For Property Solutions
| Aggregate | Material mixed with Portland cement to form concrete. Fine aggregate is sand, course aggregate is gravel. |
| Anaglypta | Thick embossed lining paper for walls and ceilings |
| Anobium Punctatum | The Common Furniture Beetle, generally the most usual form of woodworm in the UK. |
| Architrave | Trim fixed over joint between plaster and door frame |
| Artex | Decorative textured coating for walls and ceilings |
| Asbestos | Fibrous mineral with fire resistant qualities. Airborne fibres are a known health hazard |
| Ashlar | Close fitting square cut building stones, often of thin section used as a facing to other materials. |
| Asphalt | A mixture of p, fine and coarse aggregate used for covering flat roofs. |
| Back addition | Projecting rear wing of house, termed an outrigger in some areas. |
| Back boiler | A boiler fitted at the back of the hearth of an open fire or behind a gas fire to provide hot water and/or central heating. |
| Back land | Site with no road frontage surrounded by other development or land in other ownership |
| Balanced flue | A metal flue terminal for the inlet of air and outlet of fumes through a wall from gas boiler or heater. |
| Balustrades | Staircase and landing handrails and spindles. |
| Barge board | A sloping board along a gable covering the ends of roof timbers. |
| Bark borer | Woodworm found only in bark and sapwood, generally harmless. |
| Batten | A strip of timber, as used for the fixing of slates and tiles to the roof. |
| Bay window | A window formed in a projection of a wall beyond its general line. |
| Bearer | A horizontal timber used to spread loads, for example across ceilings or floors. |
| Benching | Concrete finish provided around the drainage channels in a manhole. |
| Binder | A timber beam such as that used horizontally across ceiling joists to reduce the span of a ceiling. |
| Birdsmouth | Triangular cut out of roof strut to tightly wedge purlin. |
| Bitumen | Tar like material used in sealants, mineral felts and damp proof course. |
| Bituminous felt | Sheeting based on asbestos, fibreglass or other fibres impregnated with bitumen, used in various forms for covering flat roofs or for damp proof courses. |
| Blackash mortar | Industrial ash used instead of sand with dement and lime. |
| Blockwork | Masonry of precast concrete blocks. |
| Blown | Defective render of plaster lifting from base, hollow and loose. |
| Bonding | Various patterns for laying bricks to maximise wall strength. |
| Borrowed light | Window in internal wall between rooms, often over door. |
| Breather membrane | Timber frame construction wall membrane allows moisture to escape. |
| Breeze block | Building blocks made of cinders and cement used for internal partitions and inner skin of cavity walls. |
| Bressumer | A long heavy lintel, usually timber, supporting brickwork or masonry, often over a shop window. |
| Building Regulations | National regulations specifying minimum standards of construction for new buildings, extensions and alterations enforced by the local authority. |
| Building Survey | Formerly Structural Survey. |
| Built-up roofing | Two or more layers of bitumous felt laid in bitumen, used on flat roofs. Normally has a life expectancy of approximately 15 years. |
| Calcium Chloride | Additive mixed in concrete may result in loss of strength. |
| Calcium Silicate Bricks | Subject to thermal expansion and contraction resulting in cracking |
| Calorifier | Heating coil of pipework within copper hot water cylinder. |
| Capillary action | Upward movement of moisture in walls and floors. |
| Carbonation | Loss of strength to concretes associated with chemical changes and rusting to steel reinforcement. |
| Casement window | A window in which one or more lights are hinged to open. |
| Cast-in-situ | Concrete or other material cost on site within timber or other formwork |
| Caulking | Sealing to edges around baths and showers. |
| Cavity tray | A damp proof course across a cavity wall, sloping downwards from the inner skin to the outer skin to prevent dampness crossing the cavity above door and window openings. |
| Cavity wall | A wall, normally constructed of a brick outer skin and a block work inner skin, separated by a continuous gap, normally 2″ wide. In modern buildings the cavity is often filled with insulating material. |
| Cess pit | A pit in which sewage collects and which has to be emptied regularly. |
| Cheek | The side of a dormer. |
| Cistern | A water storage tank such as that installed in the roof of a house or the tank containing the water to flush a WC. |
| Cladding | On-load bearing covering to the walls or roof of a building, often of slate, tiling or timber. |
| Cob | Thick rendered walls built of earth or clay often mixed with straw. |
| Code of Measuring Practice | RICS recommended rules for calculating floor areas etc. |
| Codes of Practice | Non statutory recommendations for the use of building materials and techniques |
| Collar | A horizontal tie beam joining rafters, half way up their length. |
| Column | An upright post, generally of concrete, stone, brick, steel or timber supporting load from above. |
| Combination boiler | A boiler in a hot water/central heating system which has a built-in cistern and requires no separate hot water cylinder. |
| Common Furniture Beetle | Woodworm commonly encountered in older UK buildings |
| Comparables | Other properties sold or values to which reference is made when valuations are prepared. |
| Concrete | A hard, stone like mass consisting of a mixture of sand and stone by cement. |
| Condensation | Water condenses on surface when it is colder than the dew point of the surrounding air. |
| Coniophora puteana | A common form of wet rot fungus. |
| Consumer unit | Fuse or circuit breaker box controlling electricity supply. |
| Continuity of Cover | Insurance cover against subsidence or other risks carried on from one property owner to the next. |
| Conventional flue | Boiler takes oxygen from air in room in which it is located with combustion gasses discharged via flue or chimney. |
| Conversion | Property now used differently, e.g. flat within former house. |
| Coping | A brick, stone or concrete protection to the top of a wall. |
| Corbel | A brick or masonry projection from the face of a wall |
| Core sample | Drilled out section of concrete or other material taken for analysis. |
| Cornice | A moulding at the top of an outside wall or where an inside wall abuts the ceiling. |
| Coving | A concave moulding at the abutment of an inside wall with the ceiling. |
| Cowl | A tile or metal cover, often fixed over a chimney. |
| Creasing tile | One or two courses of plain tiles laid under brick copings, projecting slightly from the face or the wall to prevent moisture running down. |
| Creep | Spreading and folding of lead or asphalt on roofs and steps especially due to heat from sun. |
| Cross wall | Wall running from side to side. |
| Cruck | Irregular sections of tree trunk used for rafters and other rough carpentry. |
| Curtain wall | Lightweight thin outer panel wall. |
| Curtilage | Enclosed garden area belonging to dwelling. |
| Dado | A border or panelling over the lower half of the walls in a room. |
| Damp proof course | An impervious layer of material in a wall, usually 6″ above ground level to prevent rising dampness. |
| Damp proof membrane | A wide impervious sheet laid beneath the slab or finish of a floor to prevent rising dampness. |
| Death Watch Beetle | Large woodworm found in damp oak and other hardwoods |
| Dentil | Tile fillet to seal joint at base of stack or parapet. |
| Detailing | Flashings, upstands, soakers and other roof joint weather sealing. |
| Dishing | Sagging to centre of floor or roof slope. |
| Dormer (window) | A vertical window through a pitched roof, usually provided with its own flat or pitched roof. |
| Double glazing | Sealed units have two panes of glass factory sealed; Secondary double glazing has additional window fixed to main window, usually inside. |
| Dry lining | A lining to the inside of a wall, usually plaster board fixed to battens or timber dabs. |
| Dry rot | A form of decay in timber due to a particular type of fungus which needs relatively low moisture to develop and is difficult to eradicate. |
| Easement | A legal term referring to the right a person has over another person’s land such as a ‘right of way’ or a ‘right of drainage’. |
| Eave | The lowest overhanging part of a sloping roof or the area under it. |
| Efflorescence | Salt deposits on masonry or roof tiles where dampness evaporates. |
| Electro-osmosis | Proprietary system for preventing rising damp by electrically earthing wall. |
| Endoscope | Borescope for inspecting inside wall cavities, etc. |
| Eyebrow window | Set into roof slope under curving rows of tiles. |
| Façade | Front elevation of building. |
| Fascia board | A vertical board fixed under the eaves of a roof to which the rainwater gutters are often fixed. |
| Fibreboard | Soft porous building board used for insulation and lining. |
| Fillet | A narrow strip fixed at the angle between two surfaces, eg. cement fillet where a chimney stack abuts roof tiling. |
| Finlock gutters | Proprietary name for interlocking concrete gutter system. |
| Firring | A timber strip laid along a joist to provide a gradual slope to a flat roof. |
| First fixing | Installation of services and fittings prior to plastering. |
| Flank wall | The wall at the side of a building. |
| Flashing | A strip of impervious material such as lead or zinc which seals the junction of a roof with a wall, chimney stack or similar projection. |
| Flaunching | Cement mortar bedding/weathering around a chimney pot. |
| Flight | Straight run of staircase |
| Flue | A duct in a chimney or leading to it for the discharge of fumes from a boiler or fire. |
| Flush door | A smooth faced door, normally of plywood or hardboard with either a hollow or solid core. |
| Flying freehold | In England and Wales the ownership of airspace over another freehold. |
| Flying shore | Temporary support in gap between buildings, generally during redevelopment. |
| Foundations | The below ground construction supporting the walls. |
| Gable | The triangular part of the end wall of a building with a sloping roof. |
| Gallopers | Temporary timber struts under converging chimney brickwork in roof space. |
| Galvanic corrosion | Rusting of galvanised steel in presence of lead and copper. |
| Gang | Number of sockets or switches. |
| Gang nailed trusses | Prefabricated roof timbers fixed with metal plates. |
| Going | Staircase distance between risers. |
| GRP | Glass fibre reinforced plastic. |
| Gravity circulation | Wide bore heating circulation without pump. |
| Grout | Filling of joints in paving and tiling. |
| Gullies | Exterior drains into which water discharges. |
| Gutter | A channel along the edge of a roof to carry rainwater. |
| Gypsum | Modern plaster material used in plasterboard and for plaster skim. |
| Haunching | Cement work used to support drain work and manholes below ground. |
| Header | Brick laid with end showing. |
| Heave | Lifting of foundations due to clay swell or other expansion of support below. |
| Herringbone strutting | Timbers laid in X-pattern between joists. |
| Hip | Formed at the junction of two roof slopes near ends of roofs which do not end with a gable. |
| Hip hook | Metal bracket holding bottom hip tile in place. |
| Hoggin | Hardcore. |
| Honeycombe wall | Bricks laid with gaps to allow ventilation. |
| Hopper head | An enlarged top to a vertical pipe into which rainwater or waste water discharges |
| Hot water cylinder | A cylinder for the storage of hot water, often fitted with an electric immersion heater. |
| Infill | Hardcore laid under solid floor |
| Interceptor | A trap fitted between a house drain and a main sewer to separate in the air in each. |
| Invert | Bottom of manhole or drain. Invert level is distance below ground. |
| Jack rafter | A short rafter between the hip and the eave of a roof. |
| Jamb | Vertical side face to window or door opening. |
| Joist | A timber or steel beam directly supporting a floor, ceiling or flat roof. |
| Joist hanger | A steel shoe which supports the end of a joist. |
| Lath and plaster | Thin timber strips with wet plaster coatings. |
| Lintel | A small beam over a door or window opening, supporting the wall above. |
| Mansard roof | A roof which has a relatively flat top slope and a steeper lower slope on each side. |
| Mastic | Any permanently plastic and sticky waterproof material used for sealing exterior joints in buildings. |
| Microbore heating | Narrow flexible pipework |
| Mineral felt | Flat roof covering, usually bitumen based. |
| Mono pitch roof | Has only one slope from high wall to low wall. |
| Mortar | Sand with a mixture of cement and/or lime used for joining and pointing brickwork, blockwork and masonry. |
| Mullion | A vertical dividing member of a frame between the lights of a window or door. |
| Newel post | A post in a flight of stairs supporting the ends of a balustrade. |
| No fines concrete | Aggregate (gravel) without sand (fines) or other small particles. |
| Noggins | A short horizontal timber which stiffens the vertical studs in a framed partition. |
| Nosing | The overhanging edge of stair tread. |
| Oriel | Underside of projecting window bay, shaped or rounded. |
| Oversite concrete | A concrete slab laid over the earth beneath the ground floor of a house. |
| Panelled door | A door built of a framed surround with the spaces between filled with panels of thinner material, normally timber. |
| Pantiles | Undulating shaped interlocking tiles. |
| Parapet | A low wall around the edge of a roof or balcony. |
| Parging | Cement lining around inside of chimney flue. |
| Parquet | Tongued and grooved, secret nailed, hardwood flooring. |
| Partition | A non-load bearing wall between rooms. |
| Party wall | On boundary between properties in separate ownership. |
| Piles | Concrete columns driven or cast in subsoil as foundations. |
| PIR Sensor (Passive InfraRed Sensor | A Pyro Electric InfraRed Sensor is an electronic device which measures InfraRed (light radiating from objects in its field of view). |
| Plasterboard | Gypsum plaster sandwiched between two sheets of cardboard. |
| Plate | Horizontal timber on wall to spread load of joist and rafter ends. |
| Plinth | Widening at base of wall, typically cement rendered. |
| Plumb | Vertical. Hence plumb line to test for verticality. |
| Pointing | The finish of the joints between bricks in a wall. |
| Ponding | Water lying on flat roofs. |
| Purlin | A horizontal beam in a roof supporting the rafters. |
| Quoin | External corner of wall. |
| Rafter | A sloping timber in a roof extending from the ridge to the eave. |
| Render | A coat of mortar applied to the inner face of a wall prior to plastering or the external face as weathering. |
| Retaining wall | Holds back land behind and may thus support structures behind also. |
| Reveal | The visible part of a jamb in a door or window opening, not covered by the frame. |
| Ridge | Top of pitched roof. |
| Riser | The upright face of a step. |
| Roughcast | Unevenly finished external render. |
| Sarking felt | Bituminous felt laid under slates or tiles on a roof as a secondary barrier against rainwater. |
| Sash window | A window in which two opening lights slide up and down in a cased frame, balanced by weights on sash cords over pullies. |
| Screed | A layer of mortar usually 2″ to 3″ thick laid over a concrete floor to provide a smooth finish. |
| Scrim | Hessian type material used to seal joints in plasterwork. |
| Septic tank | A sewage purification system consisting of a number of chambers from which water can be allowed to soak into the ground, where no sewer is available. |
| Sets | Small stones used for paving. |
| Settlement | Downward movement of structure on site. |
| Shear | Vertical crack due to part of wall moving down. |
| Shelling | Breaking away of surface to plasterwork or other finish. |
| Shingles | Thin timber tiles used for roofs and wall cladding. |
| Shiplap | Overlapping boarding as cladding to external face of wall. |
| Sleeper wall | A low brick wall supporting the floor joists of a suspended timber ground floor. |
| Sleugh | Land drain with pipes butted together. |
| Snagging | Minor building works to be finished off after practical completion. |
| Soakaways | Land drains and sumps allowing water to drain into soil. |
| Soaker | A small piece of metal placed at the edge of roof slates or tiles beneath flashing to prevent rainwater entering the junction of a roof and wall. |
| Soffit | The under surface of an eave, stair or beam. |
| Soil stack | Above ground pipework taking waste water. |
| Soldier arch | Bricks laid on end as lintel to opening |
| Spalling | Cement render finished with small white stones. |
| Spindels | Vertical uprights to balustrades and staircase handrails. |
| Spine wall | Internal wall running front to back. |
| Sprocket | Angled timber at end of rafter which lifts bottom tiles. |
| Stitch bonding | Repair to brickwork, cutting in new bricks. |
| Stretcher | Brick laid sideways |
| String | Sloping board at either side of the treads on a staircase, supporting the treads and risers. |
| Strutting | Angled timbers supporting purlins and rafters. |
| Stucco | Smooth cement rendering as external finish. |
| Stud | Vertical member of a framed partition. |
| Subsidence | Downward shift of building due to movement in ground beneath. |
| Subsoil | Material below topsoil which supports foundations. |
| Tanking | Horizontal and vertical water proof membrane beneath the floor and up the walls of a basement. |
| Tell-tale | Gauge fixed over crack to monitor movement in wall. |
| Tie bar | Metal restraint inserted in buildings with end plates on wall. |
| Tingle | A strip of flexible metal used to hold a replacement slate in position on a roof. |
| Trada | Timber Research and Development Association. |
| Trap | A U-shaped bend in a waste pipe forming seal to prevent foul air escaping from the pipe. |
| Tread | The horizontal part of a step. |
| Trimmer joist | A short timber which encloses one side of a rectangular hole in a floor or ceiling, such as that found around a loft hatch or stairway. |
| Truss | A steel or timber frame such as that found in modern houses, to replace the more conventional roof frame consisting of rafters and purlins. |
| Undercloak | A course of asbestos cement or natural slate or clay tiles supporting the verge of a gable roof. |
| Underpinning | Insertion of new foundation beneath existing foundation. |
| UPVC (Unplasticised polyvinyl chloride) | A fairly stiff plastic material from which rainwater gutters and other building components are often made. |
| Valley | The intersection between two sloping surfaces of a roof. |
| Vapour barrier | An airtight skin such as metal foil or polythene used to prevent vapour passing from the warm side to the cold side of insulation and condensing within the element of a building |
| Verdigris | A green chemical formed on the surface of copper when exposed to the air. |
| Verge | The edge of a sloping roof which overhangs a gable. |
| Wainscot Wood | Panelling on boards up to dado height in a room. |
| Wainscoting | Material used to make wainscot. |
| Wall plate | A horizontal timber along the top of a wall to which rafters or joints are fixed. |
| Wall tie | Metal fixing in cavity wall connecting two skins. |
| Weatherboard | Overlapping boarding used as external wall cladding. |
| Weep holes | Allow drainage from wall cavity or from behind retaining wall. |
| Wet rot | Decay of timber in alternate wet and dry conditions caused by fungi. Less difficult to eradicate than dry rot. |
| Woodworm | Furniture beetle and other wood boring insects. |
