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| Advanced framing techniques, optimum value engineering | A wood light framing system that minimizes redundant framing members, reducing the amount of lumber required and increasing the thermal efficiency of the insulated frame. |
| Architectural floor plan | Serves to indicate the locations and dimensions of walls, partitions, and openings. |
| Balloon frame | One of the two wood light frame construction systems in which the studs extend from the foundation to the roof, bypassing the intermediate floor(s). A wooden building frame composed of closely spaced members nominally 2 inches (51 mm) thick, in which the wall members are single pieces that run from the sill to the top plates at the eave. |
| Band joist | Outer joists that surrounds the wood frame floor structure. (rim joist) A wooden joist running perpendicular to the primary direction of the joists in a floor and closing off the floor platform at the outside face of the building. |
| Batter board | Boards mounted on stakes outside the excavation area of a building, used to preserve locations for string lines marking the corners of the building foundation. |
| Bird’s mouth | A specially notched area near the bottom of rafters. |
| Blocking | Short pieces of lumber that fit between adjacent wood joists, rafters, or studs to provide lateral stability and additional nailing members. Pieces of wood inserted tightly between joists, studs, or rafters in a building frame to stabilize the structure, inhibit the passage of fire, provide a nailing surface for finish materials, or retain insulation. |
| Bolt | A fastener consisting of a cylindrical metal body with a head at one end and a helical thread at the other; intended to be inserted through holes in adjoining pieces of material and closed with a threaded nut. |
| Box nail | A nail with a more slender shank that a common nail, used for fastening framing members in wood light frame construction. |
| Bridging | Bracing or blocking installed between steel or wood joists at midspan to stabilize them against buckling and, in some cases, to permit adjacent joists to share loads. |
| Bright nail | Nail made of plain, uncoated steel. |
| Cantilever | A beam, truss, or slab that extends beyond its last point of support. |
| Cathedral ceiling | High ceiling that follows the shape of the roof structure. |
| Ceiling joist | One of a parallel array of light, closely spaced beams used to support a ceiling and attic floor |
| Clapboard | A type of horizontal lap siding. |
| Collated nails | Nails together in a strip for insertion into a nail gun. |
| Common nail | A standard-sized nail used for the fastening of framing members in wood light frame construction. |
| Common rafter | A roof rafter that runs parallel to the main slope of the roof (hip rafter). |
| Cripple stud | A wood wall framing member that is shorter than full-length studs because it is interrupted by a header or sill. |
| Diagonal bridging | Short pieces of lumber that fit between adjacent wood joists, rafters, or studs to provide lateral stability and additional nailing members. |
| Dormer | A structure protruding through the plane of a sloping roof, usually containing a window and having its own smaller roof. |
| Double top plate | The top plate in a wall assembly consists of two members, each of the same size as the studs; thus a “double” top plate. |
| Drywall screw | Screws that are relatively slender and brittle; not suitable for structural applications. |
| End nailing | A nail driven through the side of one piece of lumber and into the end of another. |
| Exposure | The exposed portion of lapped roofing felt or shingles. |
| Exterior elevation | Drawings that show the outside faces of the building, with vertical dimensions or elevations indicated as required. |
| Face nailing | A nail driven through the side of one wood member into the side of another. |
| Fascia | The exposed vertical face of an eave. |
| Finger jointed | A glued end connection between two pieces of wood, using an interlocking pattern of deeply cut “fingers.” A finger joint creates a large surface for the glue bond, to allow it to develop the full tensile strength of the wood it connects. |
| Finish nail | A relatively thin nail with a very small head, used for fastening trim and other finish woodwork items. |
| Firestop | A component or mastic installed in an opening through a floor or around the edge of a floor to retard the passage of fire; frequently used interchangeably with fireblocking. |
| Flat roof | Roof that exerts no lateral thrust. |
| Floor sheathing | Structural (rough) floor beneath a floor finish, such as carpet or floor tiles. |
| Floor truss | Used in platform frame buildings because of their speed of erection, economy of material usage, and long spans. |
| Fly rafter (barge rafter) | A rafter in a rake overhang. |
| Foundation sill plate | Usually made of preservative-treated wood for added resistance to insects and moisture, is bolted to the foundation as a base for the wood framing. |
| Frame | Building structure that is composed of columns and beams. |
| Framing plan | Architectural plan that delineates the organization and dimensions of columns, beams, and load-bearing walls (if any). A diagram showing the arrangement and sizes of the structural members in a floor or roof. |
| Framing square | An L-shaped measuring tool used by carpenters to lay out right-angle cuts as well as more complicated cuts, such as those required for stairs and sloping roof rafters. |
| Gable roof | A roof consisting of two oppositely sloping planes that intersect at a level ridge. |
| Gambrel roof | A roof that requires both knee walls and ceiling joists for structural ability. |
| Header | A beam (lintel) above a door or window opening in a wood frame construction. In framed construction, a member that carries other perpendicular framing members, such as a beam above an opening in a wall or a joist supporting other joists where they are interrupted by a floor opening. |
| Hip jack rafter | Rafters that are common rafters cut off at varying lengths to meet a hip or valley rafter. |
| Hip rafter | A roof rafter at the intersection of two sloping roof planes (common rafter). |
| Hip roof | A roof that slopes in on all four sides |
| Hip | The diagonal intersection of planes in a hip roof. |
| Hot-dip galvanized nail | A method of galvanizing in which a steel member or assembly is dipped into a bath of molten zinc. |
| I-joist | A manufactured wood framing member whose cross-sectional shape resembles the letter I. |
| Interior elevation | Drawings often prepared for kitchens, bathrooms, and other rooms with elaborate interior features. |
| Jack studs | A stud of a shorter length attached to a longer king stud to support a header in the opening of a wood light frame wall. |
| Joist hanger nail | Nail that is the same diameter as the equivalent common nail but it is shorter – “N10” – common nail 10d – but 1 ½ inches long. |
| Joist hanger | A sheet metal device used to create a structural connection where a joint is framed into a header or a ledger. |
| Joist header | A beam or timber positioned horizontally between two longer beams so as to support the ends of tailpieces or to accept common joists in order to frame around an opening. |
| Joist | One of a parallel array of light, closely spaced beams used to support a floor deck (floor joist) or low-slope roof (ceiling joist). Slender, closely spaced, parallel beams in a wood light frame floor. |
| King stud | A full-length stud nailed alongside a jack stud. |
| Knee wall | A short wall under the slope of a roof. |
| Lag screw | A large-diameter wood screw with a square or hexagonal head. |
| Let-in diagonal bracing | Diagonal bracing that is nailed into notches cut in the face of the studs so as not to increase the thickness of the wall. |
| Level cut | A saw cut that produces a level surface in a sloping rafter when the rafter is in its final position (plumb cut). |
| Lintel header | A beam that spans over a door or window opening. |
| Load duration factor | The maximum loads that the structure may carry are increased as the length of time these loads are expected to act decreases; this increase, load duration factor, ranges from 15 to 100 percent over the basic design strength of the material and is applied to wooden structures when considering the effects of wind, snow, earthquake, and impact. |
| Lookout | A short rafter, running perpendicular to the other rafters in the roof, which supports a rake overhang. |
| Mansard roof | A roof consisting of two superimposed levels of hip roofs with the lower level at a steeper pitch than the upper. |
| Manufactured home | A transportable house that is entirely factory built on a steel underframe supported by wheels; euphemistically referred to as a mobile home. |
| Modular home | A house assembled on the site from boxlike factory-built sections. |
| Mud sill | The bottom, horizontal member in a wood light frame wall that is directly in contact with the foundation. |
| Nail gun | Power tool that drives nails into framing and finish work. |
| Nail | A sharp pointed metal pin used for fastening wood. |
| Panelized construction | A method of prefabricated wood light frame construction, in which whole sections of walls or floors are framed and sheathed in the factory and then transported to the construction site for erection. |
| Pattern rafter | A wood rafter cut to size and shape and then used to trace cuts onto additional wood members so as to assure consistent dimensions among all rafters. |
| Penny (d) | A designation of nail size. |
| Permanent wood foundation | Foundation constructed entirely of preservative-treated wood. |
| Pilot hole | A hole that is drilled into wood in preparation for a wood screw to be inserted and then tightened with a screwdriver. |
| Pitch | The slope of a roof or other plane, often expressed as inches of rise per foot of run. |
| Platform frame | One of the two types of wood light frame constructions, the other being a balloon frame. In a platform frame, the studs are one floor high and extend between adjacent floors or from the floor or roof. A wooden building frame composed of closely spaced members nominally 2 inches (51 mm) thick in which the wall members do not run past the floor framing members. |
| Plumb cut | A saw cut that produces a vertical (plumb) surface in a sloping rafter after the rafter is in its final position (level cut). |
| Prefabrication | Construction that takes place in a factory or shop, rather than on the building site. |
| Rafter | A framing member that runs up and down the slope of a steep roof. A sloping supporting timber, beam, or board that runs from the ridge beam of a roof to its edge. |
| Rake | The sloping edge of a steep roof. |
| Ribband | The 1 x 6 ledger that the intermediate floor joists (in a two-story building) rest on. |
| Structural Ridge | A structural beam that supports the top ends of roof rafters at the ridge line and forms a triangular shape without creating lateral thrust. A structural beam supporting the upper ends of rafters in a sloped roof, required where the rafters are not tied at their lower ends. |
| Ridge board | A nonstructural board used to align and join rafters at the ridge line of a sloping roof. A nonstructural framing member against which the upper ends of rafters are fastened. |
| Ridge strap | Can be used as an alternative to a collar tie; they do not obstruct the space in the attic like collar ties. |
| Rim joist, band joist | A wooden joist running perpendicular to the primary direction of the joists in a floor and closing off the floor platform at the outside face of the building. Outer joists that surrounds the wood frame floor structure. |
| Rise | A difference in elevation, such as the rise of a stair from one floor to the next or the rise per foot of run in a sloping roof. |
| Rough carpentry | Framing carpentry, as distinguished from finish carpentry. |
| Rough sill | At the bottom of a window opening, supported on cripple studs. |
| Run | Horizontal dimension in a stair or sloping roof. |
| Scarf jointed | A glued end connection between two pieces of wood, using a sloping cut to create a large surface for the glue bond, to allow it to develop the full tensile strength of the wood that it connects. |
| Screw | Spiral-threaded fasteners installed by turning action whereby the threads draw the crew tightly into the material being fastened. |
| Self-drilling wood screw | Screw that does not require predrilled pilot holes and can be installed more quickly with power screwdrivers. |
| Sheathing | A panelized material applied to the exterior surfaces of wood frame members to add rigidity to the frame and to serve as a base for (wall) cladding or roofing. The rough covering applied to the outside of the roof, wall, or floor framing of a structure. |
| Shed roof, single-pitch roof | Roof that exerts no lateral thrust. |
| Sill plate (sill) | The bottom, horizontal member in a wood light frame wall that is directly in contact with the foundation. The horizontal bottom portion of a window or door; the exterior surface, usually sloped to shed water, below the bottom of a window or door. |
| Sill sealer | A compressible material placed between a foundation and a sill to reduce air infiltration between the outdoors and indoors. |
| Sinker, cooler | Nails that are made of slender wire, make nailing easier for the carpenter – sinkers are shorter and smaller in diameter than the common nail and are coated with a resin that acts as a lubricant when the nail is driven. |
| Sole plate, bottom plate | A plate that is not in contact with the foundation.The horizontal piece of dimension lumber at the bottom of the studs in a wall in a light frame building; also called a bottom plate. |
| Staple | U-shaped, gun driven fasteners; used to attach sheathing paper and thermal insulation (small staples) and cabinet components, wood flooring, shingles, sheathing, and underlayment panels (heavy-duty staples). |
| Stud | One of an array of small, closely spaced, parallel wall framing members; a heavy steel pin. Closely spaced vertical members that constitute a wood light frame wall. |
| Subfloor | Structural (rough) floor beneath a floor finish, such as carpet or floor tiles. The loadbearing surface beneath a finish floor. |
| Toe nailing | Fastening with nails at an angle. |
| Toothed plate | A multipronged fastener made from stamped sheet metal, used to join members of a lightwood wood truss. |
| Top plate | The horizontal member at the top of the studs in a wall in a light frame building. |
| Trimmer, jack stud | A shortened stud that carries a header above a wall opening; also called a trimmer stud. (trimmer joist) A joist that supports a header around an opening in a floor or roof frame. |
| Truss | A triangulated arrangement of structural members that reduces nonaxial external forces to a set of axial forces in its members. |
| Valley jack rafter | Rafters that are common rafters cut off at varying lengths to meet a hip or valley rafter. |
| Valley rafter | A diagonal rafter that supports a valley. |
| Valley | A trough formed by the intersection of two roof slopes. |
| Vaulted ceiling | High ceiling that follows the shape of the roof structure. If the gypsum is attached directly to the rafters in a wood frame building (with no attic space), such a ceiling is called a vaulted ceiling. |
| Washer | A steel disk with a hole in the middle, used to spread the load from a bolt, screw, or nail across a wider area of material. |
| Wood light frame construction | The most versatile of all building systems; the first uniquely American building system. |
| Wood screw | Screw that requires predrilled pilot holes into which the screw is inserted and then tightened with a screwdriver. |
