And trust them to scale it rather than use the content of the drawing to control construction? If Bubba and Forrest con't read the bloody drawing, how is it being to scale gonna help??
I keep all of our master drawings in a controlled environment, AND regardless of whether the field drawings are to scale or not, mine are and we frequently use them.
True, but then our contractors can add. If I was concerned that the contractor could not sufficiently read and add the the dimensions, I would find a way to annotate the drawing for him. I certainly would NOT rely on that same guy pulling a tape across a 3rd generation print.
We do not copy plans.... The client does not copy plans, if they do, it is at their risk, not mine(ours) We provide as many sets of plans as needed for the completion of the project, and the final set of plans are exactly like the first set of plans. Copying plans produce unexpected results, it is neither encouraged nor condoned.
Incedently if he can scale the drawing (with a Dollar Store 3' tape measure) and do the multiplication, why on earth would he not simply say 9'-4" + 2'-8" = 12'-0" ??
You were the one who said they couldn't add 2+2.
Precisely, and regardless of the reasons the contractor decides to use a scale instead of add dimensions, if he does, so be it. It is his decision. So in your words, I am simply finding a way to "annotate" the drawing for him, only this annotation is contained on a scale rule.
I MUST out of neccessity prepare these drawings for ANY idiot that happens to end up using them, to the best of my abilities.
Within reason, sure.
Are you suggesting that plotting to scale is unreasonable?
It is neither efficient nor inefficient to plot at 1/4" = 1'-0" anymore than it is to "plot to fit", but I'll bet that given a drawing plotted to 1/4"=1'-0" scale I can build it without the first dimension at all.
Not as accurately as you would with the dimensions, and not within the tolerances required, considering all the factors that effect the scale of the drawing that finally gets to the field.
I have use many drawings in the field for 25 years and I have yet to see ANY that was originally plotted to scale that I could not get a decent dimension from with a scale rule.
Construction site in Houston texas. Show me 1/2 on a 1/4" scaled plot, at 6:30am first Monday in May, then find it again on that same print at 3:30pm in August. You 1/4" in 12' will get blown away just by the humidity shift. And that assumes the print was to scale to begin with. Every photocopy uses optics that can and will effect the scale of the original to the copy, assuming the original hasn't been efected by temperature and humidity.
I am left wondering where this supposed expansion and contraction of paper is happening, is surely does not happen here in Florida, the humidity capital of the world!
At best a 36x24 piece of paper will grow (or shrink) less than 1/8" in the long dimension, given the average size house is around 60'-0" if we presume that 1/8" growth in the paper the change per inch is a mere .003% and the change over the length of a 60'-0" (15 scaled inches) building is a mere .043 of an inch, scaled to 60'-0" it represents 2" overall length, but even then that is in the worst case, and I have never experienced anything like that.
That aside, in Florida the building code requires scale plotted drawings.
So besides having to meet the requirements of Bubba & Forest (by being able to scale the drawing in the field) I must also meet the requirements of the Florida Building Code.
Have they provided you with some method for accomplishing such?
It must be plotted to scale, period. If it is not you will not obtain a building permit, as such you would never be able to obtain a building permit in Florida, the building department would laugh you out of the doors, and tell you that when you figure out how to plot to scale come back and talk to them.
We plot the drawings of record "to scale", if for no other reason than it's easy to do. But that is more out of habit than anything else. We certainly don't do it with the expectation that anyone in his right mind would attempt to build it by scaling it rather than by the dimensions on the drawing.
So if I were to use a scale rule I would be what? crazy? out of my mind? I guess our ancestors were all out of their mind too, using slide rules ans scales......
If I plot 1/4"=1'-0" with the proper tools, anyone can build it even without dimensions.
Not within the posted tolerances below.
I'd be willing to put a wager on that one but it would be a sucker bet. There are many things you evidently do not understand about architectural construction.
I dug around earlier and finally found my old arch scale (high-dollar bamboo core bit o' work, set me back $40 in 1965). On the 1/4"=1'-0" side, it doesn't show graduations less than 1". So it would be real hard to find that 1/4" tolerance, even if everythng was perfectly calibrated and controlled for scale.
So my question remains, what purpose (other than code) is plotting to scale??
The only answer I can offer you is that plotting to scale is a tool that is both effective and simple, it has worked for many years and I doubt it will change anytime soon, much like rubber tires, they work, don't worry about it. Besides you are not the one getting his hind end chewed out because Bubba scaled a drawing and built something wrong because the drawing was plotted to fit, not to scale.
So, riddle me this ....do you print a scale factor on your plans? After all if you pring 1/4" = 1'-0" and plot it to fit, it is no longet 1/4" = 1'-0" now is it.
Now I'm sure you DRAW to scale and nothing has been said about "plotted to scale"..............
The building code makes no distinction between hand drawn and CAD drawn plans, to it all plans are equal as far as scale is concerned, the building officials charged with administering the code will refuse any drawings not able to be scaled with a standard scale rule. There are no exceptions.
If I were to challenge the Southern Building Code Congress and/or the Department of Community Affairs (which administers the FBC) I would see my license revoked so fast I wouldn't know what happened. If that didn't happen, I would be given preferential treatment by the local building officials in the "deviation" department, and you never want that, it can cost you thousands upon thousands of dollars on the project. It is essentially a no win situation. Even if you win, it will cost you big time the next time you go into the building department office.