Hi,
I need help understanding how to calculate wall thickness measurements in BC. Can someone provide an explanation along with a picture for clarity? One of the wall measurements I have is less than 6 inches.
Thank you!
I’m in BC (Nanaimo). It’s the same in all jurisdictions. iGUIDE is fantastic at accurately measuring interior dimensions. When the wall thickness is added to this process, it can calculate the exterior area of a building as if you measured the exterior of the home length X width. The interior is measured from drywall to drywall, but at the front door there will be interior trim. Set your tape measure at the INSIDE of this trim and measure to the OUTSIDE of the exterior trim. Usually this exterior trim is applied to the corners of the building, so this would replicate what the tape-measure would be applied to if measuring the length and width of the building.
There’s room for judgement. If there’s a brick facade at the front door, but nowhere else around the building, then including the brick would be embellishing the total exterior square footage. When this is the case, I’ve measured the back-door thickness, patio door thickness and applied that wall thickness. Sometimes I’ll round-up a bit if I know that some walls are thicker than others. In BC there are many homes at 6" thick - which iGUIDE warns you might be a mistake. Most newer homes in BC are 8" wall thickness.
Note that for duplexes, townhouses and condos, I always apply this method, but I tell the agent the following: The exterior square footage will come-out larger than BC Assessment or the strata are showing because they apportion a part of the shared walls and exterior walls in a way I don’t have access to. Please go ahead and use the strata square footage, as that’s what their condo fees are based upon. – I’d rather show a larger number than leave the interior square footage only which will be a smaller number.
