A
Adhesive: Cement, glue, or other material used to hold
two or more items together.
Admixtures: Materials added to concrete or mortar to
alter it in some way.
Adobe Brick: Building units made from natural sun dried
clay or earth.
Aggregate: Sand, gravel, rock or other material used
along with cement and water to make concrete.
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM):
The organization responsible for setting criteria for
the quality of structural materials used.
Anchor: A device, generally made of metal, used to
fasten plates, joists, trusses and other building parts
to concrete or masonry.
Approximate method: An estimating procedure in which
the size of the building is multiplied by a unit cost.
Used to determine a rough estimate.
Apron: A piece of trim below the window stool and wall
support used to conceal the edge of the wall material.
Also: a concrete ramp in front of the garage door.
Architect’s scale: A device that can be used
to measure distances on a drawing by matching the drawing
scale to the appropriate scale listed on the instrument.
Area: A measurement made by multiplying length X width.
The answer is given in square units (Square feet or
square inches).
Ashlar: A stone cut by sawing to a rectangular shape.
B
Backing wall: In masonry, a wall hidden behind a veneer
wall.
Balusters: Vertical stair members used to support a
hand rail.
Balustrade: A row of balusters supporting a common
rail.
Beam: A horizontal structural member used between posts,
columns or walls.
Bearing partition: An interior wall that transmits
a load from above to a wall, columns or footings.
Bevel: A cut on the edge of a board at an angle other
than 90 degrees.
Bevel siding: A siding material that is tapered from
a thick edge to a thin edge.
Bond: The holding or gripping force between reinforcing
steel and concrete. Also, the pattern in which masonry
units are laid.
Brick masonry: Construction method that uses bricks
that are manufactured, rather than removed from quarries.
Brick veneer: A brick wall of single bricks, usually
covering a frame structure.
Building brick: The most used type of brick, specified
for applications where appearance is not important.
Normally called “Common brick”.
C
CADD: Computer Aided Design and Drafting.
Cast-in-place concrete: Concrete that is cast at the
construction site in it’s permanent location.
Caulk: A substance used to seal cracks and joints.
Cement: Material used in concrete to bind the aggregates
together.
Center line: A line used to indicate centers of objects
such as columns, equipment, and fixtures. The center
line is also used to indicate a finished floor line.
Ceramic titles: Floor or wall covering units made from
nonmetallic minerals, fired at very high temperature.
Chamfer: A beveled outside corner or edge on a beam
or column.
Circumference: The perimeter around a circle
CMU: Concrete Masonry Unit
Cold joint: Construction joint in concrete occurring
at a place where continuous pouring has been interrupted.
Column: A vertical structural member or a decorative
member.
Column schedule: A list of the details and specifications
for all of the columns in a commercial or residential
structure.
Common bond: A masonry pattern of bricks in which every
sixth or seventh course/row of stretchers is interrupted
by a header course. Also referred to as an “American
bond”.
Composite wall: A masonry wall with a veneer wall in
front of a backing wall of less expensive brick.
Concrete: Structural material comprising of water,
gravel or rock, sand and cement.
Concrete brick: A solid or cored unit molded from a
mixture of Portland cement and aggregates and hardened
chemically.
Construction joint: Separation between two placements
of concrete; a means for keying two sections together.
CSI: Construction Specifications Institute.
Coping: The top course or cap on a masonry wall protecting
the masonry below from water penetration.
Corbel: A stone, masonry or wood bracket projecting
out from the wall.
Cornice: The part of the roof extending horizontally
out from the wall.
Course: A horizontal layer of masonry units.
Curtain wall: A nonbearing wall between columns.
Cut stones: Stones that are cut to size and finished
at a mill prior to being used for construction.
D
Details: Drawings made at a larger scale than plans,
elevations and sections.
Diameter: The length of line running between two points
on a circle, through the center of the circle.
Drywall: Gypsum board or a type of wall covering.
E
Eaves: The portion of the roof that overhangs the way.
Expansion joint: Formed in concrete or masonry units
by a bituminous fiber strip or foam rod and caulk to
allow for expansion and contraction in materials caused
by temperature changes and shrinkage.
F
Face brick: A select brick made of clays and chemicals
to produce a desired color and effect for use in the
face of a wall.
Flashing: Sheet metal or other thin material used to
prevent moisture from entering a structure, such as
around a chimney or cornice.
Floating slab: A slab-on-grade foundation in which
the footings, foundation walls, and slab are cast at
the same time.
Floor plan: A plan view showing room sizes and locations
and many other construction details.
Footing: The base of a foundation wall or column.
Framing: The wood or metal structure of a building,
which gives it shape and strength.
G
Gable: The portion of a wall above the eave line and
between the slope of a double-opened roof.
Galvanized: A coating of zinc that protects metal from
atmosphere corrosion.
Glazed brick: Bricks finished with a hard, smooth coating
and used for decorative and special service applications.
Grade: The level of ground around a building.
Gravel: Rock aggregate or material.
Grout: A cementitious mixture of high water content,
prepared to pour easily into spaces in a masonry wall.
Make from Portland cement, line and aggregate, it is
used to secure anchor bolts and vertical reinforcing
rods in masonry walls.
H
Header course: A course of brick lay flat so their
long dimension is across the thickness of the wall and
the heads of the course of bricks show on the face of
the wall.
Honeycomb: Voids or open spaces left in concrete due
to a loss or a shortage of mortar or cement paste.
Hydration: A chemical reaction between cement and water
that results in the hardening of concrete.
I
J
Jamb: The top and sides of a door or window frame.
K
Kiln-burned brick: Natural clays or shales (sometimes
with other materials added, such as coloring) molded
to shape, dried, and fired for hardness.
Kilo: The metric systems prefix meaning one thousand.
A kilometer, for example is 1000 meters; a kilogram.
Knee wall: A short wall.
L
Lath: Gypsum board or metal mesh attached to studs
or joists as a base for plaster.
Lift slab: Concrete floor construction in which slabs
are cast directly on one another.
Lintel: Support for a masonry opening usually steel
angles or special form, such as precast stone or concrete.
Load-bearing partitions: Interior walls that carry
the ceiling or floor load from above.
M
Mastic: Similar to an adhesive, thick cement glue,
or other material used to seal the joint between two
building materials.
Meter: Metric unit of measurement, equal to 39.37”.
Monolithic: Concrete cast in on continuous pour.
Mortar: Cementitious substances used as a binding agent
for masonry units.
Mosaic tiles: Small tiles typically 1” square,
that can be laid to make a design or pattern.
N
O
P
Parapet wall: A wall extending above the roof line.
Paving brick: Hard-surfaced brick used in drive-ways
or areas where abrasion is a concern.
Pi: The ratio of circumference of a circle to its diameter,
equal to 3.1416. Used when determining the area of a
circle.
Pier: A heavy column of masonry between two openings
used to support other structural members.
Pilaster: A column projecting on the outside or inside
of a masonry wall to add strength or decorative effect.
Pitch: The slope of a roof as the ratio of the rise
divided by the span.
Plancier: The board or panel forming the underside
of the eave or cornice.
Plaster: A material consisting of gypsum and water
(or Portland cement, sand, and water) used for interior
wall surfaces.
Portland cement: Cement normally combined with water
and other aggregates to make concrete.
Posttensioned concrete: Prestressed concrete in which
the pretensioning steel is stressed after the concrete
is cast.
Precast concrete: Concrete that is cast into members
in a factory and then transported ton the construction
site for installation.
Prestressed concrete: Concrete in which steel is tensioned
or stretched and anchored to compress the concrete.
Pretensioned concrete: Prestressed concrete in which
the pretensioning steel is stressed before the concrete
is cast.
Q
Quoins: Decorative stone detail that goes on the side
of a commercial or residential building. Usually made
out of precast concrete or foam.
R
Radius: The distance from the center of a circle to
the edge of the circle.
Rafter: One of a series of structural members of a
roof. The rafters of a flat roof are sometimes called
roof joists.
Reinforcing concrete: Steel bars placed within forms
and surrounded by concrete. The surface of reinforcing
bars is normally deformed (rough) to improve the bond
between the bar and the concrete.
Ridge: The board at the peak of a roof.
Rise: The vertical distance from the plate to the ridge
off a roof.
Rough sill: A horizontal member running between studs
below a window opening.
Run: The horizontal distance from the plate to the
ridge of a roof.
Running bond: The most common brick pattern, consisting
of offset courses of stretchers.
S
Saddle: A small, gable roof constructed between a vertical
surface (such as the back of a chimney) and s loped
roof to prevent water from standing.
Sand-lime brick: Units molded from a mixture of sand
and lime and hardened under steam pressure and heat.
Sections: Views showing the building as if it were
cut apart.
Sheathing: The boards or panels that cover the studs
and rafters of a building to which finishing materials
are applied.
Slab: A flat area of concrete such as a floor or drive.
Soffit: In framing, the underside of a staircase or
roof cornice. In masonry the underside of a beam, lintel
or arch.
Stone masonry: Granite, limestone, marble, sandstone
and slate used as a building material. TODAY, stone
masonry is usually decorative rather than structural.
Stucco: A plaster material consisting of Portland cement,
sand, and water. Used for exterior wall surfaces.
T
Terra cotta: A type of stone used for its attractiveness.
Literally – burnt earth.
Transverse: Across the short dimension of an object
or structure.
Typical (TYP): This term, when associated with any
dimension or feature, means the dimension or feature
applies to the locations that appear to be identical
in size and shape.
U
V
Veneer: A thin layer of cabinet wood bonded to a plywood
or particle board backing.
Veneer wall: A single thickness (one Wythe- see below
for definition) masonry unit wall tied to a backing
wall.
W
Weep holes: Small holes in a wall to permit water to
exit from behind.
Wythe: A continuous vertical section of masonry, one
unit in thickness; sometimes called with or tier, Also:
a partition between flues of a chimney.
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