What's with the tenth of a foot...?

[TerryRohrer]

Does anyone describe any measurement in life to a tenth of a foot, rather than inches (I'm sure this is a dumb question, perhaps architects?). For something that is supposed to enhance conformity/accuracy, why is there a choice given in ANSI (1 foot 7 inches is 1.6 feet looking at my tenths side of my tape)? Im sure there is a good reason, but I am just curious...Thanks, Bob

Ever look at a plat map? Usually to the 100th of a foot. Engineers and surveyors would seldom use anything else unless metric.

I may not be thinking about this hard enough! When I got my Disto it was set to the 100th, I think. Never wasted time looking up how to change it. When I switched to a tablet 8 years ago, it was set to the 100th and I haven't looked up how to change it. I just measure, type in what it says, and move on. When I get to the last measurement, I take it and compare it to what the tablet is showing it will take to close. If sufficiently equal, I close the sketch and move on. With the forty thousand comments about the 1/10th of a foot thing I have read, I'm beginning to think I'm short changing the measuring aspect?

 

[glenn walker]

could it be because ANSI is meant for an international measurement, with some nations using tenths/ meters and in other nations inches/ feet?

ANZI Is The Little Sister Of Whats Called ( ISO ) Which Is The International Organization For Standardization . My Wife was a ISO Operations manager and Engineer at a major Aerospace Company and later an- Inspector at machine companies who made small parts used in Commercial Airplanes an Space Craft. What it is are National Measurements standards all in Metric as this the rest of the worlds measurement standards not inches-feet etc. On a house a inch is not going to crash or a major problem but in most industry's a thousand of a meter can be the difference between life and death.

Now lets make this easy years ago in America someone may say make me 10,000 11/16 of a inch long screws-Fine except MM are tighter and more exact measurements. So ISO is now a World Wide Standard.
Now Lets go to ANZI Measurements are taken to the nearest inch or tenth of a foot, and. the final square footage is reported to the nearest whole square foot. • Staircases are included in the GLA of the floor from which they descend. ANZI for real estate is a sloppy and loose ( ISO ) and designed to assure all people are using the same standards of measurement .

It will also be used World Wide at some point and is already used in other Countries. The fact is many of us have been using voluntary for years and we got used to it but we could also fudge by a inch here and a inch there. Now GAME UP yes many will never apply it and unless challenge by someone it will be a mute point. Basically its aimed at a bigger picture and that is eventionally every home in America will have a ANZI measurements as tax Assessors-Building Departments Architects will al be on a level--playing field and in the future APPRAISERS will not be Physically Measuring homes anymore as most were never very good at it anyway

 

[robertwells]

Maybe a regional thing, but across the country there are lots of appraisers for whom measuring to the tenth is not new. I first walked into an appraisal office 40 years ago, and from day one I was taught to measure to the tenth - not the inch.

Ahhh, interesting...

 

[Overimprovement]

If using a laser, all I have seen give the option of decimal or standard feet/inches. Not a big deal really. If using a tape/wheel, shouldn't take long to memorize the inches to decimal conversions. I have used decimal since I began appraising, so no change for me anyway.

 

[Tom D]

me don't understand the big discussion about the anal 1/10 when fannie says you can measure to the nearest inch.
i do itty bitty row homes, i could measure with my feet and be pretty accurate.
and all this worry? we are at the beginning, there is no fannie ansi standard drawings at this moment. now maybe when they have several drawings with a similar GLA then CU will scream at you how wrong you are with the GLA. and since fannie keeps it all a secrete, how will you ever know how much you may be off & what will be fannie's GLA tolerance.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

could it be because ANSI is meant for an international measurement, with some nations using tenths/ meters and in other nations inches/ feet?

Surveyors use hundredth of a foot...unless some reason not to. Surveying with a Plane Table and alidade is rarely more precise than to the foot or tenth. Surveying wit a theodolite might be hundreds of a foot...BUT they always have a closure error unless extremely lucky. They may survey a line, then back survey as a check of accuracy. Architects use fractional inches here. When I was a tech draftsman (back in the old LeRoi Lettering days) plans were rarely more precise than a quarter inch, but landscape plans rarely were more precise than an inch, sometimes simply a foot. Laying out waterlines and sewer, again we used a foot when estimating the cubic yard of material necessary to dig footings etc. I saw a surveyor get busted to instrument man and a rod man get fired (for no reason) when the supervisor set the surveyors on the wrong stake - The engineer for the project discovered the error, he went berserk. Type A - like so many engineers. Died a few years later having a stroke at 40 some years age.

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Land surveyors pride themselves on their measurements. After all, what would be the purpose of commissioning a land survey if the bearings, distances, and areas on the map were not correct? But the simple fact is that no measurement is perfect. So the real question is not “is the survey accurate?” – but instead “how much error is contained in each measurement?” As any good lawyer would respond: it depends!​

 

[Overimprovement]

Also, does everyone realize a tenth of a foot is GREATER than an inch?

 

[glenn walker]

In Reality we should have for 35 years using a metric tape measure, the numbers should be read like this: The large, numbered markings are centimeters. There is a smaller marking exactly halfway between the centimeters for ease of reading. The smallest markings are millimeters, or one tenth of a centimeter. The DISTO or other Lazar Tools should be used under Metric Settings. Now when questioned you tel that POS reviewer that you are now using a higher standard . My Father a Physicist and Engineer and later my PITA wife would say remember a
( A-O Is Not A Zero and a Millimeter is not a 1/0th of an inch. Of course me being a beligernt deplorable would respond with I dont really care measuring is like sex and six inches will do it every-time. Now I am all alone and the black sheep of the family of people who thought everything has to be perfect . Uncle- Billy was like me and he was like screw this ANZI Millimeter BS 6 inches is good enough. My wife said thank God you two idiots were not working on airplanes or space craft both would be falling out of the sky every 15 minutes.

 

[sputnam]

Measure to the inch if you want to. Then, when you are drawing your sketch, you will either need to convert.. or enter as feet and inches. If you measure to the nearest tenth, then all you do is type 20.4, or whatever, into your sketch software. Either way is ANSI compliant... but one is a little bit less work.

 

[glenn walker]

Solved my problem I quit measuring pay her $100 to do it