Glossary

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T Bar: A rolled metal bar or beam with a cross section resembling a T.

Tab: The extra portion of shingles.

Tail Beam: The end piece of a beam.

Tailpiece: A piece added at the end; an end piece or appendage.

Take Off: Refers to the materials necessary to complete a job.

Taping: The application of joint tape over embedding compounds as a joint treatment of drywall.

Tear-Off: The complete removal of the roof membrane and insulation down to the roof deck.

Teco: Metal straps used to secure the roof rafters and trusses to the top wall plate.

Tee: A T-shaped fitting equipped with three openings.

Tempered: The process on strengthening glass. Also, tempered glass will not shatter nor create shards.

Termite Shield: A non-corrodible metal shield placed in a wall to prevent the passage of termites.

Termites: Any of numerous pale-colored, usually soft-bodied social insects of the order Isoptera that live mostly in warm regions and many species of which feed on wood, often destroying trees and wooden structures. Also called white ant.

Terneplate: Sheet iron or steel plated with an alloy of three or four parts of lead to one part of tin, used as a roofing material.

Terracotta: A hard semifired waterproof ceramic clay used in pottery and building construction.

Texture Paint: A finish paint having an insoluble additive, as sand, for giving a slightly rough textural effect.

Thermal Insulation: A material or substance used to prevent heat flow.

Thermal Movement: A measurement of dimensional change in a material exhibited as it is warmed or cooled.

Thermal Shock: The stress exhibited by sudden changes in temperature.

Thermopane Window: A brand of window named for a hermetically sealed double glazing.

Thermoplastic Material: Solid material which becomes soft when heated and hard when cooled.

Thermoply™: Sheathing nailed to the exterior side of a walls.

Thermostat: A device, including a relay actuated by thermal conduction or convection, that functions to establish and maintain a desired temperature automatically or signals a change in temperature for manual adjustment.

Thermostatic Valve: A valve that automatically maintains the temperature setting.

Three-Dimensional Shingles: Refer to Laminated Shingles.

Three-Phase: Of or pertaining to a circuit, system, or device that is energized by three electromotive forces that differ in phase by one third of a cycle or 120°.

Threshold: The entrance to a house or building.

Thru-Wall Flashing: Flashing extended completely through a wall designed to prevent water penetration.

THW: A moisture and heat resistant conductor which can be used in dry or wet locations.

Tie-In: A fastener that serves to join or link.

Tilt-Up Wall: Cast concrete units that are tilted in a vertical position and secured to prior erected structural steel.

Timbers: A dressed piece of wood, especially a beam in a structure.

Time and Materials Contract: A contract of cost for different elements a job such as: labor cost, overhead, profit etc.

Tinner: Someone who makes or repairs tinware. Sometimes considered a heat contractor.

Tinted Glass: Glass with colorants added that give the glass color as well as light and heat-reducing capabilities.

Tip Up: The extension that directs water away from the home. For example; the home's gutter system.

Title: Documentation of the legal right to possess property, esp. real property.

Title 24: Federal laws that mandates the construction industry to conserve energy.

TJI or TJ: Manufactured building component resembling the letter I, used as rafters.

Toe Bead: Sealant applied along the edge of the glazing channel.

Toe-Nailing: A nail driven obliquely, as to join vertical and horizontal beams.

Tongue and Groove: A joint made by fitting a tongue on the edge of a board into a matching groove on another board.

Tooling: The process of providing a factory with machinery in preparation for production.

Top Chord: The upper member of a truss.

Top Mopping: The finished mopping of hot bitumen on a roof.

Top Mount Faucet: Refer to Centerset.

Top Plate: The top horizontal member of a wall.

Torch Down Roof (Single Ply or Modified Bitumen): A newer roofing material used on flat roofs.

Torching: To cause to burn or undergo combustion, especially with extraordinary rapidity, force, or thoroughness.

Transit: An instrument, as a theodolite, having a telescope that can be transited, used for measuring horizontal and sometimes vertical angles.

Transmitter (Garage Door): The device that causes the garage door to open or close.

Trap: A plumbing fitting that uses water to prevent air, gas, and vermin from back flowing into a fixture. Also, a ladder or ladderlike device used to reach a loft, attic, etc.

Tread: The horizontal portion on a stairway on which one steps.

Treated Lumber: Wood impregnated with chemicals to reduce damage from the elements or insects.

Tremie: A funnel like device lowered into water to deposit concrete.

Trim: Finish material used for decoration or embellishment; decorative trimming.

Trim (Plumbing, Heating, Electrical): The work done when the home is nearing completion and occupancy.

Trim Kit: The exterior decorative parts that conceal a faucet rough-in.

Trimmer: Finished woodwork or the like used to decorate or border openings or wall surfaces, as cornices, baseboards, or moldings.

Triple-Glazed Window: Three pane windows in which gases are sealed between them.

Truss: Any of various structural frames constructed on principles other than the geometric rigidity of the triangle or deriving stability from other factors, as the rigidity of joints, the abutment of masonry, or the stiffness of beams.

Tub Trap: A U shaped bath tub drain pipe that holds a water seal to prevent sewer gasses from entering the home.

Tube and Knob Wiring: An antique form of electrical wiring functional for low amperage use such as smaller light fixture.

Tuck-Pointing: To point (grooved mortar joints) with a thin ridge of fine lime mortar or putty.

Turnkey: A term meaning fully equipped; ready to go into operation.

Turpentine: A colorless, flammable, volatile essential oil having a penetrating odor and a pungent, bitter taste, obtained from turpentine oleoresin by distillation: used in paints and varnishes, and in medicine as a carminative, vermifuge, expectorant, rubefacient, and, formerly, as a diuretic.

TW: A moisture-resistant conductor that can be used in dry or wet locations.

Two-Part Sealant: A product composed of a base and curing agent or accelerator, packaged in two separate containers which are mixed prior to use.