Help understanding architect's window sizes?

I posted this on another thread, sorry for the repeat, but I realized it might not get read (and thus answered) otherwise.

I am working with architect drawings that have window sizes like "3050" on them. In one post here, I saw something that equated this to "3' wide and 5' tall". Is this for real, or was that post in error? If so, what does "3026" mean -- is it 2'6" tall, or 2.6 feet tall, or some other weirdness?

I see doors that are '3068' and I've got to assume they're over six feet -- surely 5'8" would not be legal... Yet when I look at Pella's data books, they show windows like "2525" which have a frame size of 2'1" x 2'1", in other words, 25 inches.

How do I know which one I'm dealing with where?

 

The first number is the width, the second number is the heigth. A 3050 is 36" wide and 50" tall. A 3026 is 30" wide and 26" tall. It is wider then tall. Good Luck. Yes, we would have seen it in the other post.

 

So I'm still sort of confused because you say the 30 in 3050 is 36" and in 3026 is 30", which is the whole question I'm trying to resolve here. The other thread where I saw this was http://forum.doityourself.com/showth...highlight=3050
where Bill Garrison explains 4040 as "4 feet wide and 4 feet tall"
and so forth.

 

NYVillager,
There are two possible views of the callouts. The “correct one” can only be deduced by interpreting the plans. It's not a matter of right or wrong. It's simply intent and usage.

Starting with your door sample “3068”. The normal interpretation (left to right) is 3 feet, 0 inches (Wide) times 6 feet, 8 inches High. Width x Height. Noted: Feet-Inch-Feet-Inch.

A thirty six inch wide seven foot high door: 3070
28” Wide 80” High: 2468

Obviously the catalog sample “2525” are inches ganged together. Obvious, due to the frame size of 2'-1”

Don't expect every Architect or Engineer to draw and/or note plans the same way. Interpret plan sets, and use reasonable deduction. Would a 29” x 29” window size be reasonable, given 2525. No, it would not be ~ unless this was a custom home worth many millions of dollars. Are there other items with known sizes that you can compare the item in question too?

The meaning is either Inches-Inches or Feet-Inches-Feet-inches. Width x Height.

 

Okay, I can live with "there's no standard interpretation"... then I'm stuck with the question of how to represent "11 inches" in the feet-inch-feet-inch format.

This is not a purely theoretical question -- for example, Pella has a "3759" window (inch-inch) which is what I'd like to use as an egress window in my bedrooms, and I can't guess how to alter the plans to specify 4'11" in feet-inch format. Do I just round up to five feet or something? Or will that result in the framing contractor doing the wrong thing?

 

Your dilemma is one of the reasons that Congress enacted the Metric Conversion act of 1976. BTW, there two other options that are relevant to your question: metric notation and an error on the plans. (No, don't infuse metric notation useless the contractors are accustom to metric to imperial conversion).

“3759” in feet inch: 31411

If you're initiating the plans, do yourself a favor: put samples of your notations in one or more of the General Notes, Sheet Legend, or Specifications. When two or more methods are used, and there is a high likely hood for interpretation errors your notes are definitive.

callouts:
Door 3068 3'-0” x 6' -8”
Window 3759 37” x 59”