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Industry Terms

Astragal:
Vertical trim attached to one of a pair of doors that prevents them from swinging or sliding completely through the opening; also used to prevent air infiltration.

Ball bearing hinge:
A hinge option, used in applications where a door will get more than residential-type usage.  Suggested for entry application and frequent-use areas, it reduces the rubbing friction of the hinge flange.

Balusters:
Vertical members in a railing used between a top rail and bottom rail or the stair treads. Sometimes referred to as ‘pickets’ or ‘spindles’.

Base shoe:
Molding used next to the floor on interior base board. Sometimes called a carpet strip.

Bifold door:
Doors that are hinged in the middle for opening in a smaller area than standard swing doors. Often used for closet doors.

Board foot:
A unit of measure for lumber equal to 1 inch thick by 12 inches wide by 12 inches long. Examples: 1″ x 12″ x 16′ = 16 board feet, 2″ x 12″ x 16′ = 32 board feet.

Boom:
A truck used to hoist heavy material up and into place. To put trusses on a home or to set a heavy beam into place.

Brick mold:
Trim used around an exterior door jamb that siding butts to.

Butt joint:
The junction where the ends of two timbers meet, and also where sheets of drywall meet on the 4 foot edge. To place materials end-to-end or end-to-edge without overlapping.

Caming:
Pieces of metal (often brass, lead, nickel or zinc) that hold individual pieces of glass together in a decorative glass insert, sidelight or transom.

Casing:
Wood trim molding installed around a door or window opening.

Caulking:
(1) A flexible material used to seal a gap between two surfaces e.g. between pieces of siding or the corners in tub walls. (2) To fill a joint with mastic or asphalt plastic cement to prevent leaks.

Chair rail:
Interior trim material installed about 3-4 feet up the wall, horizontally.

Chalk line:
A line made by snapping a taut string or cord dusted with chalk. Used for alignment purposes.

Crown molding:
A molding used on cornice or wherever an interior angle is to be covered, especially at the roof and wall corner.

Dead bolt:
An exterior security lock installed on exterior entry doors that can be activated only with a key or thumb-turn. Unlike a latch, which has a beveled tongue, dead bolts have square ends.

Drip cap:
A molding or metal flashing placed on the exterior topside of a door or window frame to cause water to drip beyond the outside of the frame.

Egress:
A means of exiting the home. An egress window is required in every bedroom and basement. Normally a 4′ X 4′ window is the minimum size required.

Face nail:
To install nails into the vertical face of a bearing header or beam.

Fascia:
A wood member, surfaced four sides, used for the outer face of a “box cornice” where it is nailed to the ends of the rafters and “lookouts”. Sometimes refers to the “face” of a mantel.

Finger joint:
A method of joining wood pieces milled in the shape of fingers, which mesh together and are held firmly in position by a water-resistant adhesive. This method has enabled the millwork industry to create longer lengths of wood and to utilize shorter pieces of raw material. Finger jointing is not a new woodworking technique but has been vastly refined. So precise can the joint now be made on such items as mouldings, door and window jambs, and doors that the lines of joining are barely perceptible. When there is no great variation in grain or color, the end-welded pieces appear as one.

Fire door:
Fire doors are designed to meet independent testing facilities’ (Underwriter’s Laboratory [UL] and Warnock Hersey [WH] standards for fire ratings of 20, 30, 45, 60, or 90 minutes. The specific rating is achieved through the application of special door cores and framing materials.

Flashing:
Sheet metal or other material used in roof and wall construction to protect a building from water seepage.

Gable:
The end, upper, triangular area of a home, beneath the roof.

Hardboard:
A generic term for a panel manufactured primarily from interfelted lignocellulosic fibers (usually wood), consolidated under heat and pressure in a hot press to a density of 496 kg/m3 (31 lb/ft3) or greater and to which other materials may have been added during manufacture to improve certain properties.

Hinged door:
An exterior or interior door hung by attaching butts to the stile so that the door swings on a vertical axis. These doors may be single (swinging thru 90 degrees) or double-acting (swinging thru 180 degrees). Double-acting doors do not require a door stop.

Hollow core door:
A type of door that has corrugated cardboard between the stiles and rails and is made up of an interior frame of stiles and rails, covered by a skin of veneer or hardboard, plastic, or metal.

I-joist:
Manufactured structural building component resembling the letter “I”. Used as floor joists and rafters. I-joists include two key parts: flanges and webs. The flange of the I joist may be made of laminated veneer lumber or dimensional lumber, usually formed into a 1 ½” width. The web or center of the I-joist is commonly made of plywood or oriented strand board (OSB). Large holes can be cut in the web to accommodate duct work and plumbing waste lines. I-joists are available in lengths up to 60 feet long.

Infiltration:
Heat loss due to cold air filtering through cracks or spaces around an exterior door.

Joist:
Wooden 2 X 8’s, 10’s, or 12’s that run parallel to one another and support a floor or ceiling, and supported in turn by larger beams, girders, or bearing walls.

Miter joint:
The joint of two pieces at an angle that bisects the joining angle. For example, the miter joint at the side and head casing at a door opening is made at a 45° angle.

Prehung door:
A pre-cut and assembled unit consisting of a wood door with preparation for lock hardware that is hung on hinges in a wood frame. The wood frame includes the one or two piece jamb adjustable or as-ordered width as well as the door stop mouldings and casings (trim). Door units other than conventionally hinged are also available.

R factor or value:
A measure of a materials resistance to the passage of heat.

Rough opening:
Refers to the finished, cut-out opening into which a door and frame will be fitted.

Solid-core door:
A door with a solid interior made from composite wood, agri-fiber, wood staves, particleboard, or fire-rated mineral fiber.

Stop:
A moulding primarily used in window and door trim that is positioned to stop the door or window sash from opening beyond a set point.

Sweep:
A rubber or vinyl strip applied to the bottom of a door to create an effective seal against the sill (threshold).

Take off:
The material necessary to complete a job.

Threshold:
A wood or aluminum member, beveled or tapered on each side, and used with exterior or interior door frames. Classified as “interior” or “exterior” or “saddle”.

Tongue-and-groove joint:
A joint formed by the insertion of the “tongue” of one wood member into the “groove” of the other; modifications include tongue and groove rabbet joint, dado tongue and rabbet, tongued shoulder joint, dado and rabbet joint, dado and lip joint.

Transom:
A horizontal member separating a door from a window panel above the door, or separating one window above another.

Veneer:
A thin sheet or layer of wood, usually rotary cut, sliced or sawn from a log, bolt or flitch; thickness may vary from 1/100 to 1/4 of an inch. Also referred to as skin, ply, veneer ply.

Void:
An empty area or open space.

Weathering:
The mechanical or chemical disintegration and discoloration of the surface of wood caused by exposure to light. The action of dust and sand carried by winds and alternate shrinking and swelling of the surface fibers with continual variation in moisture content due to changes in the weather. Also an inclined surface on a member such as a cornice or sill which directs away rain water.

Weatherstrip:
Variously shaped metal, vinyl plastic or moulded fiber strips which fit tightly against sash or door frame parts to prevent air infiltration through cracks. Adjustable pressure weatherstrip- Sash or window weather-stripping on which sash tension is maintained by means of spring action.