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Contractors School Online - Building contractor terms Category: Architecture and Buildings > Building contractor information Date & country: 24/09/2013, USA Words: 431

Nicked Bit Finish
Obtained by planing the stone with a planer tool in which irregular nicks have been made in the cutting edge.

Non-Staining Mortar
Mortar composed of materials which individually or collectively do not contain material that will stain, usually having very low alkali content.

Mortar joint, head
The vertical mortar joint placed between masonry units within the Wythe.

Mortar
(1) A mixture of cementitious materials, fine aggregate water, with or without admixtures, used to construct unit masonry assemblages. (2) The hardened equivalent of such mixtures.

Mortar Bed
A horizontal layer of mortar used to seat a masonry unit.

Mortar Joint Profile
The finished shape of the exposed portion of the mortar joint. Common Profiles Include

Mortar Joint, Bed
The horizontal layer of mortar between masonry units.

Moisture Content
The amount of water contained within a unit at the time of sampling expressed as a percentage of the total amount of water in the unit when saturated.

Moldings
Decorative stone deviating from a plane surface by projections, curved profiles, recessed or any combination thereof.

Mortar
A plastic mixture of cement, lime, sand, and water used to bond masonry units.

Mix Design
The proportions of materials used to produce mortar, grout or concrete.

Modular Coordination
The designation of masonry units, door and window frames, and other construction components that fit together during construction without customization.

Modular Design
Construction with standardized units or dimensions for flexibility and variety in use.

Modular Multiple-Cut (Pattern-Cut)
This refers to standard patterns used throughout the stone industry. These patterns are usually based on multiples of a given height. Stone that is multiple cut or pattern cut is pre-cut to allow typically for

Medium Weight Concrete Masonry Unit
A unit whose oven-dry density is at least 105 lb/ft3 (1,680 kg/m3) but less than 125 lb/ft3 (2,000 kg/m3).

Metric
The Systeme Internationale (SI), the standard international system of measurement. Hard metric refers to products or materials manufactured to metric specified dimensions. Soft metric refers to products or materials manufactured to English specified dimensions, then converted into metric dimensions.

Miter
The junction of two units at an angle of which the junction lines usually bisect on a 45 degree angle.

Masonry
Built-up construction, usually of a combination of materials set in mortar.

Masonry Cement
(1) a mill-mixed cementitious material to which sand and water is added to make mortar. (2) Hydraulic cement produced for use in mortars for masonry construction.

Manufactured Stone Veneer
Exact replicas of natural stones used for building, cast in flexible molds and hand colored with iron oxide pigments. Made of lightweight aggregate materials, the veneers are approximately one-quarter the weight of full-thickness stone and can be adhered to most wall surfaces.

Lug Sill
A stone sill set into the jambs on each side of masonry openings.

Machine Finish
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Malaise
Literally, badland; refers to dark colored rock, commonly lava, in rough terrain. As defined for architectural use; calcium carbonate with other components which give it color, markings, and texture suitable as a desirable building stone.

Manufactured Masonry Unit
A man-made noncombustible building product intended to be laid by hand and joined by mortar, grout or other methods.

Lipping
Usually refers to flagging materials; caused when two pieces of material to be joined together are slightly warped or twisted causing one or more edges to be higher or lower than the adjoining material.

Lintel
The block of stone spanning the top of an opening such as a doorway or window; sometimes called a head. A beam placed or constructed over a wall opening to carry the superimposed load.

Lintel Block
A U-shaped masonry unit, placed with the open side up to accommodate horizontal reinforcement and grout to form a continuous beam. Also called channel block.

Limestone
A sedimentary rock composed of calcium carbonate; includes many varieties. (See oolitic limestone, dolomitic limestone, crystalline limestone). Limestone

Liners
Strengthening elements attached to the back of stone slabs, usually a structurally sound section of similar stone dowelled and epoxied into place.

Lightweight Concrete Masonry Unit
A unit whose oven-dry density is less than 105 lb/ft3 (1,680 kg/m3).

Lime
Calcium oxide (CaO), a general term for the various chemical and physical forms of quicklime, hydrated lime and hydraulic hydrated lime.

Lightweight Aggregate
Natural or manufactured aggregate of low density, such as expanded or sintered clay, shale, slate, diatomaceous shale, perlite, vermiculite, slag, natural pumice, volcanic cinders, diatomite, sintered fly ash or industrial cinders.

Lewis Bolt
A tapered head wedged in a tapered recess in stone for hanging soffit stones.

Lewis Holes
Holes in cut stone for lifting and support during setting of cut stones and sometimes for permanent support. Holes are checked for the particular Lewis lifting device or hook to be used.

Lap Splice
The connection between reinforcing steel generated, by overlapping the ends of the reinforcement.

Lateral Support
The means of bracing structural members in the horizontal span by columns, buttresses, pilasters or cross walls, or in the vertical span by beams, floors, foundations, or roofs.

Lava
A general term applied to igneous rocks, such as basalt and rhyolite that erupted from the earth by volcanic action.

Lead Buttons
Lead spacers in the solid horizontal joints to support the top stone until the mortar has set.

Lap
(1) The distance two bars overlap when forming a splice. (2) The distance one masonry unit extends over another.

Jointing Scheme
A detailed architectural drawing showing the dimensions, locations, configurations of stone units and joints on the structures.

Jumper
In ashlar patterns, a piece of stone of higher rise than adjacent stones which is used to end a horizontal mortar joint at the point where it is set.

Jamb Block
A block specially formed for the jamb of windows or doors, generally with a vertical slot to receive window frames, etc. Also called sash block.

Joint
The space between stone units usually filled with mortar. The surface at which two members join or abut. If they are held together by mortar, the mortar-filled volume is the joint.

Joint Reinforcement
Steel wires placed in mortar bed joints (over the face shells in hollow masonry). Multi-wire joint reinforcement assemblies have cross wires welded between the longitudinal wires at regular intervals.

Igneous
One of the three great classes of rock (igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic), solidified from molten slate, as granite and lavas.

Incise
To cut inwardly or engrave, as in an inscription.

Inscription
Lettering cut in stone.

Inspection
The observations to verify that the masonry construction meets the requirements of the applicable design standards and contract documents.

Jack Arch
One having horizontal or nearly horizontal upper and lower surfaces. Also called flat or straight arch.

Height-To-Thickness Ratio
The height of a masonry wall divided by its nominal thickness. The thickness of cavity walls is taken as the overall thickness minus the width of the cavity.

Holes
Sinkages in the top beds of stone to engage Lewis pins for hoisting.

Honed Finish
Honed is a super fine smooth finish, but not as fine as a polished finish. Honed Block

Hot Weather Construction
Procedures used to construct masonry when ambient air temperature exceeds 100

Height of Wall
(1) The vertical distance from the foundation wall or other similar intermediate support to the top of the wall. (2) The vertical distance between intermediate supports.

Hearth
That part of the floor of a fireplace of stone on which the fire is laid.

Hearth Stone
Originally the single large stone or stones used for the hearth, now most commonly used to describe the stone in front of the fire chamber and many times extending on either or both sides of the front of the fire chamber.

Header
A masonry unit that connects two or more adjacent wythes of masonry and also called a bonder.

Head
The end of a stone which has been tooled to match the face of the stone. Heads are used at outside corners, windows, door jambs, or any place where the veneering will be visible from the side.

Grouting, High Lift
The technique of grouting masonry in lifts for the full height of the wall.

Grouting, Low lift
The technique of grouting as the wall is constructed, usually to scaffold or bond beam height, but not greater than 4 to 6 ft (1,219 to 1,829 mm), depending on code limitations.

Hand-Cut Random Rectangular Ashlar
A pattern where all stone is hand cut into squares and rectangulars. Joints are fairly consistent and similar to sawed-bed ashlar in appearance.

Grout, Restressing
A cementitious mixture used to encapsulate bonded prestressing tendons.

Grout, Self-Consolidating
Highly fluid and stable grout used in high lift and low lift grouting that does not require consolidation or reconsolidation.

Grouted masonry
(1) Masonry construction of hollow units where hollow cells are filled with grout, or multiwythe construction in which the space between wythes is solidly filled with grout. (2) Masonry construction using solid masonry units where the interior joints and voids are filled with grout.

Grout Lift
An increment of grout height within a total grout pour. A grout pour consists of one or more grout lifts.

Grout Pour
The total height of masonry to be grouted prior to erection of additional masonry. A grout pour consists of one or more grout lifts.

Grout
(1) A plastic mixture of cementitious materials, aggregates, water, with or without admixtures initially produced to pouring consistency without segregation of the constituents during placement. (2) The hardened equivalent of such mixtures.

Greenstone
Includes stones that have been metamorphosed or otherwise changed so that they have assumed a distinctive greenish color owing to the presence of one or more of the following minerals

Ground Face Block
A concrete masonry unit in which the surface is ground to a smooth finish exposing the internal matrix and aggregate of the unit and also called burnished or honed block.

Granular
Having a texture characterized by particles that are apparent to the unaided eye and for sedimentary rocks; particles less than 4 inches (10 mm) in diameter and approximately equal in size.

Granite Gneiss
Foliated crystalline rock composed essentially of silicate minerals with interlocking and visibly granular texture, and in which the foliation is due primarily to alternating layers, regular or irregular, of contrasting mineralogic composition. In general gneiss is characterized by relatively thick layers as compared with a schist. According to their mineralogic compositions, gneisses may correspond to other rocks of crystalline, visibly granular, interlocking texture, such as those included under the definition of commercial granite, and may then be known as granite gneiss if strongly foliated or gneissic granite if weakly foliated.

Granite (Commercial/Building Use)
A term that includes granite (as defined above), gneiss, gneissic granite, granite gneiss, and the rock species known to petrologists as syenite, monzonite, and granodiorite, species intermediate between them, the gneissic varieties and gneisses of corresponding mineralogic compositions and the corresponding varieties of porphyritic textures. The term commercial granite shall also include other feldspathic crystalline rocks of similar textures, containing minor amounts of accessory minerals, used for special decorative purposes, and known to petrologists as anorthosite and laurvikite.

Granite
A fine to coarse-grained, igneous rock formed by volcanic action consisting of quartz, feldspar, and mica, with accessory minerals. Granite-type rocks include those of similar texture and origin-granite (scientific definition) - a visibly granular, crystalline rock of predominantly interlocking texture, composed essentially of alkalic feldspars and quartz; this is true granite. Feldspar is generally present in excess of quartz, and accessory minerals (chiefly micas, hornblende, or more rarely pyroxene) are commonly present. The alkalic feldspars may be present(1) as individual mineral species, (2) as isomorphous or mechanical intergrowths with each other, or (3) as chemical intergrowths with the lime feldspar molecule, but 80 + 3% of the feldspar must be composed of the potash or soda feldspar molecules.

Glass Unit Masonry
Masonry composed of glass units bonded by mortar.

Glazed Block
A concrete masonry unit with a permanent smooth resinous tile facing applied during manufacture and also called prefaced block.

Grade Course
Beginning course at the grade level, generally waterproofed with a dampcheck or damp course.

Gauged or Gauging
A grinding process to make all pieces of material to be used together the same thickness.

Glass Seam
Description of a narrow glass-like streak occurring in stone; a joint plane that has been re-cemented by deposition of translucent calcite in the crack and is structurally sound.

Freestone
A stone that may be cut freely in any direction without fracture or splitting.

Freeze-Thaw Durability
The ability to resist damage from the cyclic freezing and thawing of moisture in materials and the resultant expansion and contraction.

Frieze
A belt course, sometimes decorated with sculpture relief, occurring just under a cornice.

Gang Sawed
Description of the granular surface of stone resulting from gang-sawing alone.

Fracture
A break in rock produced by mechanical failure. Fractures include faults and

Flashing
A thin impervious material placed in mortar joints and through air spaces in masonry to prevent water penetration and to facilitate water drainage.

Fleur Cut
Cutting quarried marble or stone parallel to the natural bedding plane.

Flooring
Stone used as an interior pedestrian wearing surface.

Fly Ash
The finely divided residue resulting from the combustion of ground or powdered coal.

Footing
A structural element that transmits loads directly to the soil.

Fireproof
Relatively incombustible.

Flagstone
Thin slabs of stone used for flagging or paving walks, driveways, patios, etc.

Fire Resistance
A rating assigned to walls indicating the length of time a wall performs as a barrier to the passage of flame, hot gases and heat when subjected to a standardized fire and hose stream test. For masonry, fire resistance is most often determined based on the masonry

Fines
The residue resulting from the normal fabrication and processing of stone.

Finish
The final appearance exposed stone slab surfaces are fabricated to meet.

Finished Stone
Building stone with one or more mechanically dressed surface(s).

Filling
Filling the natural voids and veins in a stone with material (cement, shellac, or synthetic resins and similar materials often mixed with stone fines).

Facing
Any material forming a part of a wall and used as a finished surface.

Fascia
A horizontal belt or vertical face; often used in combination with moldings.

Fastener
A device used to attach components to masonry, typically nonstructural in nature.

Ferruginous
limestone or sandstone containing a high proportion of iron oxide.

Field Stone
Loose blocks separated from ledges by natural process and scattered