Visual Dictionary

By Backfill

Air Barrier Paper

Air barriers are protective, air-resistant materials applied in conjunction with a building component to prevent the movement of air through that component.

Attic VentilationSoffit Vent- An opening under the eave of a roof, used to allow air flow into the attic or the space below the roof sheathing.

Ridge Vent- A long, open assembly that allows air to circulate in and out of a gable roof at the ridge.

Gable Vent- A screened, louvered opening in the gable, used for exhausting excess heat and humidity from an attic.

Roof Turbine- Pulls and exhaustsmoist, hot air from an atticspace.

Gable Vent

Backhoe

Width of Bucket is 1’- 10”

A piece of excavating equipment consisting of a digging bucket on the end of a two-part articulated arm.

Batter Boards

A temporary frame built just outside the corner of an excavation to carry marks that lie on the surface planes of the basement that will be built in the excavation.

Brick Arches 1

Roman Arch

Parabolic Arch

Brick Arches 2

Centering- A temporary framework over which arch elements are assembled until they are self-supporting

Arch with Keystone

Brick Bonds 1

Common Bond- Stretchers entire length and height of wall

Header Bond- Field of bricks for construction of walls in the header bond pattern, with rows solely of headers displaced by half each row.

Header Bond & HeadersCommon Bond

Soldiers Rowlocks

Brick Bonds 2

Sailors

Shiners

Brick Sizes

Queen Brick- 8” x 4” x 2 2/3”

Modular Brick- 8” x 4” x 4”

Bulldozer

A crawler, equipped with a substantial metal plate, used to push large quantities of soil, sand, rubble, etc., during construction work.

Cladding

Brick EIFS

Stone- Random Ashlar

Wood Shingles

Wood Board

Code Requirements

Treads- 12”Risers- 6”

2’ 7 ½” wide. 2’ 3” height. Area= 5’ 9”. 12” sill AFF.

Code: Max sill height of 44” above the floor and a min net opening of 5.7 sq ft.

It meets the egress requirement because the opening is larger than 5.7 sq ft.

Code: Min 10” Treads and max 7 ¾” risers

The stairs meet the IBC because the treads and risers are within the safety range put forth by the code.

Concrete Joints

Control Joint- An intentional, linear discontinuity in a structure or component, designed to form a plane of weakness where cracking can occur in response to various forces sp as to minimize or eliminate cracking elsewhere in the structure.

Isolation Joint- A joint, such as an expansion joint, between two adjacent structures which are not in physical contact. A column is being isolated from a slab.

Concrete Masonry Unit

A block of hardened concrete, with or without hollow cores, designed to be laid in the same manner as a brick or stone; a concrete block.

Nominal (Typical) CMU Dimensions- 8” X 8” X 16”

12” CMU & 10 “ CMU

1 CMU = 3 Brick Courses

Decorative Concrete Masonry Unit

Ribbed-face CMU

Split Block CMU

Doors

Transom- A horizontal bar or crosspiece that separates a door from a window over it.

Sidelight- A window or opening in or at the side of a wall, door, etc.

Top Rail

Panel

Stile

Lock Rail

Bottom Rail

Transom

Sidelight

Flush Panel Door

Electrical Components 1

Transformer box- An electrical device that changes the voltage of alternating current.

Service Head- A fitting that is placed on the service drop end of service entrance cable and is designed to minimize the amount of moisture that can enter the cable.

Meter- A device that measures the amount of electrical energy supplied to or produced by a residence, business or machine.

Transformer Box

Meter

Service Head

Electrical Components 2

Service Panel- Distributes electrical current to the various circuits within a home.

Duplex Receptacle- Duplex receptacles usually have break-away tabs to separate the top and bottom halves so that the two outlets can be placed on separate circuits.

Duplex Receptacle

Service Panel

Framing Elements 1

1- Anchor Bolt

2- Sill Plate

3- Floor Joists

4- Subfloor

5- Sole Plate

6- Stud

Sill & Sole Plate

Studs

Subfloor

Floor Joists

Anchor Bolts

Framing Components 2

7- Top Plate

8- Ceiling Joist

9- Rafter

10- Roof Decking

11- Sheathing

12- Stringer

Ceiling Joist

Rafter & Roof Decking

Top Plate

Sheathing

Stringer

Front End Loader

Primarily used to load material (asphalt, demolition debris, dirt, feed, gravel, logs, raw minerals, recycled material, rock, sand, wood chips, etc.) into or onto another type of machinery.

Differs from a backhoe and bulldozer by only being able to “scoop” material into its bucket and dump it in another location, not dig holes or scrape off land.

Gypsum Board

An interior facing panel consisting of a gypsum core sandwiched between paper faces.

AKA- Drywall, Plasterboard, Sheetrock

Heat Pump

Advantage-Ability to heat a house rapidly

Disadvantage- Difficult to zone because the furnace supplies air to the supply ducts at a single temperature

Compressor/Condenser- Forces air into the supply duct to move over a heating or cooling coil

Air Handling Unit- Cleans and dehumidifies internal air and redistributes the air into the house

Insulation

The purpose of insulation is to reduce heat flow from the exterior to the interior or vice-versa of a building.

Foamed Batt

Loose Fill

Lintel

A beam that carries the load of a wall across a window or door opening

Lintel

Mortar

- Raked Joint- Tooled- ½” Joint- Quadplex- Type N Mortar

-Flush Joint-Troweled- ½” Joint-Single-family Dwelling-Type N Mortar

OSB

OSB is an engineered, nonveneered wood product formed by layering strands or flakes of wood in specific orientations.

It is manufactured in wide mats from “cross-oriented” layers of thin, rectangular wooden strips compressed and bonded together with wax and resin adhesives.

Plumbing 1

Lavatory- A fixed bowl or basin with running water and drainpipe for washing

Drain pipe size on a lavatory is 1½”.

The VTR provides relief of sewer gases, admission of oxygen for aerobic sewage digestion, and maintenance of the trap water seals which prevent sewer gases from entering the building.

Drop-in SinkManufactured Tub

Vent Through Roof

Lavatory 2

Lavatory

Drain Pipe Size = 1 ½”Water Closet

Drain Pipe Size = 3”

Plywood

Layers of chipped wood are glued together, each with its grain at right angles to adjacent layers for greater strength. There are usually an odd number of plies, as the symmetry makes the board less prone to warping, and the grain on the outside surfaces runs in the same direction. The plies are bonded under heat and pressure.

Veneer- A thin layer of wood or other material for facing or inlaying wood.

Rebar

This rebar is a ground rod, coming up from the slab 1 foot.

The deformations are for better “mechanical anchoring” into concrete.

This is ½” diameter rebar.

Steep Roof Drainage

Gutter- a narrow channel forming the component of a roof system which collects and diverts rainwater shed by the roof.

A gutter’s purpose is to protect a building's foundation by channeling water away from its base.

Downspout- A pipe for carrying rain water from a roof or gutter to the ground or to a drain.

Splashblock- A small masonry block laid with the top close to the ground surface to receive roof drainage from downspouts and to carry it away from the building.

Steep Roof MaterialsUnderlayment: Asphalt saturated felt used beneath roofing to provide additional protection for the deck.

Shingle: A building material used as siding or roofing.

Preformed Metal Roof: A metal roof that is prefabricated and ready to be set on-site. Galvanized steel is usually used.

Clay Tile RoofUnderlayment

Preformed Metal Roof

Wood Shingle Roof

Steep Roof Shapes

Gambrel Roof

Hip Roof

Mansard Roof

Gable Roof

Steep Roof Terms 1

Fascia

Building w/out Fascia

Rake

Soffit

Steep Roof Terms 2

Eave

Ridge and Valley

Stone

Random Rubble

Random Ashlar

Coursed Ashlar

Vapor Retarder

A vapor retarder controls moisture diffusion to prevent moisture build up in the walls.

The retarder is most commonly put on the “warm-in-winter” side of insulation.

Waterproofing (white plastic)

This form of waterproofing is loosely-laid (under the WWF).

Waterproofing protects the soil under the slab from moisture so the foundation won’t settle unevenly or the slab to crack.

Weep Hole

A weep hole is a small opening left in the outer wall of masonry construction as an outlet for water inside a building to move outside the wall and evaporate.

Welded Wire Fabric (WWF)

The spacing of this WWF is 6” x 6”

Windows 1

Single-hung- This is a single-hung window because one pane moves up and down while the other is fixed.

Double-hung- This is a double-hung window because both panes move independently of each other

Windows 2

Casement

This is a casement window because it is a window with a hinged sash that swings in or out like a door comprising either a side-hung, top-hung or occasionally bottom-hung sash or a combination of these types, sometimes with fixed panels on one or more sides of the sash. Usually these windows are operated by a crank.