Construction Terms H, Construction Terminology H
Construction Terms H speaks to construction terminology H and to construction phases H.
It is quite simply a list of common home and commercial building construction terminology used by architects, consultants and contractors of all kinds enabling them to speak the same language.
Hammerhead Boom Crane A heavy duty lifting device that uses a tower mounted horizontal boom that may rotate only in a horizontal plane.
Hardboard A very dense panel product, usually with at least one smooth face, made of highly compressed wood fibers.
Hardwood Wood from deciduous (broadleaf) trees.
Hawk A square piece of sheet metal with a perpendicular handle beneath used by a plasterer to hold a small quantity of wet plaster and transfer it to a trowel for application to a wall or ceiling.
Hazard Insurance
A type of insurance designed to cover damage caused by a peril
specified in the policy of insurance (i.e. fire, flood, etc.).
Head
The horizontal top portion of a window or door.
Construction Terms H
Header 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 supporting other joists where they are interrupted by a floor opening. In steel construction, a beam that spans between girders. In masonry construction, a brick or other masonry unit that is laid across two withes with its end exposed in the face of the wall.
Head Joint The vertical layer of mortar between ends of masonry units.
Hearth The non-combustible floor area outside a fireplace opening.
Heartwood The dead wood cells in the center region of a tree trunk.
Heat-Fuse To join by softening or melting the edges with heat and pressing them together.
Heat of Hydration The thermal energy given off by concrete or gypsum as it cures.
Construction Terms H
Heat Strengthened Glass Heat treated glass that is not as strong as tempered glass and may not be used as safety glazing.
Heat Treated Glass Glass that is strengthened by a heat treatment process, either heat strengthened glass or tempered glass.
Heaving The forcing upward of ground or buildings by the action of frost or pile driving.
Heavy Timber Construction A type of wood construction made from large wood members and solid timber decking in a post and beam configuration. In the International Building Code, buildings of Type IV HT construction consisting of heavy timber interior construction and non-combustible exterior walls are considered to have moderate fire resistive properties.
High density Overlay (HDO) A heavy weight, resin treated overlay applied to plywood panels to achieve a smoother more durable face.
High Lift Grouting A method of constructing a reinforced masonry wall in which the reinforcing bars are embedded in grout in story high increments.
Construction Terms H
High Range Sealant A sealant that is capable of a high degree of elongation without rupture.
High Strength Bolt A bolt designed to connect steel members by clamping them together with sufficient force that the load is transferred between them by friction.
High Volume Fly Ash Concrete A concrete in which a high percentage of cementing substance is fly ash rather than Portland cement.
Hip The diagonal intersection of planes in a hip room.
Hip Rafter A roof rafter at the intersection of two sloping roof planes.
Hip Roof A roof consisting of four sloping planes that intersect to form a pyramidal or elongated pyramid shape.
Construction Terms H
Hollow Brick Clay brick with up to 60 percent void area.
Hollow Concrete Masonry Concrete masonry units that are manufactured with open cores, such as ordinary concrete blocks.
Hollow Core Door A door consisting of two face veneers separated by an airspace with solid wood spacers around the floor edges. The face veneers are usually connected by a grid of thin spacers within the airspace.
Hollow Core Slab A precast concrete slab element that has internal longitudinal cavities to reduce its self weight.
Hollow Structural Section (HSS) Hollow steel cylindrical or rectangular shapes made to be used as structural members, also called structural tubing.
Hook A semicircular bend in the end of a reinforcing bar, made for the purpose of anchoring the end of the bar securely into the surrounding concrete.
Construction Terms H
Home Owners Ins.
Liability coverage for property owners covering both loss/damage
to property or dwelling and personal liability.
Home Owners Ins.
Liability coverage for property owners covering both
loss/damage to property or dwelling and personal liability.
Hopper Window A
window whose sash pivots on an axis along or near the sill and that opens by a
tilting toward the interior of the building.
Horizontal Force A force whose direction of action is
horizontal or nearly horizontal.
Horizontal Reinforcing Steel reinforcing that runs horizontally in a masonry wall in the form of either welded grids of small diameter metal rods or larger conventional reinforcing bars.
Hose Stream Test A standard laboratory test to determine the relative ability of a building assembly to stand up to water from a fire hose after a specified period of fire testing.
Construction Terms H
Hot Dip Galvanizing A method of galvanizing in which a steel member or assembly is dipped into a bath of molten zinc.
Hot Rolled Steel Steel formed into its final shape by passing it between rollers while it is very hot.
Housewrap A synthetic sheet material with water resistive and air resistive properties used as a substitute for asphalt saturated felt or building paper to provide a protective layer in an exterior wall assembly.
HOW Program
A type of insurance that covers repairs to specified parts of a
house for a specific period of time. It is provided by the builder or property
seller as a condition of the sale.
Construction Terms H
Hud
In the United States the Department of Housing and Urban
Development; regulates Fannie Mae and Ginny Mae.
Hydrated Lime Quicklime mixed with water, either in the factory or on the job site. An ingredient in masonry mortars, Portland cement plaster and gypsum plasters to which materials it imparts properties such as workability, bulk and smoothness, chemically, calcium hydroxide also called slaked lime.
Hydration The process by which cements combine chemically with water to harden.
Hydraulic Cements Cementitious materials, such as Portland cement or blast furnace slag that harden by reacting with water and whose hardened products are not water soluble. Nonhydraulic cements such as lime can also be mixed with pozzolans to create cements with hydraulic properties.
Hydronic Heating System A system that circulates warm water through convectors to heat a building.
Hydrostatic Pressure Pressure exerted by standing water.
Hygroscopic Readily absorbing and retaining moisture.
Hyperbolic Paraboloid Shell A concrete roof structure with a saddle shape.
Construction Terms H
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