DICTIONARY OF BUILDING TERMS. AISLE, (pronounced ile), a passageway between seats; the space between the outside walls and the columns in a cathedral church. ALCOVE, a recess in the side of a room. face; also "high relief". AMBO, same as pulpit. ANCHOR, a term applied to ties and fastenings. ANDIRONS, (or fire dogs) irons for the support of fuel in open fire places. ANGLE BEAD, a small round moulding secured to outside angles of walls. ANGLE BRACE, a bracket or framing in the angle of two surfaces. ANNEX, a building subordinate to a main building. ARCADE (1) a series of arches and columns. (2) a corridor. ARCH, a construction of bricks or other materials so arranged as by mutual pressure to support each other and to become capable of sustaining a super incumbent weight. ARCHIVOLT, same as soffit. AREA, a space, a court yard or sunken court. ARRIS, the line or edge formed by the meeting of two plain sur faces. ASHLAR, cut or hewn stone used in the face of a wall, generally with vertical and horizontal joints. ASTRAGAL, semi circular moulding or bead. BACK ARCH, a relieving arch. BALI, COCK, a water cock in the form of a ball, placed inside a cistern to regulate the inflow of water. BALDERCHINO, a canopy supported on columns over an altar, tomb or throne. BALL FLOWER, a gothic ornament like a bail enclosed in three leaves. BALLOON FRAME, rough framing of a wooden building. BALUSTER, perpendicular standard supporting a rail, also banister. BALUSTRADE, a range of balusters with upper and lower rail. BARGE BOARD, board used as a finish on the face of a gable, plain or ornamental. BARREL DRAIN, a brick conduit in cylindrical from. BAS RELIEF or BASSO RELIEVO, carvings raised but little above the surface; also "low relief." BAT, a broken brick. BATTEN, a thin strip of wood. BATTER, the sloping face of a wall built wider at the bottom than at the top. BATTLEMENT, indentations in the top of a parapet wall. BEAD, a small circular moulding. BEAD AND BUTT, a panel moulded with a bead, abutting against a square surface; also "bead and flush". BEAD AND QUIRK, a bead sunk below the surface with the angles of the surface cut off. BEAMFILLING, building round the ends of beams or joists in a wall. BEARER, a strut or post or horizontal piece supporting a shelf or other boards. BEARING WALL or PARTITION, portion of a wall or partition that carries a superstructure. BED MOULDING, strictly speaking a moulding immediately under the cornice of a classic building. BELVEDERE, a high turret. BEVEL, a sloping surface. BILLET, a block of wood. BINDER, same as "Header." BINDING JOIST, same as "Trimmer”. BLOCK PLAN, a plan showing the outline of a building. BLOCKING COURSE, a plain course of stone above a cornice, its face being in the same plane as the face of the walls below. BOND, in brick or stone work denotes arrangements of headers and stretchers. BOND, ENGLISH, in brickwork a course of headers and a course of stretchers laid alternately. BOND, FLEMISH, in brickwork, headers and stretchers laid alternately in the same course. BOND STONE, same as "Header". cure the other woodwork. a wall on which to se BOW WINDOW, a semi circular bay window. BOX FRAME, the frame of a window made hollow for the sash weights. BOX GIRDER, a hollow built girder. BRACE, a stiffening piece in framing. BREAKING JOINT, a term applied to the joints of masonry or other work which are not continuous. BREAST OF A CHIMNEY, the projecting portion of a chimney stack in a room. BREAST OF A WINDOW, that portion of a wall below the win dow. BRESSUMER, a heavy beam. BRICK NOGGING, brickwork laid in the interstices of framing. BRIDGING, pieces of wood secured between joists for the stiffen ing of floors. BROACH, the masonry at the foot of an octagonal spire above the square tower. BULL'S NOSE, a rounded angle. BUSH HAMMERED, the worked face of a stone formed by a bush hammer. This hammer is formed of several metal points with which the stone is pounded. BUTTING JOINT, the junction of two pieces cut at right angles with the surface. CABLE MOULDING, a moulding like a rope, CANT, the surface left when the angle of a square is cut off. CAP or CAPITAL, the highest member of a column. CARRIAGE OF A STAIR, the rough timbers supporting a stair case; also "stringers." CASE, see box frame CASING, boxing in of pipes, etc. CASEMENT, (1) a sash hinged like a door. (2) also a classic moulding (see "Scotia”). CAUKING or CAULKING, filling of joints. CENTRE, rough framework for the support of an arch in construc tion. CENTRE OF GRAVITY, that point at which all the weight of a mass might be collected without disturbing the equilibrium of the body. CHACE, a groove. CHACE MORTISE, a mortice cut so as to admit of a transverse piece of timber being let in between two parallel pieces. CHAMFER, like a bevel, the cutting off of a right angle to an angle of 45 degrees. CHANCEL, the choir of a church containing an altar. CHEEKS OF A MORTICE, the two solid pieces on each side of a mortice. CHEVRON, a zig-zag moulding of the Norman style. CHOIR, part of the chancel of a church. CHORD, a line joining the extremities of an arch. CIMA RECTA, Greek undulating moulding. CIMA REVERSA. like a cima recta reversed. CINQUE FOII,, a Gothic ornament of five semi circular curves with four cusps or points at the junctions of the curves. CIRCUMFERENCE, the outside line of a circular body. CLAMP, a piece of metal or other material by which two stones or other substances are fastened together. CLAPBOARD, thin boarding covering framework of a building. CLEARSTOREY, the upper portion of a church wall above the aisle roof. CLEAT, a small piece of wood secured to timbers for the support of other woodwork. CLOISTER, a covered and paved walk in connection with a cathedral. CLOSER, a portion of a brick less than the width of a header inserted as a header near the end of a course. COFFERDAM, timber framing employed in bridge building, sunk into the water. COIN or QUOIN, blocks of stone finishing the angles of a building. COLLAR BEAM, a horizontal beam in roof construction secured to the rafters midway between the eaves and ridge. COLUMN, a perpendicular pillar. COMMON RAFTER, ordinary rafters of a roof. CONCAVE, a hollowed surface. CONVEX, an outward curved surface. COPE STONE, see coping. COPING, cap stones of a wall. CORBIE STEPS, steps up a gable. CORBEL TABLE, a row of corbels or ornamental brackets. COUNTER SINKING, any cutting below the general surface. CROWNING, forcing up the centre of a joist by drawing in the ends with a screw rod. CUSPS, the point of intersection of curves in Gothic architecture. DADO, lower portion of a wall faced with panelling or other decoration. DAIS, a raised portion of a floor or low platform. DEAFENING, any method of construction for the purpose of deadening sound. DEFLECTION, a term applied to the bending of a beam from a straight line under pressure. DENTIL, an ornament of square blocks. DIAPER WORK, decoration of a flat surface, generally carved or sunk, sometimes painted. DISCHARGING ARCH, or RELIEVING ARCH, an arch formed over a lintel to relieve it of the superincumbent weight. DOG LEGGED STAIRS, a stair case divided into two flights, the outer string of the upper flight being directly over the handrail of the lower. DOG TOOTH MOULDING, a moulding peculiar to Early English architecture. DOOR JAMB, the lining on the ingoing of a door. DORMER, a window in a sloping roof. DORMITORY, a large sleeping room. DOVETAIL, a wedge shaped joint for woodwork. DOWEL, a wooden or metal pin. DRAGON PIECE, a short piece of timber used to strengthen the foot of a principal rafter or to tie together the intersecting eaves-plates at the angles of a building. DRESSINGS, the finished stonework of windows, doors, etc. off the water over a window or doorway, called also "Labels." DRY ROT, a disease of vegetable growth that attacks timber in damp situations. DROVED ASHLAR, MARGINS, ETC., a tooled margin on stone; also "draved". EAVES, edges of a roof. ECHINUS, egg and anchor moulding. ELLIPTIC ARCH, arch in the for of an ellipse. EMBRASURE, (1) the splay or bevel of a door or window jamb; (2) a cutting in a thick wall. ENGAGED COLLUM, a collumn atttched to a wall. ENGLISH BOND, (see) Bond. ENTASIS, the swelling or curved vertical line of a shaft or column ENTRESOL, an intermediate storey, called also, "Mezzanine". EQUILATERAL ARCH, a pointed gothic arch the heigh of the apex above the spring being equal to the width of the span at the spring. ESCUTCHEON, a key hole plate: also "scutcheon”. EYE OF A VOLUTE, the central spot of a spiral curve. FACADE, principal or front elevation of a building FACING, the outer surface of a wall, etc. FANLIGHT, a transom light, FAN TRACERY, radiating ornament, the decoration applied to "Fan vaulting". a feature of the perpendicular style. FENESTRATION, the spacing of windows in a wall. FLASHINGS, metal coverings round the edges of gutters, etc., on roofs or against brickwork. FLEMISH BOND, (See Bond.) FLOATING, a term in plastering, the finishing work. FI,USH, a term indicating the meeting of two surfaces on the same plane. FLUTES or FLUTINGS, semi-circular sinkings on flat surfaces. FOILS, the curves between the cusps in gothic architecture. FORMERET, the principal rafter against a wall at the end of a building. FREE STONE, sand stone. FREIZE, (1) in classic architecture that part of an entabalature between the architrave and cornice; (2) the upper portion of a wall in a room, usually so called for decorative purposes. FRESCO PAINTING, painting on flat surfaces of a particular character. FRET, an ornament of classic work. FURRINGS, woodwork beneath the plastering, fastened against the walls or on the underside of joists, etc., to receive the lathing. GABLE, the pointed upper part of a wall. GIRT, surface of a moulding. GRILL, open screen work in any material. GROIN, the line of intersection of the vaults in vaulted ceilings. GROUNDS, strips of wood forming the projections to which to fasten finished woodwork. |