Terms You Might Hear When Talking To Pointing Plus:

A

Adaptive Use: The reuse of a building or structure, usually for a purpose different from the original. The term implies that certain structural or design changes have been made to the building in order for it to function in its new use. Examples might include a factory building now used for loft apartments, or a house now used as a funeral parlor.

Aggregate: inert granular materials such as sand, gravel, or crushed stone that, along with water and Portland cement, are an essential ingredient in concrete and mortar mixes.

Archaeology, Industrial: Archaeology or preservation involving landscapes, structures, and equipment of significance in the history of technology, engineering, and industry.

Architectural Design Old-New Relationship: Refers to the contrast between an older building or structure and its newer neighboring buildings or structures, or new additions to older buildings.

Architectural Details: The small details like moldings, carved woodwork, etc. that add character to a building.

Architectural Review Boards: These groups, usually locally appointed or elected, are charged with judging whether an owner's proposed changes to his or her property are acceptable under written or implied guidelines for what is "appropriate" in the particular community or historic district.

Architecture, Earthen: Used to describe structures composed primarily of earth. This term applies to adobe structures, rammed-earth structures, sod houses, etc.

Architecture, Religious: Used only when another more specific term is not available. For instance, it is used for missions, monasteries, convents, Hawaiian religious sites, but not to describe a mosque, church, or synagogue, since individual index terms exist for them.

Architecture, Residential: Used only when another more specific term is not available. (ex: apartment, condo, row house, etc.)

Archival Resources: Refers to collections of corporate or organizational records or manuscript or photograph collections. The term once implied paper records but increasingly can refer to electronically produced records including CDs, audio or video tapes, or computer tapes, disks, mp3's, and other file types. Used to review a structure's history.

Artisans: Persons whose vocation consists of manufacture by hand of pottery, textiles, woodwork, or the like.

B

Barrier-Free Design: Refers to arrangements for accommodating persons with visual, hearing, or physical impairment to mobility.

Bed Joint: is the horizontal mortar bed that the bricks are laid on. The mortar is spread on top of the course below and the brick are laid to the string line on top of the mortar.

Blocking: Solid wood block, which provides lateral support as in bridging, and/or edge supporting for cladding.

Bond Beam: A continuous ring beam also known as :seismic band, tie-beam, collar beam, crown beam

Brick Ledge: normally where a depression placed in the outside perimeter of the house wherever brick will be located. Generally 5 ½" wide and 1 ½" deep.

Brick Rule: is a folding six foot rule that has a normal increments in feet on one side and brick courses laid out on the other. The brick run is laid out in individual numbers such as 1,2,3,4,5 etc. When a brick mason marks his speed pole, he will mark all 5's if he is laying the brick on a five.

Brick Trowel: a tool that is used to spread mortar and lay brick. It is used also to make brick cuts and remove excess mortar from the brick course as the brick are being laid.

Buildings Construction: Can refer to the actual construction of a building or to a discussion of the materials of which it is constructed (sub-categories include masonry, steel-frame, wood).

Buildings History: Used only when a detailed and extensive history of a building is given.

Building Stones: cut from the three main categories of natural rock: Dense, Igneous rock such as granite; sandy, sedimentary rock such as limestone or sandstone: and crystalline, metamorphic rock such as marble.

Burial Grounds: Used for unmarked graves, such as burial grounds of Native Americans, paupers, slaves, freed slaves, etc.

Buttress: A projecting tapered structure built against a wall to support and/or reinforce it.

C

Cast Iron: Refers to the use of cast iron (distinguished from other types of iron) as a building material, often in building facades but also as a structural material.

Cemeteries: Used to describe marked graves.

Central Business Districts: Commercial centers of cities or towns where shops and services are concentrated: ex: "downtowns."

Conservation and Restoration: Refers to efforts to rehabilitate, structurally and cosmetically, downtowns whose buildings have generally declined as commercial centers.

Certified Local Governments: Refers to a local government, certified or approved by the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), which has an appointed commission to oversee the survey and inventory of historic resources, to review areas for historically significant structures, and to develop and maintain community planning and education programs.

Chimney: a vertical structure incorporated into a building and enclosing a flue or flues that carry off smoke; especially : the part of such a structure extending above a roof.

Circa: Used only when the exact date is not known. If an article says, "Mark Twain's Hannibal tree house, constructed around 1840," "ca. 1840" is used. But if an article says, "Charlotte Perkins Gilman's mansion built in the 1890s," "1890s" alone is used; no circa is necessary. The same goes for centuries.

Citizen Participation: Refers to volunteer or grass roots movements by people not professionally involved with preservation.

Cladding: The structural covering used directly over studs, rafters or trusses

Conservation Technology: Equipment and methods used in conservation of artifacts, works of art, and/or natural resources. Please note in the US, we typically distinguish between conservation and preservation along these lines: conservation does not apply to buildings but to other cultural objects and natural resources. However, be aware that non-US publications may not hold to this linguistic distinction. See also entries for Preservation Techniques and Restoration Techniques.

Cornice: A horizontal molded projection that crowns or completes a building or wall.

Country Houses: A summer or vacation residence, usually of some size and magnificence. The concept is based on an English model, but examples can be found in the eastern and southern U.S. Small rustic lodges are usually not included under this term.

Course: refers to one layer or row of bricks.

Culture and Heritage: The term is used with a hyphen and brief description to designate a group with national borders, such as African American, German Mexican, Italian Canadian. Curing: refers the process of hardening and "setting up" by the mortar over time. Affected by multiple variables such as temperature, humidity, etc., proper curing is a vital step in ensuring strength, durability and cosmetic appeal in the masonry construction process.

D

Demolition by Neglect: Allowing a building to fall into such a state of disrepair that it becomes necessary or desirable to demolish it. Property owners have been accused of permitting demolition by neglect on purpose, in order to save rehabilitation costs.

Design Criteria: Standards of appropriateness or compatibility of building design within a community or historic district. Often in the form of a handbook, design criteria (also called design guidelines) usually contain drawings accompanying "do's and don'ts" for the property owner. In some situations an Architectural Review Board or similar group has authority to administer the design criteria.

Destruction: Refers to deliberate demolition of a building or site. To be applied only when article covers 1) the subject of destruction or 2) a situation in which a building or site has already been destroyed.

Diaphragm: A horizontal structure-such as floor or roof connected to walls able to transmit lateral loads to walls in respect of their stiffness

Drainage: The means of removing surplus water or liquid waste; a system of drains.

Drip Edge: A metal strip that extends beyond the other parts of the roof and is used to direct rainwater.

Dutchman: A piece of wood or stone used to repair a larger piece, shaped such that it fills as exactly as possible a void or cavity that is to be repaired.

E

Easement: Legal protection (recorded in a property deed) for distinguishing features of the interior or exterior of a property or in the space surrounding a property because such features are deemed important to be preserved. For example, a new property owner may be prevented from making changes or additions to a building, structure, or landscape by an easement in the property deed itself. These are sometimes specified as preservation easements or conservation easements.

Environmental Protection: Used for broad environmental initiatives or legislation, such as clean air and water programs. Can be distinguished from Landscape Protection in that its motivation is primarily scientific or ecological rather than primarily aesthetic or cultural. It need not apply to a specific visible area, nor to a rural area. Environmental protection may apply to nations as a whole, to localities, or to urban areas. It is a broader term than Natural Resources Conservation, though in an article, both terms may apply.

Estates: This term does not refer to the property of a dead person, nor to a housing estate or neighborhood. It is used, rather, for a permanent home, often with a family association, especially if the article uses the terminology. It can be distinguished from Country House in that it is a primary residence and Plantation in that it was not built for an agricultural administrative purpose, though some plantations may also be estates.

Expansion Joint: A joint that makes allowance for thermal expansion of the parts joined without distortion.

F

Facade: The face of a building, especially the principal face.

Film Formers: water-repellant products that form a film when applied to brick masonry. Include acrylics, stearates, mineral gum waxes, urethane and silicone resins.

Flashing: sheet metal used in waterproofing (as at roof valleys or hips or the angle between a chimney and a roof)

Flue: a channel in a chimney for conveying flame and smoke to the outer air.

Foundations: Refers to building foundations, not to organizations called "foundations."

G

Grants: Usually refers to grant programs, rarely to an individual project being awarded a grant. Individual projects are usually only included when there is an extensive description of a building or site.

Gable End Wall: The exterior wall, with an upper vertical triangular-shaped portion, perpendicular to the roof ridge beam and parallel to roof rafters or trusses

Grout: A mixture of cementitious material and aggregate to which water is added to provide up to 0.25m slump. Coarse grout consists of Portland cement, sand, pea gravel and water. Fine grout consists of Portland cement, sand and water.

Gutter: A shallow trough fixed beneath the edge of a roof for carrying off rainwater.

H

Head Joint: refers to the vertical mortar joint where two bricks butt together at the end of a brick. When laying brick, these joints should be straight vertically. With king or queen size brick these bricks will stagger but will be straight vertically respectively.

Historic Districts: Used only when referring to a neighborhood or region designated by national, state, or local officials as a historic district.

Historic Landmarks: Used only when referring to a site designated by national, state, or local officials as a historic landmark. Primarily used to refer to National Historic Landmarks.

Historic Preservation Federal Programs: Refers to programs funded with federal money or run by a federal agency.

Historic Preservation Philosophy and Ethics: Refers to the underlying philosophy that provides the basis for any preservation plan; "why should it be done this way?"

Historic Preservation Planning: Refers to broad, master plans for preservation, not specific plans being made for preservation of any one building.

Historic Preservation State and Local Programs: Refers to preservation programs funded by state or local governmental money and/or operated by a state or local government agency. Historic Preservation Study and Teaching: The catch-all term used to refer to any kind of preservation education programs, whether professional, for the general public, or for school kids, including heritage education. (ex: Traditional Building Skills Institute)

Historic Registers: Refers to any local, state, national, or international list of significant sites, districts, buildings, or objects. Used when such a list is the focus of the article. Example: the National Register of Historic Places; the World Heritage List.

Historic Registers Criteria: Refers to the standards a site, district, building, or object must meet in order to be listed in a historic register.

Historic Sites: This term is reserved for use for historic sites related to famous or important events or persons (i.e. Independence Hall, Philadelphia; Monticello, etc.).

Historic Structure Reports: An HSR is an analysis of a building's structural condition, involving written and photographic or photogrammetric evidence. The purpose of an HSR is usually to provide a record of a building's condition before beginning restoration or renovation of the building.

Homesteads: Used to describe structures on or land claimed by a settler or squatter, especially under the Homestead Act; not used for "urban homesteading."

Hydrated Lime: or "Calcium hydroxide," traditionally called slaked lime, is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula Ca(OH)2. It is a colorless crystal or white powder and is obtained when calcium oxide (called lime or quicklime) is mixed, or "slaked" with water. It has many names including hydrated lime, builders lime, slack lime, cal, or pickling lime.

I

Infill: The use of vacant land and property within a built-up area for further construction or development, especially as part of a neighborhood preservation or limited growth program.

Ironwork: Usually refers to decorative ironwork on old buildings such as fences, balcony railing, etc.

L

Land Management: Generally refers to the decisions local governments make about land use, e.g. zoning and subdivision ordinances. Sometimes used to refer to the decisions a property owner makes about his or her individual property.

Land Trusts: Refers to privately-owned property that is ceded to governmental or public management for its preservation.

Landmarks Commissions: Used to describe state or local organizations with authority to determine eligibility of buildings and structures to be added to their respective landmark registers.

Landscape Protection: Refers to the whole range of techniques used to protect land from inappropriate development, including education, land use plans, zoning laws, and easements.

Lime: derived from heating limestone at high temperatures, which burns off the carbon dioxide, and turns the limestone into "quicklime."

Lime Putty: slaked lime that has a "putty" consistency. Used in preparing certain mortar mixes.

Limestone: a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Limestone is composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera.

Length: The dimension of exterior walls parallel to the roof ridge beam and perpendicular to the span of roof rafters or trusses.

Lintel: A beam used over wall openings to carry loads across the opening.

Load Bearing Wall: A wall that supports vertical load in addition to its own weight.

M

Masonry Units: Brick, Stone, Block, etc. coming in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, textures, and colors.

Metalwork: Practical and decorative use and application of metals to enhance buildings, fences, grills, and so forth. Not necessarily Cast Iron or Ironwork see the entries above.

Mitigation: The action of reducing the severity, seriousness, or painfulness of something.

Mixed Use: As distinguished from a single use plan (as set out often in zoning regulations and laws), mixed use refers to a variety of authorized uses for buildings and structures in a particular area. This could appear as, for example, a property's being utilized in more than one way, such as a street level market and upstairs apartments.

Mortar: the sacrificial binder between masonry units. A workable paste used to bind construction blocks together and fill the gaps between them. Mortar becomes hard when it sets, resulting in a rigid aggregate structure. Modern mortars are typically made from a mixture of sand, a binder such as cement or lime, and water. Mortar can also be used to fix, or point, masonry when the original mortar has washed away.

Mulch: A material (such as decaying leaves, bark, or compost) spread around or over a plant to enrich or insulate the soil.

Museums Interpretive Programs: Attempts to provide a context for or explain the significance of artifacts, works of art, historic places, cultural sites, or historic events at museums, historic sites, and so forth. The term is not used to denote language translation at such sites.

N

National Trusts: National organizations chartered to provide leadership, education, and advocacy to save historic places.

Natural Resources Conservation: Generally refers to the protection of specific natural resources such as rivers, forests, prairies, wildlife, wetlands, flood plains, shorelines. The term generally does not refer to land that has been heavily impacted by people such as farmland, ball fields and golf courses, though Landscape Protection could include such land.

P

Parapet: A low, protective wall along the edge of a roof, bridge, or balcony.

Penciling: a decorative surface coating over a mortar joint. (Generally in a contrasting color.)

Permeability: how well an object can breath. Historic masonry mortars are generally softer and have a higher vapor permeability than newer, Portland-based mortars.

Penetrants: coatings that penetrate the substrate, usually up to 3/8". To repel water, they change the capillary force of the pores in the masonry face from positive to negative; and they change the angle at which water meets the masonry surface.

Pilaster: A rectangular support or pier projecting partially from a wall to support it laterally. In the past treated architecturally as a column with base, shaft and capital.

Plaster: a pasty composition (as of lime, water, and sand) that hardens on drying and is used for coating walls, ceilings, and partitions.

Plinth Course: A course built along the base of the wall in cut stone masonry or clay brick as a water-tight layer and to ensure flood protection. Damp proof course can also be installed over plinth masonry.

Porch: A covered shelter projecting in front of the entrance of a building.

Portland Cement: Patented in Great Britain in 1824. Named after the stone from Portland in Dorset, which it resembled when it hardened. This is a fast-drying hydraulic cement which hardens under water. Commonly found in modern mortars, but not widely used in the US until its introduction in the 1930's.

Preservation Techniques: Methods of maintaining the historical integrity of a building with limited alterations or additions; methods of stabilizing and preventing further decay. The term should be distinguished from Restoration Techniques, which denotes rebuilding in order to achieve authenticity, and Conservation Technology on the basis of the difference between preservation and conservation, which in the U.S. can be summed up thus: the former can refer to buildings, while the latter refers to other cultural objects and natural resources.

R

Rake Joint: refers to the type of mortar joint will be in the brick. After the mortar dries a little, a joiner is used to rake out a groove about a 1/4 of an inch in the mortar joint.

Repointing: the removal of old mortar joints and replacing the mortar with a new appropriate historically appropriate mortar.

Restoration Techniques: Methods used in rebuilding buildings and structures with historically accurate materials to achieve historical authenticity in keeping with a particular time period or event. The term should be distinguished from Preservation Techniques on the basis of the difference in meaning between restoration and preservation, which is a matter of degree. While both seek to achieve historical accuracy, preservation does not imply rebuilding. Restoration Techniques should also be distinguished from Conservation Technology, a distinction having to do with the range of reference present in each term.

Retaining Wall: A wall that holds back earth or water on one side of it.

Revival: Used to describe later revivals of historical styles. If the building was designed after the original style period, "Revival" would be used to describe the architecture.

Running Bond: refers to courses of brick that are laid with staggering head joints. This is the most common bond when laying brick. If a running bond is being used with a modular brick, the end of the brick will be at the mid point of the brick on the course below.

S

Sand: the largest component of mortar and material that gives mortar its distinctive color, texture, and cohesiveness. Sand must be free from impurities, such as salts or clay. The three key characteristics of sand are: particle shape, gradation, and void ratios.

Sill: A horizontal structural member, such as a beam or stone, that spans an opening, as between the uprights of a door or window or between two columns or piers.

Slaking: the process of dehydrating pulverized limestone in a kiln and rehydrating using water. The rehydration process creates an exothermic reaction, changing the composition of the lime. Slaking is the process in which lime putty is created.

Stucco: a material usually made of Portland cement, sand, and a small percentage of lime and applied in a plastic state to form a hard covering for exterior walls. Sympathetic Additions: Additions to structures, which follow or complement the architectural style or scale of the original building.

T

Texture: The feel, appearance, or consistency of a surface or a substance.

Tuckpointing: often misused in place for the term "re-pointing," "tuckpointing" is the decorative application of a raised joints or lime putty joints on top of flush mortar joints.

W

Wall Ties: used in residential construction are corrugated galvanized metal strips. The wall ties are bent to form a 90 degree angle and nailed to the wall usually every six courses vertically and every stud horizontally.

Water Repellent: a finish that is resistant but not impervious to penetration by water

Width: The dimension of exterior walls perpendicular to the roof ridge beam and parallel to the span of roof rafters or trusses

Window Sill: the horizontal member at the bottom of a window opening.

Wrought Iron: Used for wrought iron, as opposed to cast iron; usually a building or structural material.

Sources Cited:

City University - London
http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/earthquakes/MasonryBrick/NotationsUsefulKnowledge.htm

University Libraries. University of Maryland. College Park, MD 20742-7011, (301) 405-0800 © 2006
http://www.lib.umd.edu/NTL/glossary.html

© 2011 Merriam-Webster, Incorporated
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/

Traditional Masonry Preservation, March 17-19, 2005 Handbook
Traditional Building Skills Institute,
Snow College, Ephraim UT 84627
http://snow.edu/tbsi/contact-us.html

Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

The Free Dictionary
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/about.htm