GLOSSARY

Acre: A plot of land comprising 43,560 sq. ft.

Aggregate: Pebbles, shingle, gravel etc. used in the manufacture of concrete.

Alcove: A recess opening off a wall of a larger room.

Airbrick: Perforated brick used for ventilation.

Architrave: Joinery moulding around window or doorway.

Asbestos: Fibrous mineral used in the past for insulation. Can be a health hazard..

Asbestos Cement: Cement with 10-15% asbestos fibre as reinforcement.

Ashlar: Finely dressed natural stone.

Asphalt: Black, tar-like substance, strongly adhesive and impervious to moisture. Used on flat roofs and floors.

Barge Board: (See Verge Board)

Balanced Flue: Common metal device normally serving gas appliances which allows air to be drawn to the appliance whilst also allowing fumes to escape.

Batt: a roll or sheet of insulation designed to be installed between members of frame construction.

Beetle Infestation: (Wood boring insects: woodworm) Larvae of various species of beetle which tunnel into timber causing damage.

Benching: Contoured concrete slope beside drainage channel within an inspection chamber. Also known as Haunching.

Bitumen: Black, sticky substance, related to asphalt. Used in sealants, mineral felts and damp-proof courses.

Breeze Block: Originally made from cinders ("breeze") the term now commonly used to refer to various types of concrete and cement building blocks.

Carbonation: A natural process affecting the outer layer of concrete.

Cavity Wall: Standard modern method of building external walls of houses comprising two leaves of brick or blockwork separated by a gap of about 50mm (2 inches).

Cavity Wall Insulation: Filling of wall cavities by one of various forms of insulation material: Beads: Polystyrene beads pumped into the cavities. Will easily fall out if the wall is broken open for any reason. Foam: Urea formaldehyde form, mixed on site, and pumped into the cavities where it sets. Can lead to problems of dampness and make replacement of wall-ties more difficult. Rockwool: Inert mineral fibre pumped into the cavity.

Cavity Wall – Tie: Metal device bedded into the inner and outer leaves of cavity walls.

Cesspool: A simple method of drain comprising a holding tank that needs frequent emptying.

Chipboard: Also referred to as "particle board". Chips of wood compressed and glued into sheet form.

Collar: Horizontal timber member intended to restrain opposing roof slopes.

Combination Boiler: Modern form of gas boiler which activates on demand.

Condensation: Occurs when warm moist air meets a cold surface. (See also Ventilation)

Coping / Coping Stone: Usually stone or concrete, laid on top of a wall as a decorative finish and to stop rainwater soaking into the wall.

Corbell: Projection of stone, brick, timber or metal jutting out from a wall.

Cornice: Ornamental moulded projection around the top of a building or around the wall of a room just below the ceiling.

Coving: Curved junction between wall and ceiling.

Dado Rail: Wooden moulding fixed horizontally to a wall, about 1 metre above the floor.

Damp Proof Course: (DPC) Course Layer of impervious material  incorporated into a wall to prevent dampness rising up the wall or lateral dampness around windows, doors etc.

Deathwatch Beetle: (Xestobium Refovillosum) Serious insect pest in structural timbers, usually affects old hardwoods with fungal decay already present.

Double Glazing: A method of thermal insulation usually either — Sealed unit: Two panes of glass fixed and hermetically sealed together; or Secondary: In effect a second "window" placed inside the original window.

Downpipes: Drainage pipes from guttering.

Dry Rot: (Serpula Lacrymans.) A fungus that attacks structural and joinery timbers, often with devastating results. Can flourish in moist, unventilated areas.

Eaves: The overhanging edge of a roof.

Efflorescence: Salts crystallised on the surface of a wall as a result of moisture evaporation.

Engineering Brick: Particularly strong and dense type of brick, often used as damp-proof course.

Fibreboard: Cheap, lightweight board material of little strength, often used in ceilings or as insulation to attics.

Flashing: Building technique used to prevent leakage at a roof joint. Usually metal (lead, zinc, copper) but can be cement, felt or proprietary material.

Flaunching: Contoured cement around the base of chimney pots.

Flue: A smoke duct in a chimney, or a proprietary pipe serving a heat-producing appliance such as a central heating boiler.

Flue Lining: Metal (usually stainless steel) tube within a flue essential for high output gas appliances such as boilers. May also be manufactured from clay and built into the flue.

Foundations: Normally concrete, laid underground as a structural base to a wall: in older buildings may be brick or stone.

Frog: A depression imprinted in the upper surface of a brick, to save clay, reduce weight and increase the strength of the wall. Bricks should always be laid frog uppermost.

Fused Spur: Power socket that does not have a plug going into it, instead the cable from an appliance like a fridge, radiator, burglar alarm etc and has a fuse socket built into it.

Gable: Upper section of a wall, usually triangular in shape, at either end of a ridged roof.

Gang: Referred to for power points 1 gang = 1 single socket  2 gang = 1 double socket .

Ground Heave: Swelling of clay sub-soil due to absorption of moisture: can cause an upward movement in foundations.

Gully: An opening into a drain, normally at ground level, placed to receive water etc from downpipes and wastepipes.

Haunching: See Benching. Also term used to describe the support to a drain underground.

Hip: The external junction between two intersecting roof slopes.

Inspection Chamber: Commonly called "man-hole". Access point to a drain comprising a chamber (of brick, concrete or plastic) with the drainage channel at its base and a removable cover at ground level.

Jamb: Side part of a doorway or window.

Joist: Horizontal structural timber used in flat roof, ceiling and floor construction. Occasionally also metal.

Landslip: Downhill movement of unstable earth, clay, rock etc. often following prolonged heavy rain or coastal erosion, but sometimes due entirely to sub-soil having little cohesive integrity.

Lath: Thin strip of wood used in the fixing of roof tiles or slates, or as a backing to plaster.

Lintel: Horizontal structural beam of timber, stone, steel or concrete placed over window or door openings.

LPG: Liquid Petroleum Gas or Propane.

Mortar: Mixture of sand, cement, lime and water.

Mullion: Vertical bar dividing individual panes in a window.

Newel: Stout post supporting a staircase handrail at top and bottom. Also, the central pillar of a winding or spiral staircase.

Oversite: Rough concrete below timber ground floors: the level of the oversite should be above external ground level.

Parapet: Low wall along the edge of a flat roof, balcony etc.

Pier: A vertical column of brickwork or other material, used to strengthen the wall or to support a weight.

Plasterboard: Stiff "sandwich" of plaster between coarse paper for use for ceilings and walls.

Pointing: Smooth outer edge of mortar joint between bricks, stones etc.

Powder Post Beetle: (Bostrychidae or Lyctidae family of beetles) A relatively uncommon pest that can, if untreated, cause widespread damage to structural timbers.

Purlin: Horizontal beam in a roof to support the rafters.

Quoin: The external angle of a building; or, specifically, bricks or stone blocks forming that angle.

Rafter: A sloping roof beam, usually timber, forming the carcass of a roof.

Random Rubble: Primitive method of stone wall construction with no attempt at bonding or coursing.

Rendering: Vertical covering of a wall either plaster (internally) or cement (externally).

Reveals: The side faces of a window or door opening.

Ridge: The apex of a roof.

Riser: The vertical part of a step or stair.

Rising Damp: Moisture soaking up a wall from below ground, by capillary action causing rot in timbers, plaster decay, decoration failure etc.

Roof Spread: Outward bowing of a wall caused by the thrust of a badly restrained roof carcass.

Screed: Final, smooth finish of a solid floor, usually cement, concrete or asphalt.

Septic Tank: Tank Drain installation whereby sewage decomposes through bacteriological action, which can be slowed down or stopped altogether by the use of chemicals such as bleach, biological washing powders etc.

Settlement: General disturbance in a structure showing as distortion in walls etc., possibly a result of major structural failure, very dry weather conditions etc.

Shakes: Naturally occurring cracks in timber; in building timbers.

Shingles: Small rectangular slabs of wood used on roofs instead of tiles, slates etc.

Soakaway: Arrangement for disposal of rainwater, utilising graded aggregate laid below ground.

Soaker: Sheet metal (usually lead, copper or zinc) at the junction of a roof with a vertical surface of a chimneystack, adjoining wall etc.

Soffit: The under-surface of eaves, balcony, arch etc.

Solid Fuel: Heating fuel, normally coal, coke or one of a variety of proprietary fuels.

Spandrel: Space above and to the sides of an arch; also the space below a staircase.

Stud Partition: Lightweight, sometimes non-load bearing wall construction comprising a framework of timber faced with plaster, plasterboard or other finish.

Subsidence: Ground movement, generally downward, possible a result of clay shrinkage.

Sub-soil: Soil lying immediately below the topsoil, upon which foundations usually bear.

Sulphate Attack: Chemical reaction activated by water, between tricalcium aluminate and soluble sulphates. Can cause deterioration in brick walls and concrete floors.

Tie Bar: Heavy metal bar passing through a wall, or walls, to brace a structure suffering from structural instability.

Torching: Mortar applied on the underside of roof tiles or slates to help prevent moisture penetration. Not necessary when a roof is underdrawn with felt.

Transom: Horizontal part of a step or stair.

Tread: The horizontal part of a step or stair.

Trussed Rafters: Method of roof construction utilising prefabricated triangular framework of timbers. Now widely used in domestic construction.

Underpinning: Method strengthening weak foundations whereby a new, stronger foundation is placed beneath the original.

Valley Gutter: Horizontal or sloping gutter, usually lead-or-tile-lined, at the internal intersection between two roof slopes.

Ventilation: Necessary in all buildings to disperse moisture resulting from bathing, cooking, breathing etc. and to assist in prevention of condensation.

Verge: The edge of a roof, especially over a gable.

Verge Board: Timber, sometimes decorative plastic material, placed at the verge of a roof: also known as bargeboard.

Wainscot: Wood boarding on the lower part of an internal wall.

Wall Plate: Timber placed at the eaves of a roof, to take the weight of the roof timbers.

Wastepipe: Drainage pipe for baths, basins, wc’s

Wet Rot: (Coniophora Puteana) Decay of timber due to damp conditions.

Woodworm: Colloquial term for beetle infestation: usually intended to mean Common Furniture Beetle (Anobium Punctatum).

Note: This information is for guidance purposes only and cannot be relied upon for accuracy.