Which way is North?…..

On maps and blueprints North is almost always toward the top of the page (in the U. S. of A. anyway)….. Notice I said “almost”….. Yesterday I started a cost estimation on a new building to be built at Edmond Memorial High School ( a suburb of OKC)….. I pulled up the Roof Plan page of the blueprints and became extremely familiar with the layout and “assumed”, without thinking that the North wall was at the top of the page, the East wall was to my right, etc., etc…. Well, I had some questions on how all this tied-in to the construction of the building walls, so I brought-up the Elevations pages and thought “what the Hell”…… The elevations didn’t match the roof plans….. That’s when I noticed that the drawing labeled South Elevation was actually, to me, the North Elevation and the East was the West…. I thought the architect had screwed-up the labeling of the views….. I went back to the roof plan and low and behold the North Indicator was pointing to the bottom of the page!….. So, now, even before the building is off the drawing board, I am turned around….. I can image if we get the job, the problems I’ll have on the jobsite….. Of course, I had the same problem at Jek’s house and it took a long time and concentration to get my brain orientated to the proper directions….. It’s funny how your brain gets “set in concrete” on some things and refuses to change…… (I’m waiting on comments from the Peanut Gallery)…..

4 Responses to “Which way is North?…..”

  1. Face up river.

  2. What map at my house is turned around? Or are you just turned around?

    Makes total sense for a roof plan right? I can imagine the drafter standing on the first floor drawing on the ceiling — that’s where the roof goes right? And then saying… hmm, looks like North ‘is ov’r dare. 😀

  3. What do you expect from Edmond?

  4. To answer Jek’s question, it was I who was turned around….. On my first visit to the house he used to rent that is located a few blocks from, and parallel to, the one he now lives in, My mind told me the street on which the house is located ran North and South and I still have trouble getting the gears in the ‘ol head to accept that the streets actually runs East and West……

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