stonework

stonework (countable and uncountable, plural stoneworks)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-stonework.wav

From Middle English stonewerk, stonwerk, ston-werke, stoonwerk, from Old English stānweorc; equivalent to stone + -work.

The gate itself has sideposts of rustic stonework, each topped by a large Baroque vase[…]

2001, A. J. Youngson, The Companion Guide to Edinburgh and the Borders, page 352:

(uncountable) The skill of constructing with stone.


renovation

en-noun

renovation (countable and uncountable, plural renovations)

/ˈɹɛnəveɪʃən/

Borrowed from Latin renovatio, renovationem.

Meronyms: (building renovation) demo, demolition, rebuilding

Near-synonym: (building renovation) remodeling

During the course, the Cijin District Office, the frontline local government unit in charge of executing the tomb's renovation, also worked hard to communicate with the deceased's families about how to redesign the space.

2017, Anru Lee, Wen-hui Anna Tang, “Gender, Popular Religion, and the Politics of Memory in Taiwan's Urban Renewal: The Case of the Twenty-Five Ladies' Tomb”, in Zayn R. Kassam, editor, Women and Asian Religions, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 144:


reinforced concrete

reinforced concrete (countable and uncountable, plural reinforced concretes)

A building material made from Portland cement concrete with a matrix of steel bars or wires (rebars) to increase its tensile strength.


fibro

Every day, all day and all night sometimes, the town jammed jazz with bits of loose tin slapping around on top of the mud-stained fibro walls […].

2006, Alexis Wright, Carpentaria, Giramondo, published 2012, page 56:

There are a few faded colourless fibro buildings, jagged black holes punched here and there in the panels.

2015, Charlotte Wood, The Natural Way of Things, Allen & Unwin, published 2018, page 19:

(Australia) Fibro-cement; a building material consisting of asbestos fibres and cement pressed into sheets.


bricklaying

bricklaying (countable and uncountable, plural bricklayings)

Mr. Popham never worked at his bricklayings or carpentering or cabinet making or papering by the hour, but “by the job”; and a kind Providence, intent on the welfare of the community, must have guided him in this choice of business methods, […]

1912, Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin, Mother Carey, page 127:

The act of building a wall by laying bricks, usually with cement between the surfaces of the bricks.


sauterelle

A type of crossbow for throwing hand grenades or small bombs into enemy trenches, used by the French and British soldiers on the Western Front during World War I.


wedging

wedging (countable and uncountable, plural wedgings)

(construction) A method of joining timbers.


jointer

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-jointer.wav

Any of various tools used to construct or finish joints, especially:


twibill

From Middle English twibill, from Old English twibill, from twi- (“double”) + bill (“edge, blade”), see also billhook.

(carpentry) A two-edged tool used in gate-type hurdle-making for cutting out mortises, with a flat chisel and a mortise chisel or hook, similar to the much larger French carpenter's tool, the besaiguë (or bisaiguë).


skirting board

But these little tunnels, emerging into the open at Finchley Road (reached in 1879) were the start of something big. By the early twentieth century it would be possible to think of them as two mouseholes in the skirting board of a wall separating two great ballrooms.

2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 51:

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, carpentry, interior decoration) A panel, normally made of wood, between the floor and the interior wall of a structure, or placed in a position that is subject to repeated knocks.


racking

racking (countable and uncountable, plural rackings)

(roofing) A method of asphalt shingle application, whereby shingle courses are applied vertically, up the roof rather than laterally across and up.


haulm

haulm (countable and uncountable, plural haulms)

From Middle English halm, from Old English healm, from Proto-Germanic *halmaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱolh₂mos. Cognate with Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos) and Latin culmus. Doublet of calame, calamus, culm, and helm (Etymology 4).

doublet

(uncountable) The stems of various cultivated plants, left after harvesting the crop, which are used as animal food or litter, or for thatching.

слама

stems of cultivated plants left after harvesting


finisher

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-finisher.wav

A construction machine used to smooth a newly constructed road surface.


floorboard

Any of the long boards laid over joists to make a floor.

gulvbræt

any of the long boards laid over joists to make a floor


floorboard

en-verb

floorboard (third-person singular simple present floorboards, present participle floorboarding, simple past and past participle floorboarded)

floorboards (present singular third-person)
floorboarding (participle present)
floorboarded (participle past)
floorboarded (past)

I floorboarded the gas pedal and cut over sharply to the right, threatening the Cadillac's fenders and its driver's life.

(transitive) To sink the gas pedal into the floorboard of the car, in order to bring the car to the highest possible speed.


dry-stone

dry-stone wall

The first part of the book traces the history of dry stone walls from medieval times to the present. The standard form of most walls probably dates from Tudor times but the great era of wall-building in the uplands took place comparatively recently, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

2016, Angus J. L. Winchester, Dry Stone Walls: History and Heritage, Amberley Publishing, →ISBN:

(of a wall, bridge, building, etc.) Constructed by laying carefully selected stones on top of each other, and bedding them down with no mortar.


brick up

brick up (third-person singular simple present bricks up, present participle bricking up, simple past and past participle bricked up)

bricks up (present singular third-person)
bricking up (participle present)
bricked up (participle past)
bricked up (past)

The chest was bricked up into the wall.

We've encountered servers bricked up into secret rooms many times, but never a UPS hidden behind a locked door.

2020 December 11, Richard Speed, “Oh, no one knows what goes on behind locked doors... so don't leave your UPS in there”, in The Register, archived from the original on 2022-01-20:

(transitive) To trap or seal in a closed space using bricks.


screeding

(masonry) The process of producing a smooth flat layer of concrete or similar material.


overhand

(masonry) Laid such that the surface of the wall to be jointed is on the opposite side of the wall from the mason, requiring the mason to lean over the wall to complete the work.


hardboard

en-noun

hardboard (countable and uncountable, plural hardboards)

The compartment ceiling panels are of plastic material backed with ply or hardboard panels.

1951 May, “British Railway Standard Coaches”, in Railway Magazine, page 328:

For convenience and versatility, no mass-produced wood paneling can beat hardboard—a tough, pliable, water-resistant material made from wood fibers.

1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, →ISBN, page 67:


chipboard

chipboard (countable and uncountable, plural chipboards)

(Australia, UK) A building material made from wood chips compressed and bound with synthetic resin.

талашит

A material made from compressed wood chips


sile

From Middle English syle, from Old English sȳl (“column, pillar, support”), from Proto-West Germanic *sūli, from Proto-Germanic *sūliz (“beam, post, column, pillar”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱsewl-, *ḱswel- (“log”), from *ḱsew-, *ḱes- (“to scratch, comb”).
Cognate with Dutch zuil (“pillar”), German Säule (“column, pillar”), Norwegian søyle (“pillar”), Icelandic súla (“column”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌿𐌻𐍃 (sauls, “pillar”).

inh

(now chiefly dialectal) A beam; rafter; one of the principal rafters of a building.

(now chiefly dialectal) The foot or lower part of a couple or rafter; base.

(now chiefly dialectal) A roof rafter or couple, usually one of a pair.


sile

en-verb

sile (third-person singular simple present siles, present participle siling, simple past and past participle siled)

siles (present singular third-person)
siling (participle present)
siled (participle past)
siled (past)

From Middle English silen, sylen, from Middle Low German silen ("to let off water, filter, strain"; > Low German silen, sielen), equivalent to sie (“to filter, strain”) + -le. Cognate with German sielen (“let off water, filter”), Swedish sila (“to strain, filter, sift”), German Siel (“drain, sewer, sluice”).

cog

(intransitive, UK dialectal, Northern England) To pour with rain.


galletting

The insertion of flint fillets into the joints of masonry.


gambrel

Uncertain, perhaps from Old Northern French gamberel, from gambe (“leg”).


toed

(construction) Having the end secured by nails driven obliquely; said of a board, plank, or joist serving as a brace, and in general of any part of a frame secured to other parts by diagonal nailing.


cavity wall

(construction) A double wall of masonry connected by an air space.


plasterboard

A construction material consisting of a rigid panel of several layers of fibreboard or paper bonded to a gypsum core.


gambrel roof

It was certainly a depressing place, with a huge, gambrel roof which came down over the upper windows and nearly obscured them.

1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

A roof design having two slopes on the sides and gables in the ends.


cradling

the ceiling of the circular part is deeply panelled, the main ribs forming the core for the cradling

1853, Thomas Tredgold, Elementary Principles of Carpentry:

(carpentry) The framework in arched or coved ceilings to which the laths are nailed.


dozy

en-adj

dozy (comparative dozier, superlative doziest)

dozier (comparative)
doziest (superlative)

dozy wood


shit a brick

en-verb

shit a brick (third-person singular simple present shits a brick, present participle shitting a brick, simple past shit a brick or shat a brick or shitted a brick, past participle shit a brick or shitted a brick or shat a brick)

shits a brick (present singular third-person)
shitting a brick (participle present)
shit a brick (past)
shat a brick (past)
shitted a brick (past)
shit a brick (participle past)
shitted a brick (participle past)
shat a brick (participle past)

If our boss finds out we did this and didn't tell him, he's gonna shit a brick.

She was thunderstruck when she came face to face with the tomb of Sir Isaac Newton. At her age, and in that same place, my big brother Bernie, a born scientist who can't draw or paint for sour apples, would have shit an even bigger brick.

(idiomatic, vulgar) To react strongly or excessively, especially in anger, fear, or astonishment.


slab

From Middle English sclabbe, slabbe, of uncertain origin; possibly from *slap, related to dialectal slappel (“portion, piece”), along with slape (“slippery”), sleip (“smooth piece of timber”), borrowed through Old Norse sleipr from Proto-Germanic *slaipaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leyb-. See also Norwegian sleip (“slippery”) and Icelandic sleipur.

(construction) A poured-concrete foundation for a building.


ponding

en-noun

ponding (usually uncountable, plural pondings)

(construction, hydrology) The excessive accumulation of water in low-lying areas, remaining 48 hours after the end of rainfall under conditions ordinarily conducive to drying.


beaverboard

beaverboard (usually uncountable, plural beaverboards)

From beaver + board, probably from Beaver Manufacturing Company, probably from Beaver Falls (“hamlet in New York”). Originally a trademark.

1957, J. D. Salinger, "Zooey", in, 1961, Franny and Zooey, 1991 LB Books edition, page 176,
Instead, he turned around and deliberately faced a sheet of what had once been snow-white beaverboard that was nailed uncompromisingly to the back of the door.

A form of fiberboard made of wood pulp compressed into sheets.


butt hinge

(carpentry) A kind of hinge used in hanging doors, lid, covers, etc.; so named because fastened on the edge of the door, which butts against the frame, stop molding, and casing, instead of on its face, like the strap hinge; also called a butt.


brick shithouse

brick shithouse (plural brick shithouses)

Part Polynesian, part Melanesian, part brick shithouse. He crossed the gym with the proprietary waddle of a troll in its lair, […]

2000, Shane Maloney, Nice Try: A Murray Whelan Mystery, page 75:

He felt like he'd just slammed a brick shithouse.

2001, J. R. Parker, Winter Kill, page 9:

She looked really fine, a bonafide brick shithouse.

2002, Joseph Geren, Chastity's Virtue: A Michael Marcus Mystery, page 50:

(slang, vulgar) A person with a well-developed body.


deadman

From dead + man. In the sense referring to a safety switch, the notion of an operator who is dead is the figurative archetype representing any incapacitation, absence, or inattention. See also Dead Hand in that regard.

The building code requires deadmen for retaining walls.

(construction) A long object, often a timber or log, buried to serve as an anchor for a wall or for stays.

анкерная сва́я

a long object, often a timber or log, buried to serve as an anchor for a wall or for stays


thick as a brick

So you ride yourselves over the fields
And you make all your animal deals
And your wise men don't know how it feels
To be thick as a brick.

1972, “Thick As A Brick”, Ian Anderson (lyrics), performed by Jethro Tull:

(simile) Very stupid; slow to learn or understand. Kieran Bradley

愚不可及

so thick that no one else in the world can compare


sheetrock

A proprietary name (originally, and also, Sheetrock); from sheet + rock.

(uncountable) A building material comprising a sheet of gypsum sandwiched between two pieces of heavy paper, used mainly for interior walls and ceilings; drywall.


planning permission

planning permission (countable and uncountable, plural planning permissions)

/ˈplænɪŋ pəˈmɪʃən/

/ˈplænɪŋ pɚˈmɪʃən/

The term was possibly introduced by the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 (10 & 11 George VI, chapter 51) of the United Kingdom.

If I am not sure whether what I want to do needs planning permission, how can I find out? You can write to your Local Planning Authority and ask them to give you a ruling (or, as the Act [the Town and Country Planning Act 1947] calls it, a 'determination') whether you need planning permission or not, and if you disagree with their ruling you can appeal to the Minister.

1949, Ministry of Housing and Local Government, Central Office of Information (Great Britain), Town and Country Planning: The 1947 Act; 144 Questions and Answers, number 9, London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, →OCLC, question 15, page 8:

At the Newcastle end, the first intention was to erect a steel lattice tower above the platforms at Newcastle Central station, immediately over an existing telecommunications apparatus room, but planning permission for a tower of the required height could not be obtained.

1964 August, “The NER's microwave radio-telephone begins work”, in Modern Railways, page 129:

The real wealth of information that could be drawn from planning permissions and refusals concerning housing, offices, industry, shops, etc., remains a largely untapped source and a number of assertions appear in the daily press and elsewhere about delays in granting planning permissions which only too often cannot be either confirmed or refuted, let alone be judged against statistics showing the wider context of the implementation of planning permissions.

1978, J[ohn] T[erence] Coppock, L[eonard] F[rank] Gebbett, “Review No. 15: The Statistics of Town and Country Planning”, in W[ynne] F[rederick] Maunder, editor, Land Use […] and Town and Country Planning […] (Reviews of United Kingdom Statistical Sources; VII), Oxford: Published for the Royal Statistical Society and the Social Science Research Council by Pergamon Press, →ISBN, section 1.4 (Survey for Plans), paragraph 1.4.1, page 113:

Difficulties arise when a use is abandoned and resumed. The question is whether planning permission is needed for resumption. Where a new planning permission is granted and implemented, the old use rights are lost. Planning permission runs with the land once implemented; cessation of use does not prevent resumption later on (this is particularly important in mineral working). Whereas a planning permission may be replaced by another planning permission, which is implemented, it is normally only uses that did not originally have planning permission that can be abandoned.

1997, Keith Thomas, “Legal Aspects of Development Control”, in Development Control: Principles and Practice, London, Bristol, Pa.: UCL Press, →ISBN, page 46:

The UK has possessed a land-use planning system since 1948 which allows substantial discretion in the consideration of the environmental implications of new development. It is possible for local planning authorities (LPAs) to prepare plans in which environmental policies are emphasised and to refuse development, or to impose conditions for planning permissions, for environmental reasons.

2003, Christopher Wood, “EIA [Environmental Impact Assessment] in the UK”, in Environmental Impact Assessment: A Comparative Review, 2nd edition, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, published 2013, →ISBN, page 52:

Northumberland County Council will need to grant itself planning permission to build the stations in its area (Ashington, Bedlington, Bebside, Newsham and Seaton Delaval) and will need to receive planning permission from North Tyneside Council for Northumberland Park station.

2021 June 16, Philip Haigh, “North East passenger plans take an important step forward”, in RAIL, number 933, page 28:

(British, construction, law) Legal permission granted by a government authority to construct on one's land, or to change the use of the land.

George VI
Sandleford
Town and Country Planning Act 1947
West Berkshire Council

omgevingsvergunning

legal permission granted by a government authority to construct on one's land, or to change the use of the land


earthmoving

en-adj

earthmoving (comparative more earthmoving, superlative most earthmoving)

more earthmoving (comparative)
most earthmoving (superlative)

(construction, not comparable) Designed to move large quantities of earth or rubble for civil engineering or building purposes.

maansiirto-

construction: designed to move large quantities of earth


footplate

(construction) A timber in a wood frame that distributes a concentrated load.


harr

One of the first places for a gate to go rotten is at the junction of the brace and harr.

1987, Paul Nooncree Hasluck, “Gates and Rough Fencing”, in The Handyman's Book: Tools, Materials and Processes Employed in Woodworking, →ISBN, page 375:

(carpentry) The stile that bears the hinges of a gate.


distributable

(construction) Any of the costs that are not directly associated with a specific account.


contractee

(construction) The party to a construction contract who is not the contractor; frequently the owner.


thermal break

A thermal insulator placed between two thermal conductors to reduce the flow of heat; often used in aluminum doors and windows.

lämpökatko

thermal insulator between two conductors


steelwork

During the war, but unrecorded because of the requirements of censorship, a link with the now partly-abandoned Cardiff Railway disappeared with the demolition of Rhydyfelin Viaduct, near Treforest, South Wales, in the latter part of 1942. The steelwork in this structure, amounting to nearly 1,150 tons, was salvaged as scrap metal to assist the war effort.

1946 January and February, “Notes and News: Demolition of Rhydyfelin Viaduct”, in Railway Magazine, page 52:

By February, foundations for the overhead wire supports had been dug and concreted from Colwich as far south as Polesworth and steelwork for the overhead structures themselves was being assembled at Hillmorton Sidings, near Rugby.

1961 March, “Talking of Trains”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 130:

(construction) All the steel components of a structure.


rammed earth

A construction material made by compressing or packing earth (dirt).


common nail

A nail with a mostly smooth uncoated shank less than one third the diameter of its head, used for interior construction, especially framing.


stereotomy

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-stereotomy.wav

From French stéréotomie, from Ancient Greek στερεός (stereós, “solid”) + -τομία (-tomía, “-cut”).

uder

Here your countenance brightened up, and, perceiving your lips move, I could not doubt that you murmured the word ‘stereotomy’, a term very affectedly applied to this species of pavement.

1841, Edgar Allan Poe, The Murders in the Rue Morgue:

(geometry, masonry) The cutting or dissection of solids.


road roller

→ Japanese: ロードローラー (rōdorōrā)

A heavy engineering vehicle used to compact asphalt in the construction of roads.


traverse

en-verb

traverse (third-person singular simple present traverses, present participle traversing, simple past and past participle traversed)

traverses (present singular third-person)
traversing (participle present)
traversed (participle past)
traversed (past)

From Middle English traversen, from Old French traverser, from Latin trans (“across”) + versus (“turned”), perfect passive participle of Latin vertere (“to turn”).

to traverse a board

(carpentry) To plane in a direction across the grain of the wood.


quarry tile

The public areas have blue quarry-tile floors, pale blue glass mosaic walls and pillars and varnished timber ceilings; [...].

1960 September, M. J. Wilson, “Harlow Town station opened”, in Trains Illustrated, page 542:

A very hard ceramic tile used e.g. as flooring, usually 1/2 to 3/4 inches (13 to 19 mm) in thickness, made by the extrusion process from natural clays or shales.


pit prop

Whereas Germany at the outbreak of war was the greatest purchaser of Swedish iron ore, Great Britain was by far the greatest buyer of Swedish wood products. German submarines, however, have taken deadly toll of Scandinavian ships laden with pit-props bound for England.

1915 December 2, D. Thomas Curtin, “Sweden's Rôle in the Great War”, in The World's Work, volume XXXI:

Some centres specialise in timber, and those conveniently situated to the coalfields deal with large quantities of pit props.

1945 January and February, T. F. Cameron, “Dock Working”, in Railway Magazine, page 9:

A wooden beam used as a support within a mineshaft or tunnel.


pykrete

Finnish: pykriitti

Blend of Pyke + concrete, Named after British inventor Geoffrey Pyke.

named-after

A solid substance made of water ice and sawdust, stronger than pure ice. Originally to be used in combination with a refrigeration system as hull material for warships. Used as a building material for ice buildings (such as winter ice hotels) and ice sculptures, usually without the originally envisioned embedded refrigeration systems.


slash pile

(construction) Accumulated debris from cutting brush or trimming trees.


hip roof

A roof formed from inclined, planar ends and sides, joined at their edges to form hips, the longer sides forming a ridge at the top


kutcha

en-adj

kutcha (comparative more kutcha, superlative most kutcha)

more kutcha (comparative)
most kutcha (superlative)

From Hindi कच्चा (kaccā, “raw, unripe”).

The manager publicly announced that the kutcha house loan was for those who lived in thatched huts and the linkage loan for those who lived in tiled houses!

2016 July 7, K. Kalpana, Women, Microfinance and the State in Neo-liberal India, Routledge, →ISBN, page 129:

(South Asia, of a building) Made with natural materials, especially unfired mud and thatch.


weatherboard

The homestead lies half a mile from the road, a small bungalow built of weatherboard with an iron roof and with verandas on three sides […]

1952, Neville Shute, chapter 1, in The Far Country, London: Heinemann:

Any of a series of horizontal boards used to cover the exterior of a timber-framed building; clapboard.


OPC

Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) is the world's most common form of cement. The blue plaque dedicated to inventor Joseph Aspdin describes OPC as "one of mankind's most important manufactured materials".

2023 December 27, Richard Foster, “Building a greener future”, in RAIL, number 999, page 36:

ordinary portland cement
ordinary portland cement#English

(construction) Initialism of ordinary portland cement.


measure twice and cut once

Look at Carpenters! . . . In old times it was a proverb "Measure twice, and cut once."

1872, “Dressmaking”, in Hall's Journal of Health, volume 19, number 12, page 280:

(carpentry, literally) One should double-check one's measurements for accuracy before cutting a piece of wood; otherwise it may be necessary to cut again, wasting time and material.


cement board

en-noun

cement board (countable and uncountable, plural cement boards)

(uncountable) A building material made of cement and glass fibers formed into sheets, used as tile backing board.


shuttering

shuttering (countable and uncountable, plural shutterings)

[I]n practice, small deformations will occur in the shell on striking the shuttering, or... alternatively, some small deformations are due to slightly imperfect placing of the original formwork.

1977, Jaques Heyman, Equilibrium of Shell Structures, Clarendon Press, Oxford, page 107:


fill soil

fill soil (countable and uncountable, plural fill soils)

(construction, horticulture, archaeology) Soil used for filling, that is, found within or contemporaneously placed within a cavity, or a supply of soil for use as fill.


alligatoring

From alligator + -ing, from the resemblance to an alligator's skin.

(roofing) The cracking of the surfacing bitumen on a bituminous roof or coating on a SPF roof, producing a pattern of cracks similar to an alligator's hide.


damp proofing

(construction) treatment of a surface or structure to resist the passage of water in the absence of hydrostatic pressure.


brickman

(regional) A mason who specializes in brickwork.


adequately wet

(toxicology, construction) Of asbestos: made wet for safety reasons, in order to prevent the escape of harmful particles, for example during demolition.


storagewall

(colloquial, trade jargon) A floor-to-ceiling cupboard that is built to house a variety of objects or files in an office.


doty

en-adj

doty (comparative dotier, superlative dotiest)

dotier (comparative)
dotiest (superlative)

doty in the Dictionary of American Regional English

An hour later, he came upon a hollow tree, filled with doty wood which he could tear out with his hands and he built a fire and broiled a little more bacon.

1903, John Fox Jr., The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come:

(carpentry, of wood) Suffering from rot, or waterlogged


RHS

(construction) Initialism of rectangular hollow section.


air-blown asphalt

en-noun

air-blown asphalt (countable and uncountable, plural air-blown asphalts)

(construction) Asphalt produced by blowing air through molten asphalt to raise its softening point and modify other properties.


architectural panel

architectural panel (plural architectural panels)

(roofing) A metal roof panel, typically a double standing seam or batten seam; usually requires solid decking underneath and relies of slope to shed water


asphalt shingle

asphalt shingle (plural asphalt shingles)

(roofing) A shingle manufactured by coating a reinforcing material (felt or fibrous glass mat) with asphalt and having mineral granules on the side exposed to the weather.


built-up roof

(roofing) A continuous, semi-flexible roof membrane, consisting of multiple plies of saturated felts, coated felts, fabrics or mats assembled in place with alternate layers of bitumen, and surfaced with mineral aggregate, bituminous materials, a liquid-applied coating or a granule-surfaced cap sheet.


button punch

(construction) indenting two or more thicknesses of metal that are pressed against each other to prevent slippage between the metal.


cap sheet

(construction) A sheet, often granule-surfaced, used as the top ply of some roof membranes and/or flashings.


C-channel

Another and more traditional C-channel repair approach is to weld reinforcement plates to the web instead of bolting them, or to weld a reinforcement bar along the bottom flange, but this is less commonly done today.

2002, Frank M. Marlow, “Vehicle Welding”, in Welding Fabrication & Repair:

[…] the aluminum deck is made of welded C-channel and supported by C-channel girders […]

2002 March, “Party Barge 22 Tritoon RE”, in Boating Life:

A structural framing member with a cross section shaped like a squared-off letter C.


cellular glass insulation

cellular glass insulation (usually uncountable, plural cellular glass insulations)

(construction) A rigid closed-cell insulation board made from crushed glass and hydrogen sulfide gas.


chalk line

A line made on a surface by snapping a taut string or cord dusted with colored chalk.


apron flashing

(roofing) A flashing located at the juncture of the top of a sloped roof and a vertical wall, chimney or steeper-sloped roof.


popcorn ceiling

popcorn ceiling (plural popcorn ceilings)

Eesh, she hated this apartment. Hated the ugly popcorn ceilings and the awkward floor plan. Why had she stayed?

Despite the drab backdrop of his performances—a dimly lit bathroom with a popcorn ceiling—his grooves were both riveting and infectious, earning him plaudits from several TikTok stalwarts.

2021 May 7, Barrett Swanson, “The Anxiety of Influencers”, in Harper's Magazine:

(construction) A ceiling having a type of waterbased spray-on treatment characterized by a rough, lumpy texture.


prestress

en-verb

prestress (third-person singular simple present prestresses, present participle prestressing, simple past and past participle prestressed)

prestresses (present singular third-person)
prestressing (participle present)
prestressed (participle past)
prestressed (past)

(construction) To apply stress to structural components in order to produce a tension that counteracts the loads to which the component is subjected in its designed use.


sarking

en-noun

sarking (usually uncountable, plural sarkings)

Much housing work lies within this area, and to avoid high maintenance costs the Department is building many houses with plaster exteriors upon diagonal sarkings.

1947, New Zealand House of Representatives, Appendix to the Jounals of the House of Representatives of New Zealand, volume 3, page 18:

1997, Ann Ross, Jonathan Hetreed, Architect′s Pocket Book, 2011, 4th Edition, Elsevier, UK, page 248,
Sarkings are weatherproof membranes laid over rafters and below battens to draught-proof and weatherproof the roof against driving rain or powder snow that may penetrate the tiles or slates.
Traditional sarkings of reinforced bitumen felt have been largely superseded by lighter, breathable sarkings that can be laid to form an effectively draught-proof roof but still allow free dispersal of water vapour to avoid roof space condensation; such mterials generally avoid the need for eaves, ridge and roof slope ventilators. Where they are laid directly over insulation between rafters, or over a permeable sarking board, tiling battens are raised clear of the sarking by 25 x 50 counter battens nailed down to the tops of the rafters.

A house in Moorabbin listed for sale with Better House Removers would cost its buyer "about $75,000-$90,000" to move, including the house, restumping, rejoining, new roof, sarking and metal batons, and council permits, Mr Bernardo estimated.

2009 January 25, Caroline James, “Traps to avoid when relocating a home”, in Herald Sun, archived from the original on 2009-06-29:

(chiefly Scotland, Australia, New Zealand, architecture) Wood, felt, or other material placed under the shingles of a roof in order to provide support or insulation; the practice of furnishing roofs with such material; an installation of such material.


restump

en-verb

restump (third-person singular simple present restumps, present participle restumping, simple past and past participle restumped)

restumps (present singular third-person)
restumping (participle present)
restumped (participle past)
restumped (past)

(Australia, construction) To renew the stumps supporting a house


buildable

en-adj

buildable (comparative more buildable, superlative most buildable)

more buildable (comparative)
most buildable (superlative)

It is […] perched on the last buildable site on the presidential inaugural parade route between the Capitol and the White House.

2007 May 8, Katharine Q. Seelye, “A Museum for Artifacts of the News Media’s Hunters and Gatherers”, in New York Times:

(construction) Suitable for building on.


repointing

en-noun

repointing (countable and uncountable, plural repointings)

But if it is done in conjunction with repointing of the building, the work would probably qualify as a major capital improvement.

2007 February 11, Jay Romano, “Triggering a Rent Increase”, in New York Times:

(construction) The process of renewing mortar joints in masonry


subfloor

The original floor was still there: wide boards, laid tongue-in-groove, not the inferior subfloor they had predicted.

2007 May 6, Tracie Rozhon, “The Good Bones Were Still There, Hidden Under the Additions”, in New York Times:

(construction) The floor structure supporting and underlying the visible flooring or other finishing surface such as a carpet


worksite

Earlier yesterday, Harper attended a tightly controlled "photo opportunity" at a home renovation worksite to highlight his proposed measure of tax credits to stimulate the construction industry.

2009 January 29, Tonda MacCharles, “PM survives, 'on probation'”, in Toronto Star:

It's easy to miss things. After all, this is a massive project that's around 124 miles long and which contains dozens and dozens of worksites (large and small) covering a whole range of activities.

2020 August 12, Paul Bigland, “High Speed 2 is starting to accelerate”, in Rail, page 56:

A site where work occurs; usually used in reference to construction work

työmaa

site of work, especially in reference to construction work


mudbrick

mudbrick (countable and uncountable, plural mudbricks)

Adobe brick; unfired brick made from mud or clay mixed with straw.


barrel vault

(roofing) A building profile featuring a rounded profile to the roof on the short axis, but with no angle change on a cut along the long axis.


repoint

en-verb

repoint (third-person singular simple present repoints, present participle repointing, simple past and past participle repointed)

repoints (present singular third-person)
repointing (participle present)
repointed (participle past)
repointed (past)

(masonry) To replace or repair the pointing in brickwork.


building site

Amid confusion over whether it was appropriate for any building sites to remain open, Cabinet Minister Michael Gove said some construction workers could continue to work but that they should "exercise some common sense" and continue to practise social distancing.

2020 April 8, “Network News: Crossrail heads the construction projects placed on hold”, in Rail, page 13:

(construction) The site, the place where a building is located, is currently under construction, or shall be constructed (including structures other than buildings).

施工重地

place where a building is located, under construction, or will be erected


alveus

Borrowed from Latin alveus (“a hollow, cavity; the channel or bed of a river”).

bor

(construction, law) The bed or channel of a river, specifically that followed by the river flowing in its natural or ordinary course.


combing ridge

(roofing) A topmost row of roofing slates that project above the line of the ridge


papercrete

A construction material made from paper or cardboard mixed with cement, clay, or soil.


composite board insulation

en-noun

composite board insulation (uncountable)

(construction) A rigid board insulation generally composed of perlite or wood fiberboard factory bonded to polyisocyanurate or polystyrene.


control joint

(construction) A groove which is formed, sawn, or tooled in a concrete or masonry structure to regulate the location and amount of cracking and separation resulting from the dimensional change of different parts of the structure, thereby avoiding the development of high stresses.


counter batten

(roofing) vertical wood strips installed on sloped roofs over which horizontal battens are secured. The primary roof covering is attached or secured to these horizontal battens.


counterflashing

(construction) Formed metal or elastomeric sheeting secured on or into a wall, curb, pipe or other surface, to cover and protect the upper edge of a base flashing and its associated fasteners.


cover board

(roofing) An insulation board used over closed cell plastic insulation (e.g., polyisocyanurate) to prevent blistering when used in conjunction with hot bituminous membranes.


dead load

(construction) The weight of a structure itself, including the weight of fixtures or equipment permanently attached to it.


dimensional shingle

dimensional shingle (plural dimensional shingles)

(roofing) A shingle that is textured, overlayed, or laminated and designed to produce a three-dimensional effect.


double coverage

(roofing) Application of asphalt, slate, or wood roofing such that the lapped portion is at least two inches wider than the exposed portion, resulting in two layers of roofing material over the deck.


drip edge

(roofing) A metal flashing or other overhanging component with an outward projecting lower edge, intended to control the direction of dripping water and help protect underlying building components.


expansion joint

expansion joint (plural expansion joints)

(construction) A structural separation between two building elements that allows free movement between the elements without damage to the system.


field seam

(construction) A splice or seam made in the field (not factory) where overlapping sheets are joined together using an adhesive, splicing tape, or heat or solvent welding.


fishmouth

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-fishmouth.wav

(roofing) A half-cylindrical or half-conical shaped opening or void in a lapped edge or seam, usually caused by wrinkling or shifting of ply sheets during installation.


tar boil

(roofing) A small bubble or blister in the flood coat of an aggregate-surfaced built-up membrane


aged R-value

(roofing) thermal resistance value established by using artificial conditioning procedures for a prescribed period of time.


asphalt emulsion

asphalt emulsion (countable and uncountable, plural asphalt emulsions)

(roofing) A mixture of asphalt particles and emulsifying agent, such as bentonite clay and water.


feathering strip

feathering strip (plural feathering strips)

(roofing) One of the tapered wood filler strips placed along the butt ends of old wood shingles to create a relatively smooth surface when reroofing over existing wood shingle roofs.


barrier board

(roofing) noncombustible board stock material of low thermal conductivity placed between two elements of a roof assembly.


base flashing

(roofing) Plies or strips of roof membrane material used to close-off and/or seal a roof at the horizonta-to-vertical intersections. Membrane base flashing covers the edge of the field membrane.


base sheet

(roofing) an impregnated, saturated, or coated felt placed as the first ply in some low-slope roof systems.


blanket insulation

blanket insulation (countable and uncountable, plural blanket insulations)

(construction) Glass fiber or other compressible fibrous insulation, generally in roll form.


architectural shingle

architectural shingle (plural architectural shingles)

(roofing) An asphalt shingle that provides a three-dimensional appearance.


Bermuda seam

(roofing) a metal panel profile featuring a step-down profile that runs perpendicular to the slope of the roof.


blind nailing

(construction) the use of nails that are not exposed to the weather.


blowing agent

(construction) An expanding agent used to produce a gas by chemical or thermal action, or both, in the manufacture of hollow or cellular materials.


butt joint

Using the lap joint in any of its applications provides strength in a cabinet where a butt joint would or could be used.

1990, Byron W. Maguire, Cabinetmaking: From Design to Finish, Carlsbad, CA: Craftsman, page 234:

(construction, woodworking) A joint formed by adjacent, separate section of material, such as where two neighboring pieces of insulation abut.


cant strip

(roofing) a beveled strip used under flashings to modify the angle at the point where the roofing or waterproofing membrane meets any vertical element.


cap flashing

(roofing) Flashing, usually composed of metal, used to cover or shield the upper edges of the membrane base flashing; wall flashing can also be used to cover the top of various building components, such as parapets or columns.


closed-cut valley

closed-cut valley (plural closed-cut valleys)

(roofing) a method of valley application in which shingles from one side of the valley extend across the valley while shingles from the other side are trimmed back a few inches from the valley centerline.


design load

design load (usually uncountable, plural design loads)

(construction) The total load on a structural system for the most severe combination of loads and forces which it is designed to sustain.


double lock standing seam

double lock standing seam (plural double lock standing seams)

(construction) A standing seam that uses a double overlapping interlock between two metal panels.


drying time

drying time (countable and uncountable, plural drying times)

(construction) The time required for the loss of volatile components so that the material will no longer be adversely affected by weather conditions such as dew, rain or freezing.


edge venting

(roofing) The practice of providing regularly spaced or continuously protected openings along a roof edge or perimeter, used as part of a ventilation system to dissipate heat and moisture vapor.


expansion cleat

expansion cleat (plural expansion cleats)

(roofing) A cleat designed to accommodate thermal movement of metal roof panels.


flashing collar

flashing collar (plural flashing collars)

(roofing) an accessory flashing used to cover and/or seal soil pipe vents and other penetrations through a roof (sometimes referred to as roof jack or flashing boot).


flat lock

(construction) a method of interlocking metal panels in which one panel edge is folded back on top of itself and the other panel is folded under, after which the two panels are hooked together.


flood test

(construction) the procedure in which a controlled amount of water is temporarily retained over a horizontal surface to determine the effectiveness of the waterproofing system.


froth pack

(construction) A small, disposable aerosol can containing spray polyurethane foam (SPF) components.


gable roof

A gable roof is the basic design for residential roof construction. It can be made with trusses or traditional rafters. Even though building a gable roof is a lot of work, its design is the essence of simplicity: Two flat planes are joined together to form a simple peaked structure.

2009, Albert Jackson, David Day, Popular Mechanics Complete Home How-to, Sterling, →ISBN, pages 205–:

(roofing) A single-ridge roof that terminates at gable ends.


Galvalume

(construction) A metal alloy coating that is composed of aluminum, zinc and silicone.


glass felt

glass felt (countable and uncountable, plural glass felts)

(roofing) glass fibers bonded into a sheet with resin and suitable for impregnation with asphalt in the manufacture of bituminous waterproofing, roofing membranes and shingles.


glaze coat

(roofing) a thin protective coating of bitumen applied to the lower plies or top ply of a roof membrane when application of additional felts or surfacing are delayed.


groundwater level

groundwater level (plural groundwater levels)

(construction) The level, at a particular site, below which the subsoil and rock masses of the earth are fully saturated with water.


hand-tab

en-verb

hand-tab (third-person singular simple present hand-tabs, present participle hand-tabbing, simple past and past participle hand-tabbed)

hand-tabs (present singular third-person)
hand-tabbing (participle present)
hand-tabbed (participle past)
hand-tabbed (past)

(roofing) To spot-apply asphalt-based adhesive to shingles for securement and wind resistance.


hydrostatic pressure relief system

en-noun

hydrostatic pressure relief system (plural hydrostatic pressure relief systems)

hydrostatic pressure relief systems (plural)

(construction) A system of drains and moisture barriers used to regulate the hydrostatic pressure in the earth surrounding a below-grade structure.


interlayment

interlayment (countable and uncountable, plural interlayments)

(roofing) a felt, metal, or membrane sheet material used between courses of steep-slope roofing to improve the weather and water-shedding characteristics of the primary roof covering during times of wind-driven precipitation.


laitance

(construction) A weak, milky layer of cement and aggregate fines on a concrete surface that is usually caused by an overwet mixture, overworking the mixture, improper or excessive finishing or combination thereof. Also, could be caused when a slurry mix is used on a deep foundation, where the slurry mix is not completely removed before placing concrete on top.

(construction) The weak top layer of cement and aggregate fines on a concrete surface that stands between a topical coating and the underlying substrate. This laitance layer prevents a bond forming between the topical coating and substrate, whereby it causes delamination of the topical coating as the laitance layer fails first.


manlock

(construction) An airlock through which workers pass into a chamber of compressed air, especially used in mines.


live load

live load (usually uncountable, plural live loads)

(roofing) Temporary load that the roof structure must be designed to support, as required by governing building codes. Live loads are generally moving and/or dynamic or environmental (e.g. people, installation equipment, snow, ice or rain).


low-slope roof

(technical, construction, US) According to ASTM standard E 1918-97, a roof whose uppermost part is installed at a slope of 2/12 or 1:6 (9.5 degrees) or less.


metallic waterproofing

(construction) finely graded iron particles combined with an oxidizing catalyst. When mixed with water (or water, cement and sand), the finely distributed particles expand, creating a waterproof layer that becomes part of the surface to which it is applied.


modified bitumen

modified bitumen (plural modified bitumens)

(construction) A bitumen modified by including one or more polymers

(construction) composite sheets consisting of a polymer modified bitumen often reinforced with various types of mats or films and sometimes surfaced with films, foils or mineral granules.


moisture scan

(construction) The use of a mechanical device (capacitance, infrared or nuclear) to detect the presence of moisture within an assembly.


mole run

(roofing) a meandering ridge in a roof membrane not associated with insulation or deck joints.


mop-and-flop

(roofing) an application procedure in which roofing elements (insulation boards, felt plies, cap sheets, etc.) are initially placed upside down adjacent to their ultimate location; coated with adhesive or bitumen; and turned over and adhered to the substrate.


mud cracking

(construction) Surface cracking resembling a dried mud flat.


mud slab

(construction) A layer of concrete, typically 2 to 6 inches thick, poured below the structural slab but above a layer of wet or muddy soil.


UBC

Uniform Building Code
w:Uniform Building Code

(construction) Initialism of Uniform Building Code.


negative side waterproofing

negative side waterproofing (uncountable)

hydrostatic pressure
hydrostatic pressure

(construction) An application wherein the waterproofing system and source of hydrostatic pressure are on opposite sides of the structure.


protected membrane roof

protected membrane roof (plural protected membrane roofs)

(roofing) an insulated and ballasted roofing assembly in which the insulation and ballast are applied on top of the membrane (sometimes referred to as an "inverted roof assembly").


PMR

protected membrane roof
protected membrane roof#English

(roofing) Initialism of protected membrane roof.


nonfriable

(construction) A material that, when dry, cannot be crumbled, pulverized or reduced to powder by hand pressure.


open time

(construction) The period of time after an adhesive has been applied and allowed to dry, during which an effective bond can be achieved by joining the two surfaces.


open valley

(roofing) a method of valley construction in which the steep-slope roofing on both sides are trimmed along each side of the valley, exposing the metal valley flashing.


nitrile rubber

nitrile rubber (countable and uncountable, plural nitrile rubbers)

(construction) a membrane whose predominant resinous ingredient is a synthetic rubber made by polymerization of acrylonitrile with butadiene.


nuclear hydrogen detection meter

nuclear hydrogen detection meter (plural nuclear hydrogen detection meters)

nuclear hydrogen detection meters (plural)

(roofing) A device that contains a radioactive source to emit high velocity neutrons into a roof system. Reflecting neutrons are measured by a gauge that is used to detect hydrogen; the quantity of hydrogen detected may be linked to the pressure of water.


overspray surface texture

(roofing) In SPF roofing, a condition of the foam in which the surface shows a linear course textured pattern and/or a pebbled surface. This surface is generally downwind of the sprayed polyurethane path and, if severe, unacceptable for proper coating and protection.


pan former

(construction) Power roll forming equipment that produces a metal panel from a flat sheet.


parge

Probably from parget (verb) (perhaps influenced by sparge (verb)), from Old French porjeter, progeter, pourgeter (“to cast; to plaster a wall”) (compare Old French parjeter (“to cast (especially light) widely”); Middle French pourgetter (Lille and Tournai), Norman porjeter (“to plaster”); French pordjèter (“to add mortar between stones”) (Liège and Namur)), from Old French por- (“through”) + jeter (“to throw”), from Latin porrō (“further; onwards”) + Vulgar Latin, Late Latin iectāre, from Latin iactāre (“to cast, hurl, throw; to scatter, toss”) (compare Latin parjactare, purjettare, pargettare, progettare).
The noun form of parge was derived from the verb.

der

I watch as the mason at the Gilbert house picks up a glob of parge coat on his trowel. He smooths it on, moving from the bottom of the wall to the top. Next, he drapes a white fiberglass mesh from the top of the wall to the bottom and pushes it into the parge coat with his trowel.

1990 May, Cheryl M. Fiorillo, “Lightweight block, heavyweight insulator”, in Popular Science, volume 236, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Popular Science Pub. Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 107:

Parging is a single layer of mortar applied directly to the wall with a trowel so that it covers the entire surface. Parges generally are rough and cover the whole masonry surface, but at times they are only applied to the joints or recessed portions of the stonework. Parges might subsequently be whitewashed for a more refined appearance, or used later as the scratch coat for stucco.

1991 July–August, Paul Briggs, “Mortars & finishes”, in The Old-House Journal, volume XIX, number 4, Brooklyn, New York, N.Y.: Old House Journal Corporation, →ISSN, page 37:

A better method for dealing with efflorescence on masonry is to coat the offending surface with a parge coat of plaster. This is a plaster material that is slightly softer and more porous than the masonry. As the moisture flows through the masonry, it continues through the parge coat and evaporates from the surface, but the salts remain behind in the parge coat.

2007, John Banta, Extreme Weather Hits Home: Protecting Your Buildings from Climate Change, Gabriola Island, B.C.: New Society Publishers, →ISBN, page 177:

(construction) A coat of cement mortar on the face of rough masonry, the earth side of foundation and basement walls.


parge

en-verb

parge (third-person singular simple present parges, present participle parging, simple past and past participle parged)

parges (present singular third-person)
parging (participle present)
parged (participle past)
parged (past)

If your smoke chamber [of a fireplace] is very oddly shaped or virtually impossible to parge, you can solve this problem using expanded metal lath. […] Once you have parged the sides and back of the smoke chamber, set the lintel in a bed of mortar and brick up the breast (front).

1992 November–December, Christopher Phillips, “Rebuilding fireplaces”, in The Old-House Journal, volume XX, number 6, Gloucester, Mass.: Old House Journal Corporation, →ISSN, page 33:

When more than one unit thick of brick or tile is used in the wall, the back of the face brick or tile may be covered with mortar. This parging will substantially increase the waterproofing of the wall. Basement walls usually are parged.

1998, Henry S. Harrison, Houses: The Illustrated Guide to Construction, Design and Systems, 3rd edition, Chicago, Ill.: Dearborn Real Estate Education, →ISBN, page 200:

You can waterproof by parging, coating with a commercial sealer, or both. […] Parging is a thin cement-sand plaster that you apply to the block. Allow the block to cure at least three days before parging.

2004, Stephen Diller, Janelle Diller, Craftsman's Construction Installation Encyclopedia, Carlsbad, Calif.: Craftsman Book Company, →ISBN, page 197:

(construction) To apply a parge on to a surface.


peel strength

en-noun

peel strength (countable and uncountable, plural peel strengths)

(construction) The average load per unit width required to separate a flexible member from a rigid member or another flexible member.


picture framing

picture framing (usually uncountable, plural picture framings)

/ˈpɪktʃə ˌfɹeɪmɪŋ/

From picture + framing, after picture frame.

When ridges occur along both longitudinal and transverse joints, outlining the insulation boards, the pattern formed is known as "picture framing"

1989, H.L. Simmons, Repairing And Extending Weather Barriers, page 97:

The staggered grid pattern is sometimes called "picture framing," a phenomenon generally limited to smooth-surfaced membranes with asbestos felts

1996, Charles William Griffin, R. L. Fricklas, Manual of low-slope roof systems, page 258:

When they also appear above the transverse insulation-board joints, the pattern is called picture framing

2006, C.W. Griffin, Richard Fricklas, Manual of Low-Slope Roof Systems: Fourth Edition:

(roofing) A square or rectangular pattern of ridges in a roof membrane or covering over insulation or deck joints.


pop rivet

(construction) A pin with a relatively small but expandable head.


positive drainage

(construction) the drainage condition in which consideration has been made during design for all loading deflections of the deck and additional roof slope has been provided to ensure drainage within 48 hours following rainfall during conditions conducive to drying.


positive side waterproofing

positive side waterproofing (usually uncountable, plural positive side waterproofings)

(construction) An application where the waterproofing systems and source of hydrostatic pressure are on the same side of the structural element.


pot life

(construction) The period of time a reacting composition remains suitable for its intended processing after mixing with reaction-initiating agents.


protection course

protection course (plural protection courses)

(construction) A sacrificial material used to shield a waterproofing material from damaging external forces.


raggle

(construction) A groove or slot, often cut in a masonry wall or other vertical surface, for inserting an inset flashing component such as a reglet.


ridge course

(roofing) The last or top course of roofing materials, such as tile, roll roofing, shingles, etc. that covers the ridge and overlaps the intersecting field roofing.


ridge vent

(construction) A ventilator located at the ridge that allows the escape of warm and/or moist air from the attic area or rafter cavity.


roof assembly

(roofing) an assembly of interacting roof components including the roof deck, vapor retarder (if needed), insulation and roof covering.


roof curb

(roofing) A raised frame used to mount mechanical units (such as air conditioning or exhaust fans), skylights, etc. on a roof.


rosin paper

rosin paper (usually uncountable, plural rosin papers)

This inexpensive paper is sometimes called “red building paper” or “slip sheet paper.” It's traditionally been used between house siding and wall sheathing, and beneath wood flooring. With the advent of house-wrap products, the use of red rosin paper behind siding has nearly disappeared, but it's still widely used under flooring as a vapor barrier and a sound-deadening layer.

(construction) A heavy-duty felt paper used in construction as a layer under flooring and siding.


screen wall

(roofing) a nonstructural wall erected around units or curbs on a roof. Typically the framing consists of girts with a wood or metal covering attached to the frame.


sealant backing

(construction) A compressible material placed in a joint before applying sealant.


self-drilling screw

self-drilling screw (plural self-drilling screws)

self-tapping screw
self-tapping screw#English

(construction) A fastener similar to a self-tapping screw, which taps and drills its own hole during application.


shark fin

(roofing) An upward curled felt side lap or end lap.


shed roof

shed roof (plural shed roofs or shed rooves)

shed roofs (plural)
shed rooves (plural)

(construction) A roof having only one sloping plane and no hips, ridges or valleys.


single-ply membrane

single-ply membrane (plural single-ply membranes)

(roofing) Roofing membranes that are field applied using just one layer of membrane material (either homogeneous or composite rather than multiple layers.


single-ply roof

(roofing) A roof system in which the principal roof covering is a single layer of flexible membrane often thermoset or thermoplastic.


slab on grade

(construction) A horizontal placement of concrete directly over a prepared earth substrate.


slip sheet

(roofing) Sheet material, such as reinforced kraft paper, rosin-sized paper, polyester scrim or polyethylene sheeting, placed between two components of a roof assembly to ensure that no adhesion occurs between them and to prevent possible damage from chemical incompatibility, wearing or abrasion of the membrane.


snow guard

(construction) A device or series of devices attached to the roof in a pattern that attempts to hold the snow in place, thus preventing sudden snow or ice slides from the roof


snow load

Four 110-ton counterweights, one in each tower, make this feat possible by reducing the effective weight to be lifted to some 25 tons; but an additional 20 tons (a very heavy snow load) can be lifted if necessary.

1960 May, “Talking of Trains: The new Kingsferry Bridge”, in Trains Illustrated, page 265:

(roofing) The live load due to the weight of snow on a structure, such as a roof; included in the design calculations.


soil stack

(construction) A sanitation pipe that penetrates the roof used to vent toilet fixtures.


splice tape

splice tape (usually uncountable, plural splice tapes)

(construction) Cured or uncured synthetic tape used for splicing materials.


split slab

(construction) A method of construction using two separate concrete slabs: the first placed as a slab on grade or suspended slab and covered with waterproofing and a drainage system; the second, or topping slab, placed over the underlying slab and waterproofing.


square tab shingle

square tab shingle (plural square tab shingles)

(roofing) Shingle with tabs that are all the same size and exposure.


standing seam

(roofing) A type of seam between adjacent sheets of metal roofing material made by turning up the edges of two adjacent panels and then folding or interlocking them in a variety of ways.


starter strip

(roofing) Roll roofing or shingle strips applied along the downslope eave line before the first course of roofing and intended to fill spaces between cut-out and joints of the first course.


static load

static load (countable and uncountable, plural static loads)

(construction) Any load, as on a structure, that does not change in magnitude or position with time.


steep-slope roof

steep-slope roof (plural steep-slope roofs)

(technical, construction, US) According to ASTM standard E 1918-97, a roof whose uppermost part is installed at a slope of 2:12 (9.5 degrees) or more.


step flashing

step flashing (usually uncountable, plural step flashings)

(roofing) Individual pieces of sheet metal material used to flash walls, around chimneys, dormers and such projections along the slope of a roof. Individual pieces are overlapped and stepped up the vertical wall.


stick clip

(construction) a non-penetrating fastener that is adhered to the waterproofing surface; typically used to retain insulation, drainage panels, etc., against the waterproofing to prevent sliding and displacement.


straw nail

(construction) A long-shanked nail sometimes used for fastening over tile at hips and ridges.


oil-canning

In reference to the technique used to operate an oil can, holding it between the index and middle fingers while applying pressure to the bottom to pump out oil.

(roofing) A moderate deformation or buckling of sheet material, particularly common with flat sheet metal surfaces.


boatbuilding

boatbuilding (countable and uncountable, plural boatbuildings)


hit the bricks

en-verb

hit the bricks (third-person singular simple present hits the bricks, present participle hitting the bricks, simple past and past participle hit the bricks)

hits the bricks (present singular third-person)
hitting the bricks (participle present)
hit the bricks (participle past)
hit the bricks (past)

When Harry Bridges told his boys to hit the bricks, Charley was always up front in the longshoremen's wall of flesh. His picketing record in the bloody dockside strife of 1934 and in the all-out strike of 1937 was perfect.

1947 March 31, “National Affairs: Waterfront Conchie”, in Time:

Queens bus driver Mousie Garcia, 30, said she doesn't want a strike but will hit the bricks if the MTA doesn't come through with no-strings-attached raises.

2002 December 16, Pete Donohue et al., “MTA and union push against strike deadline”, in New York Daily News, retrieved 2009-06-24:

(idiomatic) To participate in a workplace strike or other job action; to participate in a public protest, especially one involving picketing.

take to the bricks

participate in a job action or public protest


rejoint

rejoint (third-person singular simple present rejoints, present participle rejointing, simple past and past participle rejointed)

rejoints (present singular third-person)
rejointing (participle present)
rejointed (participle past)
rejointed (past)

(architecture, masonry) to fill up the joints of, as stones in buildings when the mortar has been dislodged by age and the action of the weather.


jack plane

A general-purpose bench plane, used for general sizing of wood and for smoothing or straightening edges.


constructible

destructible

antonym(s) of “capable of being constructed”

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-constructible.wav

Of a land, suitable or allowable for constructing a building on.

(geometry, of a regular polygon) That can be constructed in a plane using only a pair of compasses and a straightedge.

(mathematics, of a complex number) Such that the line segment joining it to the origin can be constructed using only a pair of compasses and a straightedge.

(algebraic geometry, of a subset of the spectrum of a noetherian ring) Admitting description as a finite union of locally closed (with respect to the Zariski topology) sets.


ferroconcrete

en-noun

ferroconcrete (usually uncountable, plural ferroconcretes)

A building material made from Portland cement concrete with a matrix of steel bars or wires (rebars) to increase its tensile strength.


like a ton of bricks

The Defendant then came down on me like a ton of bricks, as my eye will prove.

Senator Breaux: Did you see this coming on gradually, or did it hit you all of a sudden like a ton of bricks?

2000, United States Senate, The Boomers are Coming: The Challenge of Family Caregiving : Hearing Before the Special Committee on Aging, United States Senate, One Hundred Sixth Congress, First Session, Monroe, LA, October 11, 1999, →ISBN, page 34:

“I still feel so bad about that. I fell for you like a ton of bricks when I first saw you onstage with the band.[…]"

2009 October 29, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Mr Stink, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

(simile, colloquial) Very strongly; very heavily; often unexpectedly.


roughcast

roughcast (countable and uncountable, plural roughcasts)

The branches met overhead in a kind of bower and the three cops stood in the shade and studied the roughcast gable of the cottage, maybe fifty yards on up the hill.

2022, Liam McIlvanney, The Heretic, page 444:

A rough surface finish, as of a plaster or stucco wall.


neatline

(construction) The line on plan to which a structure is to be built, usually ignoring any small irregularities of the building material.


lipping

lipping (countable and uncountable, plural lippings)

Note: No metal fixings must be used when fixing the lippings.

1981, Peter Brett, Carpentry and Joinery for Building Craft Students 2:


dragline excavator

dragline excavator (plural dragline excavators)

In mining with a dragline excavator, the upper half to two-thirds of the alluvium contains too little of the previous metals to warrant washing; hence this part of the overburden is lifted by the excavator and dumped to one side of the cut.

1940, J. B. Mertie, Jr., “Economic Geology”, in The Goodnews Platinum Deposits, Alaska (United States Department of the Interior, Geological Survey Bulletin; no. 918), Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, →OCLC, page 61:

A dragline excavator has a large cutting bucket suspended from the end of a boom. The operator first lowers the bucket mouth down where earth is to be removed, then a second cable—the dragline—pulls the bucket across the surface. The weight of the bucket and the pull of the dragline make a blade at the mouth of the bucket dig into the topsoil, filling the bucket as it moves. When the bucket is full, its contents are tipped by lifting and inverting the bucket over a waiting dump truck. Dragline excavators are particularly useful in strip mining, where they remove the overburden or topsoil.

2003, “Earthmoving Machinery”, in Wendy Horobin, editor, How It Works: Science and Technology, 3rd edition, volume 5, Tarrytown, N.Y.: Marshall Cavendish, →ISBN, page 703, column 2:

An alternative to the power shovel is the dragline excavator[…]. At the end of a long boom is a sheave over which a hoisting rope passes to a bucket, which is hauled towards the machine by a second rope, thus picking up its load like a drag scraper. As soon as the bucket is filled, it is lifted into the air; the excavator is turned until its boom is above the dump, and the bucket is discharged.

2008, Douglas C. McVarish, American Industrial Archaeology: A Field Guide, Walnut Creek, Calif.: Left Coast Press, →ISBN:

Teams of horses and a dragline excavator, an earth mover atop skids, worked to repair, strengthen, and raise older levees, create a new, two-mile long river channel, and build new levees.

2013, Paul J. P. Sandul, “Both ‘Country Town’ and ‘Bustling Metropolis’: How Boosterism, Suburbs, and Narrative Helped Shape Sacramento’s Identity and Environmental Sensibilities”, in Christopher J. Castaneda, Lee M. A. Simpson, editors, River City and Valley Life: An Environmental History of the Sacramento Region (History of the Urban Environment), Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, →ISBN, page 171:

Any of several very large vehicles used for lifting, especially in the process of mining: basically an excavator which drags its bucket to fill it.

драглайн

any of several very large vehicles used for lifting


ichnography

ichnography (countable and uncountable, plural ichnographies)


formwork

formwork (usually uncountable, plural formworks)

The floor and walls for Copthall tunnel have already been constructed using formwork into which rebar (reinforcing bar) was placed, and then concrete poured.

2023 August 23, Chris Howe, “Green screen: HS2's route through the shires”, in RAIL, number 990, page 35:

(construction) A temporary mold, made from planks, into which concrete is poured.


bifold

Wood-finished insulative shutters set as bifolds at the window.

1989, Karla J. Nielson, Window Treatments, →ISBN, page 21:

The doors to the left were bifolds and opened into a long living room.

2008, Bill Patten, My Three Fathers, →ISBN:

Although bifolds are typically sold in kits where the doors are already hinged together, they're a little fussier than sliders or twins.

2012, Andy Engel, Taunton's Carpentry Complete, →ISBN, page 218:

The wall facing the ocean was all glass and could be folded back in sections, bifolds, to almost completely have no wall at all, just a fulllength balcony and the ocean.

2015, Ian Berwick, Why Otters Hold Hands When They Sleep, →ISBN:

(carpentry) A door, window, shutter, or divider consisting of two equal panels hinged together so that it opens by folding the panels against each other.


pargeting

pargeting (countable and uncountable, plural pargetings)

(construction) A form of decorative plasterwork used on exterior walls of buildings.


firestop

(construction) Any multi-component system designed to stop fire and smoke from migrating through openings around piping, wiring, ductwork, cable trays, bus ducts, etc., as well as through movement joints in walls and floors that are required to have a fire-resistance rating.


strickle

From Middle English strikile, strikelle, strikyll, from Old English stricel, equivalent to strick + -le (diminutive suffix). Compare Middle Dutch strijkel, streekel, strekel.

(carpentry, masonry) A template; a pattern.


bucketwheel

An excavator having a series of bucket-shaped scoops on a rotating wheel or belt


construction site

construction site (plural construction sites)

The architect behind a controversial Calgary pedestrian bridge said his firm is committed to ensuring the project's beauty, but the construction delays have little to do with him.[…] His officials recently inspected the construction site, and expressed artistic concerns about the surface appearance of two of the bridge's many steel pieces.

2010 November 19, Jason Markusoff, “The Montreal Gazette”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), archived from the original on 2010-12-06:

A place where a building or other physical structure is under construction. (This entry is a translation hub.)

շինհրապարակ

place where something is being constructed


nail set

In an emergency a nail set can be made in a few minutes from a tenpenny or other large nail. Cut off the point with hack saw or grinding wheel, clamp the nail in the vise, indent the end by tapping it with a center punch, and taper or bevel the end on the grinding wheel as shown.

1939 July, Albert W. Stein, Popular Science, volume 135, number 1:

Throw away a damaged nail set. It's cheap enough to replace, and there's no reason to destroy a piece of molding with a damaged nail set that slips off the mark.

1998, Craig Savage, Trim Carpentry Techniques: Installing Doors, Windows, Base, and Crown:

The tool to do this is a nail set, which is essentially a pointy steel rod.

2007, David Thiel, I Can Do That! Woodworking Projects:

(carpentry) A punch that drives in a nail so that its head is level with or below the surface.


offbear

en-verb

offbear (third-person singular simple present offbears, present participle offbearing, simple past offbore, past participle offborne)

offbears (present singular third-person)
offbearing (participle present)
offbore (past)
offborne (participle past)

(masonry, brickmaking) To carry off from the moulding-table and place on the ground to dry.


brace up

brace up (third-person singular simple present braces up, present participle bracing up, simple past and past participle braced up)

braces up (present singular third-person)
bracing up (participle present)
braced up (participle past)
braced up (past)

Ed wired the house, dug a basement with pick and shovel, braced it up, bricked it, and installed a furnace and a coal chute […]

2007, Robert Coram, American Patriot: The Life and Wars of Colonel Bud Day:

(transitive, construction) To strengthen with bracing material.


submittal

en-noun

submittal (countable and uncountable, plural submittals)

(construction) Data about a product, such as shop drawings, material data, or samples.


eyebar

(engineering, construction) A straight bar, usually of metal, with a hole or "eye" at each end to allow it to be fixed to other components.


plain work

(masonry) Smooth stonework without decoration or ornamentation.


cement mixer

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-cement mixer.wav

A device used in construction in which cement, aggregate and water are slowly mixed together in a revolving drum to form concrete.


upstand

From Middle English upstanden, equivalent to up- + stand. Cognate with Dutch opstaan (“to rise, stand up”), German aufstehen (“to arise, get up, stand up”), Swedish uppstå (“to arise, emerge, come up”).

cog

(construction, plumbing) A section of a roof covering or flashing which turns up against a vertical surface.


upstand

(construction) (of a beam) Having its top surface above the slab with which it integrates; "an upstand beam".


roof square

(construction, renovation, roofing) 100 square feet


queen post

The bridge carries a double track, and consists of a 300 ft. span, supported on queen post trusses, over the river, and three 100-ft. spans at the Chepstow end.

1948 November and December, “River Wye Bridge, Chepstow”, in Railway Magazine, page 354:

(construction) A supporting post designed to span longer openings than a king post.

подпорна греда

a supporting post designed to span longer openings than a king post


regrate

en-verb

regrate (third-person singular simple present regrates, present participle regrating, simple past and past participle regrated)

regrates (present singular third-person)
regrating (participle present)
regrated (participle past)
regrated (past)

(masonry) To remove the outer surface of, as of an old hewn stone, so as to give it a fresh appearance.


splocket

1898, Frank William Macey, Specifications in Detail, pages 162⁽¹⁾ and 175⁽²⁾
⁽¹⁾ Common and jack rafters…with cut wrought ends at overhanging eaves, and wrought splocket (cock) pieces.
⁽²⁾ See clauses Nos. 75, 77 to 89, and 91 to 99, for any other parts to the roof which may be required, such as tilting fillets, splockets, boarding, fascia, eaves soffits and other items.

Sprocket, Splocket. A triangular piece of timber.

1904, Augustine C. Passmore, Handbook of Technical Terms Used in Architecture and Building and Their Allied Trades and Subjects, page 328:

At the base of the ribs splockets (“coiaux”) were attached to complete the curve and carry off the water. The ribs were checked out for the top of the splockets, which were also held together by liernes and keys.

1905, Sir Reginald Theodore Blomfield, Studies in Architecture, page 218:

The under rafters are quite heavy and cut at right-angles. The upper ones are prolonged and curved up by jointing far-projecting splockets.

1970, Osvald Sirén, A History of Early Chinese Art, III-IV, page 64:

(carpentry, building, , and architecture) A triangular timber frame.

Alternative spelling of sprocket
A triangular timber frame.


kneepiece

(construction) An angular piece of timber strengthening a joint where two roof timbers meet.


beadboard

en-noun

beadboard (usually uncountable, plural beadboards)

A construction material made from "beads" of expanded polystyrene compressed together.


brick in

en-verb

brick in (third-person singular simple present bricks in, present participle bricking in, simple past and past participle bricked in)

bricks in (present singular third-person)
bricking in (participle present)
bricked in (participle past)
bricked in (past)

(transitive, idiomatic, of a passage or of something that would pass through it) To enclose with bricks.


drop a brick

drop a brick (third-person singular simple present drops a brick, present participle dropping a brick, simple past and past participle dropped a brick)

drops a brick (present singular third-person)
dropping a brick (participle present)
dropped a brick (participle past)
dropped a brick (past)

drop a bombshell
drop a bombshell#English

(US, idiomatic) Alternative form of drop a bombshell


underboard

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-underboard.wav

(construction) A board that lies beneath something.


interjoist

When floors are doweled, it is better to place dowels over the middle of the interjoist, than over the joists, in order to prevent the edge of one board from passing that of the other

1845, Peter Nicholson, The Mechanic's Companion:

(carpentry) The space or interval between two joists.

(carpentry) A middle joist or crossbeam.


notchboard

(carpentry) The board that receives the ends of the steps in a staircase.


stringpiece

(architecture, carpentry) A long piece of timber, forming a margin or edge of any piece of construction; especially one of the longitudinal pieces supporting a flight or run of stairs.


piledrive

piledrive (third-person singular simple present piledrives, present participle piledriving, simple past piledrove, past participle piledriven)

piledrives (present singular third-person)
piledriving (participle present)
piledrove (past)
piledriven (participle past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-piledrive.wav

So we would take a twenty-five-ton — or maybe it was twelve and a half, I don't recall — airhammer and piledrive that sonofabitch into place.

1993, Archie Green, Wobblies, pile butts, and other heroes: laborlore explorations, page 372:

Piledrive a secondary cutoff wall, cover it with a fifty-foot core of impervious fill, then replace the dredged material in a gentler slope; […]

1997, Ivan Doig, Bucking the Sun: A Novel, page 389:

Wang is inspired by remembering an improvised piledriver he had managed to rig together when he had helped blow up a bridge during the Korean War; he then uses the same technique to piledrive the foundations for the Nanjing bridge.

2004, Rana Mitter, A bitter revolution: China's struggle with the modern world, page 236:


nigged

From UK dialect nig (“to clip money”), and -ed.

(archaic, masonry) Roughly shaped with a stonecutter's hammer; hammer-dressed.


heartbond

(masonry) A bond in a stone wall in which two headers meet in the middle of a wall and another header covers the joint between them.


formboard

(construction) A board or slab that serves as a mold for poured concrete.


heelpost

(carpentry) The post to which a gate or door is hinged.


torsel

you lay any Timber on Brickwork, as Torsels for Mantle-Trees to lye on

1703, Joseph Moxon, Mechanical Exercises:

(carpentry) A plate of timber for the end of a beam or joist to rest on.


brick it

brick it (third-person singular simple present bricks it, present participle bricking it, simple past and past participle bricked it)

bricks it (present singular third-person)
bricking it (participle present)
bricked it (participle past)
bricked it (past)

The first time I performed in public I was bricking it.

I always replied with a casual and breezy ‘Iʼll be fine,’ but deep down I was bricking it.

2020, Louise Curtis with Sarah Johnson, A Nurseʼs Story: My Life in A&E During the Covid Crisis, Pan Books, page 70:

I felt in control, but regardless, when the snow started coming over and it got dark/harder to breathe, I was bricking it and I thought I might die.

2022 July 11, Harry Taylor, quoting Harry Shimmin, “British tourists survive avalanche in Tian Shan mountains of Kyrgyzstan”, in The Guardian:

(slang, vulgar) To be scared; to be terrified.


top out

top out (third-person singular simple present tops out, present participle topping out, simple past and past participle topped out)

tops out (present singular third-person)
topping out (participle present)
topped out (participle past)
topped out (past)

(intransitive) To complete the construction of a tall building, originally by putting on a "topping-out" course.


stringboard

(architecture, carpentry) A stringpiece.


intertie

(construction, architecture) In any framed work, a horizontal tie other than sill and plate or other principal ties, securing uprights to one another.


headpan

A round container, like a bowl, used in construction work.


toothing

en-noun

toothing (countable and uncountable, plural toothings)

(construction) Bricks alternately projecting at the end of a wall, in order to be bonded into a continuation of it when the remainder is carried up.


albolith

A kind of cement, or artificial stone, consisting chiefly of magnesia and silica.


frowey

en-adj

frowey (comparative more frowey, superlative most frowey)

more frowey (comparative)
most frowey (superlative)

(carpentry, of timber) Working smoothly or without splitting.


tiebar

The scheme for strengthening comprised, in the first place, the provision of tiebars between all piers to reduce the spread under loading at arch springing level. These tiebars were made of old rails placed immediately below springing level, between the tops of the piers, throughout the spans, and with a positive fan fix into each abutment.

1954 January, “Strengthening of Coquet Viaduct”, in Railway Magazine, page 18:

A flat bar used as a tie in construction work.


butment

(masonry) The mass of stone or solid work at the end of a bridge, by which the extreme arches are sustained, or by which the end of a bridge without arches is supported.


waterwork

en-noun

waterwork (countable and uncountable, plural waterworks)

/ˈwɔːtəˌwəːk/

From Late Middle English [Term?], analysable as water + work.

(construction, archaic) Engineering works relating to the conveyance and flow of fluids (principally water), such as the collection and distribution of water, drainage, irrigation, etc.


cut and cover

(construction, engineering) A method of building a tunnel by digging a trench, constructing tunnel walls therein, and refilling the trench with earth.


interduce

Compare French entre-deux, literally "between two".


calyon

The church was new built since the year 1448; for Richard Gowty , by his will that year made , ordered his body to be buried in the churchyard of St. Mary at the Key , in Ipswich , and gave Calyon stone for the whole church

1830, G. R. Clarke, The History and Description of the Town and Borough of Ipswich:

flint or pebble stone, used in building walls, etc.


wood shop

(US, Canada) A shop that deals in woodworking or carpentry

(US, Canada) A school class dealing with woodworking or carpentry


tenpenny nail

The face, horribly seared by the frequent application of the red-hot poker, and further ornamented by the insertion, in the tip of the nose, of a tenpenny nail, yet smiled blandly in its less lacerated parts.

1841, Charles Dickens, chapter 67, in The Old Curiosity Shop:

"Al, I could bite a tenpenny nail in half and digest both pieces, too."

1909, Joseph A. Altsheler, chapter 3, in The Last of the Chiefs:

He could still climb a scaffold like a monkey, still drive a ten-penny nail with one measured, massive, dead-on blow.

2001 August 26, Fred Chappell, “He was a man, not a super-rube”, in Chicago Sun-Times, (review of Ava's Man by Rick Bragg), page 16C:

(dated) A relatively large nail, three inches (7.62 centimeters) in length.


fourpenny nail

(dated) A nail 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) in length.


sixpenny nail

(dated) A nail 2 inches (5.1 centimeters) in length.


eightpenny nail

eightpenny nail (plural eightpenny nails)

(dated) A nail 2.5 inches (6.35 centimeters) in length.


twelvepenny nail

twelvepenny nail (plural twelvepenny nails)

(dated) A relatively large nail, three and one-quarter inches (8.25 centimeters) in length.


sixteenpenny nail

sixteenpenny nail (plural sixteenpenny nails)

(dated) A relatively large nail, three and one-half inches (9 centimeters) in length.


finger joint

(construction, woodworking) A joint, usually glued, in which multiple integral protrusions are fit into mating slots, used especially for manufacturing long moldings.

queue droite

(woodworking) a joint with multiple protrusions and slots


framing square

(construction) A large carpenter's square.


cross-halving joint

cross-halving joint (plural cross-halving joints)

(carpentry) A joint used for intermediate framework where half the thickness is removed from both pieces of timber where they cross.


ashlaring

(carpentry) The short upright pieces between the floor beams and rafters in garrets.


pitching piece

(carpentry) The horizontal timber supporting the floor of a platform of a stairway, and against which the stringpieces of the sloping parts are supported.


ridge beam

(carpentry) The top longitudinal beam of a ridged roof where the top ends of the rafters meet.


rodbuster

Present-day construction "stiffs" relish explanation of such nicknames as pile butt, rod buster, rust eater, tin knocker, and wood butcher, as well as tales about what these "hands" do.

1993, Archie Green, Wobblies, Pile Butts, and Other Heroes: Laborlore Explorations, page 4:

(slang, construction) A concrete-reinforcing ironworker.


bullnose

bullnose (countable and uncountable, plural bullnoses)

(construction) A rounded ceramic trim, especially in masonry and ceramic tile.


barling

From Middle English barling, berling, from Old Norse berlingr (“bar, pole”) (found in berlings-áss (“bar, beam, plank, rail”)), a diminutive derived from Proto-Germanic *barō (“beam, bar, barrier”); equivalent to bar + -ling. Cognate with Swedish bärling (“pole, bar”).

der

A tripod can be formed of three hop poles or barlings. The former can be laid in depths up to 2^ metres and the latter in depths up to about 5 metres at low water if the tidal range does not exceed about 3 metres.

1970, Admiralty Manual of Hydrographic Surveying - Volume 2

[...] one pair of fetters, one pair of couplings, 2 barlings [poles], 2s 6d; one saddle, one bridle, one panel, 12s; one corn hutch and 1 chaff bin, 6s 8d; one plough, one pair of harness and one coulter, 2 plough sha-[rest torn] with chains, 14s.

1981, Ann Hughes, W. R. Owens, Seventeenth-century England, a Changing Culture:

On shallow waters they moved upstream using small barlings; [...]

2005, V. D. Golubchikova, Z. Í. Khvtísíashvílí, E. R. Akbalʹi︠a︡n, Severnai︠a︡ ėnt︠s︡iklopedii︠a︡:

(rare or UK dialectal, Scotland) A pole; (carpentry) the cross rafter of a roof.


gyprock

en-verb

gyprock (third-person singular simple present gyprocks, present participle gyprocking, simple past and past participle gyprocked)

gyprocks (present singular third-person)
gyprocking (participle present)
gyprocked (participle past)
gyprocked (past)


stressable

(construction) Of construction materials, able to be subject to physical stress.


clearspan

(construction) A span between e.g. roof timbers that is clear of obstructions.


pug mill

(construction, pottery) A kind of mill for grinding, mixing, and working clay, either for art or brickmaking. It consists essentially of an upright shaft armed with projecting knives, which is caused to revolve in a hollow cylinder, tub, or vat in which the clay is placed.


chimney flashing

en-noun

chimney flashing (countable and uncountable, plural chimney flashings)

(construction) A strip of material around the base of a chimney, traditionally lead and sometimes including a short length of flue, that prevents rainwater from entering a building.


balloon frame

(carpentry) A house frame constructed entirely of small timber. It uses long continuous framing members (wall studs) that run from the sill plate to the top plate, with intermediate floor structures let into and nailed to them.


stench trap

(construction, plumbing) A device to prevent foul air from rising from the openings of sewers, drains, etc., by means of a water seal.


lath brick

A long, slender brick used in making the floor on which malt is placed in the drying kiln.


butment cheek

Edward H[enry] Knight
w:Edward H. Knight

(carpentry) The part of a mortised timber surrounding the mortise, and against which the shoulders of the tenon bear.


building material

building material (plural building materials)

Any material which is used for construction purposes.

շինանյութ

any material which is used for construction purposes


damp course

He knew why the building was so damp. Its damp courses were defective and it was built on top of the tank stream.

1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 532:

Sincerest apologies from Everest, which admits that a damp course was, by an extraordinary oversight, not included.

(construction) A layer in a wall, foundation etc. which prevents moisture spreading into interior areas.


carpenter's pencil

carpenter's pencil (plural carpenters' pencils)

(woodworking, carpentry) A pencil specifically designed for the requirements of a carpenter: oval shape makes it less likely to roll away, and thick graphite facilitates drawing on rough surfaces.


matchboard

matchboard (countable and uncountable, plural matchboards)

(carpentry) A type of wooden board that connects with others using a tongue and groove system


heart bond

(masonry) A bond in which no header stone stretches across the wall, but two headers meet in the middle, and their joint is covered by another stone laid header fashion.


angle bar

(carpentry) An upright bar at the angle where two faces of a polygonal or bay window meet.


Dutch clinker

A very hard, narrow, yellowish brick made in Holland, used to pave stables etc.


nose bit

(carpentry) A bit similar to a gouge bit, but having a cutting edge on one side of its boring end.


spring beam

(construction) A beam of considerable span, without central support; the tie beam of a truss.


compass plane

(carpentry) A plane, convex in the direction of its length on the underside, for smoothing the concave faces of curved woodwork.


brick in one's hat

US, circa 1846. Presumably due to staggering walk when drunk; compare top-heavy with drink.

Seated at the same table with our Mr.—, was a gentleman, who, to use the current phrase, ‘had a brick in his hat.’

1846 November 24, “Magnelia Pedestria; or, Leaves from a Pedestrian’s Note Book”, in The Yale Literary Magazine, volume 12, number 1, page 33:

Her husband had taken to the tavern, and often came home very late, “with a brick in his hat,” as Sally expressed it.

1849, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Kavanagh, pages 177–178:

(New England, obsolete, idiomatic) Drunkenness.


angle brace

(carpentry) A brace across an interior angle of a wooden frame, forming the hypotenuse and securing the two side pieces together.

bíomal uillinne

a brace across an interior angle of a wooden frame, forming the hypotenuse and securing the two side pieces together


widespan

a widespan roof structure

(construction) Spanning a relatively large distance or area.

laajarunkoinen

spanning a relatively large distance or area


rodding

rodding (countable and uncountable, plural roddings)

(construction) The process of reinforcing concrete with metal rods.


mini digger

a small excavator with a swivelling superstructure, usually mounted on crawler tracks.


oversite

The new station entrance on Cannon Street shortly after completion of the roof on September 12, and how it will look once opened and with oversite development in 2022.

2019 October 23, RAIL, page 70, image caption:

(construction) Laid over the ground, or built above an existing site.


oversite

Sauberkeitsschicht

a first (thin) protective layer of concrete underneath the flooring or floor slab

(construction) A layer of concrete underneath the ground floor of a building, as a seal

(construction) An oversite slab, a slab on grade, a flat, solid layer of concrete laid over prepared ground, usually serving as a base for flooring or for pouring the reinforced concrete floor slab (base plate).


wall plate

From Middle English wall plate, walplate, equivalent to wall + plate.

(construction) A piece of timber laid horizontally in or on a wall as a support for a girder, rafter, or joist.


birdsmouth

From bird + -s- + mouth, from its appearance.

Support the veneer stack on a ¾-in.-thick board with a narrow V notch cut into one edge. This board is called a birds-mouth, and the V notch provides clearance for the blade while the work is supported for cutting.

1994 July, Rosario Capotosto, “Inlay: How to Add Understated Elegance to any Woodworking Project”, in Popular Mechanics, page 68:

After the wall and ceiling framing has been completed the erection of the roof takes place. Nail the four straight rafters selected as the first and last into position at the birdsmouth.

1995, Charles Simpson with Barry Hodgson, Building a House: Framing Practices, South Melbourne: Macmillan Education Australia, →ISBN, page 160:

birdsmouth, sally; in timber frame construction, a notch cut into the end of an inclined timber to receive a horizontal timber running perpendicular to it; used for the housing of rafters; other similar notches in other components: birdsmouth brick a special brick manufactured with an indented end, designed for use in decorative brickwork and at an internal obtuse corner in a brick wall. […] birdsmouth joint, birdsmouthed notched joint; in timber roof construction, a joint formed by notching the extremity of a rafter with a birdsmouth and fastening it to a wall plate; any joint similar to this.

2011, Nikolas Davies with Erkki Jokiniemi, Architect's Illustrated Pocket Dictionary, Kidlington, Oxford, Burlington, Mass.: Architectural Press, →ISBN, pages 44–45:

There are various ways of tying rafters to sidewalls, and the choices may vary depending on roof pitch. One of the most common is the use of “birdsmouths” cut into the rafter. A notch is cut into the rafter so that the rafter bears down flat upon the doubled top plate of stick framing, or upon the girt in heavy timber framing.

2013, Rob Roy, “Basic Timber Frame Structure”, in Timber Framing for the Rest of Us: A Guide to Contemporary Post and Beam Construction, Gabriola Island, B.C.: New Society Publishers, →ISBN:

A birdsmouth is a notch cut into the underside of a roof rafter to enable it to sit tightly and securely on the timber wallplate that runs across the top of a wall. It's so called because it resembles the wide-open mouth of a baby bird wanting to be fed.

2014 November 8, Jeff Howell, “The value of keeping the pressure up”, in The Daily Telegraph, London, archived from the original on 2015-05-07, page P13:

(carpentry) A notch cut into the underside of a rafter to ensure that it does not move when resting on the wall plate running across the top of a wall; a similar notch in other timber components.


birdsmouth

en-verb

birdsmouth (third-person singular simple present birdsmouths, present participle birdsmouthing, simple past and past participle birdsmouthed)

birdsmouths (present singular third-person)
birdsmouthing (participle present)
birdsmouthed (participle past)
birdsmouthed (past)

The end of the common rafter is birdsmouthed and nailed to the pole plate.

1895, Edward J. Burrell, Elementary Building Construction and Drawing, page 122:

(carpentry) To cut a birdsmouth into a rafter or similar timber component.


subdeck

(construction) The undersection of a deck (as of a bridge or a ship).


CMU

en-noun

CMU (countable and uncountable, plural CMUs)

concrete masonry unit
concrete masonry unit#English

(construction) Initialism of concrete masonry unit.


harling

The act or process of surfacing a wall with a slurry of pebbles or stone chips, then curing with a lime render.


counterlath

A batten laid lengthwise between two rafters as a bearing for laths laid crosswise.

Any lath laid without actual measurement between two gauged laths.

Any of a series of laths nailed to the timbers to raise the sheet lathing above their surface to afford a key for plastering.

One of many laths used in preparing one side of a partition or framed wall, when the other side has been covered in and finished.


counterlath

en-verb

counterlath (third-person singular simple present counterlaths, present participle counterlathing, simple past and past participle counterlathed)

counterlaths (present singular third-person)
counterlathing (participle present)
counterlathed (participle past)
counterlathed (past)

(transitive) To fit or supply with a counterlath.


tuck pointing

(masonry) The finishing of joints along the center lines with a narrow ridge of putty or fine lime mortar.