Jamb
An upright surface that lines an
opening for a door or window.
Joist
A small rectangular sectional
member arranged parallel from
wall to wall in a building, or
resting on beams or girders.
They support a floor or the
laths or furring strips of a
ceiling.
Kiln-Dried
Artificial drying of lumber,
superior to most lumber that is
air dried.
King-Post
The
middle post of a truss. Large,
heavy screws, used where great
strength is required, as in
heavy framing or when attaching
ironwork to wood.
Lag-Screws or
Coach-Screws
Large, heavy screws, used where
great strength is required, as
in heavy framing or when
attaching ironwork to wood.
Lally
Column
A steel tube sometimes filled
with concrete, used to support
girders or other floor beams.
Lath
One of a number of thin narrow
strips of wood nailed to
rafters, ceiling joists, wall
studs, etc. to make a groundwork
or key for slates, tiles, or
plastering.
Leaching
Bed
Tiles in the trenches carrying
treated wastes from septic
tanks.
Ledger
A piece of wood which is
attached to a beam to support
joists.
Lintel
The top piece over a door or
window which supports walls
above the opening.
Load-Bearing
Wall
A strong wall capable of
supporting weight.
Louver
An opening with horizontal slats
to permit passage of air, but
excluding rain, sunlight and
view.
Masonry
Walls built by a mason, using
brick, stone, tile or similar
materials.
Molding
A strip of decorative material
having a plane or curved narrow
surface prepared for ornamental
application. These strips are
often used to hide gaps at wall
junctures.
Moisture
Barrier
Treated paper or metal that
retards or bars water vapor,
used to keep moisture from
passing into walls or floors.
Mullion
Slender framing which divides
the lights or panes of windows.
Newel
The upright post or the upright
formed by the inner or smaller
ends of steps about which steps
of a circular staircase wind. In
a straight flight staircase, the
principal post at the foot or
the secondary post at a landing.
Nosing
The rounded edge of a stair
tread.
Parging
A rough coat of mortar applied
over a masonry wall as
protection or finish; may also
serve as a base for an asphaltic
waterproofing compound below
grade.
Pilaster
A projection or the foundation
wall used to support a floor
girder or stiffen the wall.
Pitch
The angle of slope of a roof.
Plasterboard
(See
Dry Wall)
Gypsum board, used instead of
plaster.
Plates
Pieces
of wood placed on wall surfaces
as fastening devices. The bottom
member of the wall is the sole
plate and the top member is the
rafter plate.
Plenum
A chamber which can serve as a
distribution area for heating or
cooling systems, generally
between a false ceiling and the
actual ceiling.
Pointing
Treatment of joints in masonry
by filling with mortar to
improve appearance or protect
against weather.
Post-And-Beam
Construction
Wall construction in which beams
are supported by heavy posts
rather than many smaller studs.
Prefabrication
Construction of components such
as walls, trusses, or doors,
before delivery to the building
site.
Rabbet
A groove cut in a board to
receive another board.
Radiant
Heat
Coils of electricity, hot water
or steam pipes embedded in
floors, ceilings, or walls to
heat rooms.
Rafter
One of a series of structural
roof members spanning from an
exterior wall to a center ridge
beam or ridge board.
Reinforced
Concrete
Concrete
strengthened with wire or metal
bars.
Ridge
Pole
A thick longitudinal plank to
which the ridge rafters of a
roof are attached.
Riser
The upright piece of a stair
step, from tread to tread.
Roof
Sheathing
Sheets, usually of plywood,
which are nailed to the top
edges of trusses or rafters to
tie the roof together and
support the roofing material.
Sandwich Panel
A
panel with plastic, paper, or
other material enclosed between
two layers of a different
material.
Sash
The
movable part of a window-the
frame in which panes of glass
are set in a window or door.
Scotia
A concave molding.
Scuttle
Hole
A small opening either to the
attic, to the crawl space or to
the plumbing pipes.
Seepage
Pit
A sewage disposal system
composed of a septic tank and a
connected cesspool.
Septic
Tank
A
sewage settling tank in which
part of the sewage is converted
into gas and sludge before the
remaining waste is discharged by
gravity into a leaching bed
underground.
Shakes
Handcut
wood shingles.
Sheathing
(See Wall Sheathing)
The first covering of boards or
material on the outside wall or
roof prior to installing the
finished siding or roof
covering.
Shim
Thin tapered piece of wood used
for leveling or tightening a
stair or other building element.
Shingles
Pieces of wood, asbestos or
other material used as an
overlapping outer covering on
walls or roofs.
Shiplap
Boards with rabbeted edges
overlapping.
Shiplap
Siding Boards of special design
nailed horizontally to vertical
studs with or without
intervening sheathing to form
the exposed surface of outside
walls of frame buildings.
Sill
Plate
The
lowest member of the house
framing resting on top of the
foundation wall. Also called the
mud sill.
Skirtings
Narrow boards around the margin
of a floor; baseboards.
Slab
Concrete floor placed directly
on earth or a gravel base and
usually about four inches thick.
Sleeper
Strip of wood laid over concrete
floor to which the finished wood
floor is nailed or glued.
Soffit
The
visible underwide of structural
members such as staircases,
cornices, beams, a roof overhang
or eave.
Softwood
Easily
worked wood or wood from a
conebearing tree.
Soil
Stack
Vertical plumbing pipe for waste
water.
Stringer
A
long, horizontal member which
connects uprights in a frame or
supports a floor or the like.
One of the enclosed sides of a
stair supporting the treads and
risers.
Studs
In wall framing, the vertical
members to which horizontal
pieces are nailed. Studs are
spaced either 16 inches or 24
inches apart.
Subfloor
Usually, plywood sheets that are
nailed directly to the floor
joists and that receive the
finish flooring.
Sump
A pit in the basement in which
water collects to be pumped out
with a sump pump.
Swale
A wide shallow depression in the
ground to form a channel for
storm water drainage.
Tie
A wood member which binds a pair
of principal rafters at the
bottom.
Tile
Field
Open-joint drain tiles laid to
distribute septic tank effluent
over an absorption area or to
provide subsoil drainage in wet
areas.
Toenail
Driving nails at an angle into
corners or other joints.
Tongue-And-Groove
Carpentry
joint in which the jutting edge
of one board fits into the
grooved end of a similar board.
Trap
A bend in a water pipe to hold
water so gases will not escape
from the plumbing system into
the house.
Tread
The horizontal part of a stair
step.
Truss
A combination of structural
members usually arranged in
triangular units to form a rigid
framework for spanning between
load-bearing walls.
Valley
The depression at the meeting
point of two roof slopes.
Vapor
Barrier
Material such as paper, metal or
paint which is used to prevent
vapor from passing from rooms
into the outside walls.
Venetian
Window
A window with one large fixed
central pane and smaller panes
at each side.
Vent
Pipe
A pipe which allows gas to
escape from plumbing systems.
Verge
The edge of tiles, slates or
shingles, projecting over the
gable of a roof.
Wainscoting
The
lower three or four feet of an
interior wall when lined with
paneling, tile or other material
different from the rest of the
wall.
Wall
Sheathing
Sheets of plywood, gypsum board,
or other material nailed to the
outside face of studs as a base
for exterior siding.
Weather
Stripping
Metal, wood, plastic or other
material installed around door
and window openings to prevent
air infiltration.
Weep
Hole
A small hole in a wall which
permits water to drain off.
