Manual · 11
Glossary of building words
Building words explained in plain English.
The words you may meet in Roomveil and at the store, in plain English.
- Baseboard (skirting)
- The strip of wood along the bottom of a wall.
- Backsplash
- Tile on the wall above a kitchen or bathroom counter, usually up to the wall cabinets, about 18 inches.
- Batch number
- A code on wallpaper, tile and flooring. Different batches can differ slightly in color; buy one batch.
- Coats
- Layers of paint. Two coats is normal.
- Coverage
- How much area one can, box or roll covers. It is printed on the label.
- DXF
- A drawing file that CAD programs such as AutoCAD open.
- Elevation (wall view)
- A drawing of one wall seen straight on.
- FFL / FCL
- Finished floor level and finished ceiling level, the heights on a wall view.
- Grout
- The filler in the lines between tiles.
- Hinge side (handing)
- Which side of a door the hinges are on, seen from the side it opens towards.
- IRC
- The International Residential Code, the building code most US towns base their rules on.
- Pattern repeat
- How far down a wallpaper pattern goes before it repeats. A bigger repeat means more waste.
- Plan
- A drawing of a room seen from above.
- Primer
- An undercoat for new drywall, patches or a big color change.
- Rough-in
- How far the toilet drain is from the wall behind it, usually 12 inches.
- Rough opening
- The framed hole in the wall that a door or window fits into, stud to stud.
- Scale
- How much smaller the drawing is than the room, like 1/4″ = 1′-0″ or 1:50.
- Schedule
- A table listing every door, window or finish in a drawing.
- Sill height
- How high the bottom of a window is above the floor.
- Slab
- The door itself, without its frame.
- Underlayment
- A thin foam or felt layer laid under a floor.
Updated 2026-10-01