8:12am
My house plans were incorrect because a major reno was done with no update at the council. The measurements were also imperial.

The council printed them out for me. I scanned them into my laptop in sections and then used PAINT to change what was wrong. (wall positions, doors, etc) Then printed the plans out and gave them to the council. I changed the figures to metric using a computer.

The council was happy with the plans when they came to check for a 'safe and sanitary' certificate.
bill-robinson, Feb 15, 8:47am
have you measured the length of a millimeter, now imagine how long a tape would be needed to measure a wall.
blueviking, Feb 15, 11:35am
Most tapes come in 8m and most walls are under 4m, so don't get you.
oh_hunnihunni, Feb 15, 12:13pm
Gerroff, I aint your dear.

But yes, back in the day when customer service was a thing.
nzshooter01, Feb 15, 12:24pm
Building inspecters nowdays not there to design or give advice
p.monro, Feb 15, 2:13pm
Download a free cad software package and draw your plans in CAD' or use the drawing package in Open office.
You can learn a new skill
buddy25, Feb 16, 9:26am
try to buy an old 20 mts tape most have imperial on one side metric on the other , run out the length you need EG 8ft turnover and Wala 2.440 magic haay cheers Bill
oh_hunnihunni, Feb 16, 10:10am
Another generalisation. It's lumping all into the same bag based on bias.

They are just people like any of us. Possibly a little more overworked and abused though.
marte, Feb 16, 5:16pm
Fixed
sr2, Feb 16, 5:58pm
LOL; Yes old girl, I suspected it was a "back in my day" number
bill1451, Feb 17, 8:35pm
maybe use one of those elastic tapes then you can make it any length you desire.
bill1451, Feb 17, 8:38pm
I have some walls 6m wide, do I need to buy one and a half tapes.? /