Here is the continuation of yesterday’s post on carpentry terminology I’ve learned as a result of working on the log home build or will certainly need to know in the coming months as we work to complete our home.

Dormer window: The window that goes into the dormer. Duh.

Dovetail nailing: Nails that get driven through one piece of wood into another piece at different angles making it darn near impossible to ever pull them back apart – even if you wanted to.

Dowel: These are short lengths of round wood used to join timbers or plug screw holes.

Drip groove: A groove cut in the underside of a window sash to assist rain water to drip to the ground rather than running onto the outer wall of the house.

End grain: The surface of wood exposed after cutting across the fibres. We had to seal the ends of our logs that remained exposed. It has been said they are like straws absorbing moisture into the logs if left untreated.

Escutcheon: This is the ornamental and/or protective plate around the keyhole of a door.

Fibreboard: A lightweight, cheap and manufactured board that has next to no strength but can be used to cover large areas such as in ceilings or in attics.

Fielded panel – The raised centre area, often bevelled, of a door or panel.

Fish plate: I read this term somewhere and I know we’ve used these, but I can’t remember their name in Canada. We bought them at the same time we purchased all of our joist hangers. Anyway, they are steel plates that are used to join two pieces of timber end to end. The plates overlap both pieces and are secured using bolts.

Flush door: Doors or panels which have plain, smooth sides.

Fluting: Used to describe the decoration of the surfaces of stone, plaster or timber. Parallel concave channels.

French windows: Like a French door. A pair of narrow casement windows that extend to floor level forming a doorway to the garden or other outside area.

Hardboard: A thin manufactured board made from compressed wooden particles. Hardboard has one smooth side and one rough side and is used for covering subfloors.

I Beams: Manufactured joists comprising a thin vertical of manufactured board with wider timber fixed along the upper and lower edges. Provide increased loads over wider spans than can often be achieved using solid timbers. In our log home we had to use steel I Beams which are very expensive. I’m not sure if it had to do with the building code or the extra weight of a log home. We also had to paint it red.

Jamb: A door jamb. The vertical part of a doorway. I guess this term is also used for window frames.

Mitre: The type of joint in wood where two parts are each cut at 45 degrees so that when together they make a neat right angle and a tight fit.

Picture window: A window type that is one large, single or double/triple glazed unit.

Plywood: A manufactured building board consisting of a number of layers of wood veneer stuck together in such a way that the grain of one layer is at right angles to that of the previous layer.

Sash window: These windows consist of two main frames that slide vertically past each other.

Stile: The vertical part of each side of a framed door or window sash.

Stud wall: A non-load bearing wall placed to seperate rooms and covered in wall finishing such as drywall.

Subfloor: The surface beneath a floor covering, usually of concrete or timber.

Suspended timber floors – The joists supporting the floor boards or chipboard are themselves supported by small ’sleeper’ walls at ground floor level or wall hangers at upper floors. Older properties may have the joists built right into the masonry walls which could lead to the ends of the joists rotting.

Timber framed wall: A wall composed of structural wooden components, sheathed on both sides.

Tongue and groove: The way in which wood planks are cut along their sides to produce an interlocking, smooth surface when together.