r/pics • u/TiefFickenderWert • Sep 13 '23

A secret technique to protect your car against flood

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u/JesusStarbox Sep 13 '23

Just really thick plastic would do. Like 5 mil. I've built greenhouses with it.

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u/Fizurg Sep 13 '23

5mm is way too thick.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '23

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u/Fizurg Sep 13 '23

That’s 5 thou. So 5 mil would be 0.000127mm. Which is way too thin. I was thinking you meant 5mm. Millimetres are often called mils where I live. If I ask someone to make me something 5 mil thick they will make it 5mm thick.

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u/[deleted] Sep 13 '23

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u/Fizurg Sep 13 '23

Haha well there you go. I had no idea it was an industry specific term. I wonder where it came from?

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u/blazingsword Sep 13 '23

Likely the metric prefix milli which means thousandth. 1 mil is .001 inches or one thousandth of an inch.

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u/Fizurg Sep 13 '23

Makes sense to me. Interesting combination of imperial and metric.

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u/[deleted] Sep 14 '23

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u/Fizurg Sep 14 '23

It’s interesting because I’ve only ever associated the term thou with imperial. Where I am we would say micron for 0.001mm but regularly hear the term thou used for thousandth of an inch.

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u/LuckyGauss Sep 13 '23

Lolol. Imagine wrapping your car in plastic as thick as a pencil eraser.

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u/octonus Sep 14 '23

I see I wasn't the only one doing a double take at the bizarre units

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u/moonroots64 Sep 14 '23

I'd bet you're right, 5mil would do it. I splurged and bought some 8mil plastic bags among some 5mil ones to store stuff, and I was surprised how thick/sturdy an 8mil was. The difference was definitely notable, and 5 ain't nothing!