Glossary of Architectural and Building Terminology - F

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Facade - The facade is the front (face or elevation) of a building; especially the principal front, having some architectural pretensions. Thus a church is said to have its facade unfinished, though the interior may be in use.
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Face Joint - A face joint is a joint in the face of a wall or other structure.
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Facet - A facet is the narrow plane surface between the flutings of a column.
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Facing - Facing is the finishing of any face of a wall with material different from that of which it is chiefly composed, or the coating or material so used.
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Fad - A fad is a pad used in French polishing.
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False Arch - A false arch is a member having the appearance of an arch, though not of arch construction.
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False Attic - A false attic is an architectural erection above the main cornice, concealing a roof, but not having windows or inclosing rooms.
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False Bearing - A false bearing is any bearing which is not directly upon a vertical support; thus, the weight carried by a corbel has a false bearing.
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False Door - A false door is the representation of a door inserted to complete a series of doors or to give symmetry.
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False Roof - A false roof is the space between the upper ceiling and the roof.
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Fan Light - A fan light is a window over a door. They are so called from the semicircular form and radiating sash bars of those windows which are set in the circular heads of arched doorways.
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Fan Tracery - Fan tracery is the decorative tracery on the surface of fan vaulting.
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Fan Vaulting - Fan vaulting is an elaborate system of vaulting, in which the ribs diverge somewhat like the rays of a fan, as in Henry VII's chapel in Westminster Abbey. It is peculiar to English Gothic.
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Fascia - A fascia is a flat member of an order or building, like a flat band or broad fillet; especially, one of the three bands which make up the architrave, in the Ionic order.
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Fat Edge - In painting and decorating, a fat edge is a thick ridge of paint that occurs on a corner or arris.
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Feather - The feather is the characteristic figuring found in mahogany and some other woods when the timber is cut from the topmost part of the tree trunk through the actual base of the main branch.
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Feathered Edge - In paper hanging, a feathered edge is an irregular, invisible joint produced by leaving a few inches of overlapped paper folded back at a right angle when the paper is hung. After the glue has dried the overlap is torn away, leaving an invisible joint.
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Feeding - In painting and decorating, feeding is a defect whereby a paint thickens to an unusable consistency.
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Femerell - A femerell is a lantern, or louvre covering, placed on a roof, for ventilation or the escape of smoke.
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Fenes-tella - A fenes-tella is any small window-like opening or recess, especially one used to show the relics within an altar, or the like.
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Fenestral - A fenestral is a casement or window sash, closed with cloth or paper instead of glass.
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Ferro-Concrete - Ferro-concrete (reinforced concrete) is a concrete strengthened by a core or foundation skeleton of iron or steel bars, strips, etc. Floors, columns, piles, water pipes, etc., have all been successfully made of it.
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Festoon - A festoon is a carved ornament consisting of flowers, and leaves, intermixed or twisted together, wound with a ribbon, and hanging or depending in a natural curve.
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Fibrous Plaster - Fibrous plaster is high relief decorative plaster work used to form cornices and mouldings, wall panels, ceiling centrepieces and similar works. Fibrous plaster generally consists of plaster of Paris retarded by the addition of glue size, spread thin and strengthened with scrim and wooden lathes
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Fillet - A fillet is a narrow flat member; the term is especially applied to a flat moulding separating other mouldings and also the space between two flutings in a shaft.
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Filleter - A filleter is a very long-haired signwriting pencil with a square end. A filleter is used in signwriting for running in bands and fillets with colour.
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Filleting - Filleting is the protecting of a joint, as between the roof and parapet wall, with mortar, or cement, where flashing is employed in better work.
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Finial - Finial is a term used in Gothic architecture to describe the ornamental top of a gable, pinnacle, minaret, buttress or spire. The earliest finials, in the later half of the 10th century, were representations of bunches of leaves; but later developments of the same period are marked by greater elaboration. In scaffolding, a finial is a fitting designed to hold a horizontal tube directly above the vertical tubes so as to form a guard rail or barrier. Finials are available in both fixed, for making right-angled joints and swivelling for producing joints at other angles.
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Fitch - A fitch was originally a paintbrush made from the fur of the polecat, the term later came to be used for a brush with the bristles - usually pig's - set in a metal ferrule and attached to a long slender wooden handle
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Flamboyant - Flamoyant is a term designating a style of Gothic architecture in use in France about the same period with the Perpendicular style in England, that is, from the 14th to the 16th century, having prevailed during the whole of the 15th century. It was distinguished by the waving and somewhat flame-like tracery of the windows, panels, etc. (hence the name), and is usually regarded as a decadent variety of the decorated Gothic. The mouldings in this style are often ill combined, some of the members being disproportionately large or small. The pillars are often cylindrical, either plain or with a few of the more prominent mouldings of the arches continued down them, with out any capital or impost intervening. This is so common that it may be regarded as a characteristic of the style. Mouldings also sometimes meet and interpenetrate each other. The arches are usually two-centred, sometimes semi-circular, and in later examples, elliptical. The foliage enrichments are usually well carved, but the effect is often lost from the §minuteness and intricacy of the parts.

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Flashing - Flashing is pieces of metal, built into the joints of a wall, so as to lap over the edge of the gutters or to cover the edge of the roofing; the term is also applied to similar pieces used to cover the valleys of roofs of slate, shingles, or the like. By extension the term applies to the metal covering of ridges and hips of roofs.
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Flat - A flat is a floor, loft, or story in a building; especially, a floor of a house, which forms a complete residence in itself.
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Flat Roof - A flat roof is a roof actually horizontal and level, as in some Oriental buildings or a roof nearly horizontal, constructed of such material as to allow the water to run off freely from a very slight inclination.
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Flatting - Flatting is a flat finish formerly used for walls and ceilings, made from paste white lead mixed to a very thin consistency with turpentine.
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Fleche - A fleche is a tall, thin spire usually rising from a roof.
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Flemish Brick - Flemish brick is a hard yellow paving brick.
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Float Stone - A float stone is a siliceous stone used to rub stonework or brickwork to a smooth surface.
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Floating - Floating is a defect in painting taking the form of a discolouration which occurs during the drying of the film. Floating is caused by the pigments separating and rising to the surface while the paint is still wet.
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Flocculence - Flocculence describes the puffy texture which sometimes develops in paint which has not been mixed properly.
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Flock Papers - Flock papers are wallpapers with a pattern of raised pile, first popular towards the end of the 16th century. The pattern is produced by printing the pattern in adhesive material onto which are blown finely shredded fibres, usually of wool or rayon
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Flogger - A flogger is a type of brush used in graining for the purpose of imitating the pores of certain species of hardwood. The floggers has a broad, thin handle into which is set a row of long bristles, forming a lightweight brush about 12 cm long and 8 cm wide
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Flooding - In painting and decorating, the term flooding is applied to an extreme form of floating in which the pigment particles rise to the surface of the film of paint in such a way as to produce a uniform colour, but one which is different to the colour when the paint was first applied.
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Floriated - Floriated describes something having floral ornaments; for example the floriated capitals of Gothic pillars.
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Flute - A flute is a channel of curved section; the term is usually applied to one of a vertical series of such channels used to decorate columns and pilasters in classical architecture.
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Flyer - A flyer is one in a flight of steps which are parallel to each other (as in ordinary stairs), as distinguished from a winder.
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Flying Buttress - A flying buttress is a contrivance for taking up the thrust of a roof or vault which can not be supported by ordinary buttresses. It consists of a straight bar of masonry, usually sloping, carried on an arch, and a solid pier or buttress sufficient to receive the thrust. The word is generally applied only to the straight bar with supporting arch.
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Foil - A foil is the space between the cusps in Gothic architecture; a rounded or leaf like ornament, in windows, niches, etc. A group of foils is called trefoil, quatrefoil, quinquefoil, etc. , according to the number of arcs of which it is composed.
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Foliated - The term foliated describes something containing, or consisting of, foils such as a foliated arch.
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Foliation - Foliation describes the enrichment of an opening by means of foils, arranged in trefoils, quatrefoils, etc. and also, one of the ornaments.
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Following The Trowel - Following the trowel is a painting technique employed on acid anhydrous gypsum plasters in order to improve the adhesion of the paint. Following the trowel consists of applying a sharp coat of paint to the newly plastered surface as soon as it is firm enough to bear the weight of the brush, ideally within three hours of the plastering being completed
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Folly - The term folly refers to a structure built for the amusement of the owner.
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Footing Course - A footing course is one of the courses of masonry at the foot of a wall, broader than the courses above.
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Footner Process - The Footner process is a method of cleaning scale from steelwork and providing a good surface for painting by means of phosphate pickling.
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Formeret - A formeret is one of the half ribs against the walls in a ceiling vaulted with ribs.
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Foundations - Foundations are the lowest load-bearing part of a building, usually below ground level, through which the loads of a structure are distributed on to the ground. The quality of the ground and the kind of structure determine the type of foundation used. Spread foundations are broad and shallow and, where firm ground exists near the surface, are the simplest to build. Otherwise, where solid material lies beneath unsuitable ground, the loads are transferred through the poor surface material to considerable depths using piling or a caisson. In the past, foundations for brickwork consisted of large stones, timber beams, or simply a thicker base, or footing. Wide walls were built on the ground without special foundations. Nowadays, for load-bearing walls, the spread foundation is a continuous concrete strip that is wider than the wall. For a column or pier, the spread foundation is a rectangular pad of concrete. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, before the adoption of reinforced concrete, steel columns were often supported on layers of steel joists (a technique known as grillage). Where poor ground requires the foundation to be of about the same area as the building, a raft is used. A small raft may be a reinforced concrete slab; a larger raft may be a slab stiffened with beams. For buildings with basements, the lower storeys may be built as a stiff box.

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French Roof - A French roof is a modified form of mansard roof having a nearly flat deck for the upper slope.
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French window - A French window is a casement window in two folds, usually reaching to the floor.
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Fresco - A fresco is a painting carried out with lime-proof pigments mixed with limewater, and applied directly to a freshly laid surface of lime plaster. Frescos are typically found in old churches
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Fret - A fret is an ornament consisting of small fillets or slats intersecting each other or bent at right angles, as in classical designs, or at oblique angles, common in Oriental art.
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Frieze - A frieze is that part of the entablature of an order which is between the architrave and cornice. It is a flat member or face, either uniform or broken by triglyphs, and often enriched with figures and other ornaments of sculpture. The term is also applied to any sculptured or richly ornamented band in a building or, by extension, in rich pieces of furniture.
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Frontal - A frontal is a little pediment over a door or window.
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Fronton - A fronton is a decorated entrance to a building, consisting of a cornice supported by consoles and surmounted by a pediment.
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Frustum - A frustum is one of the drums of the shaft of a column.
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Fugitive Colours - In painting and decorating, fugitive colours are colours which fade when exposed to light.
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Full Coat - In painting and decorating, a full coat is a single coating of paint, enamel or varnish applied as thickly as possible without detriment to the quality of the work.
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Full Gloss - Full gloss is a painting and decorating term for enamels, paints and varnishes which have a high-gloss finish, as opposed to a semi-gloss, eggshell or matt finish
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Fumed Oak - Fumed oak is oak which has been darkened by being stained by exposure to ammonia fumes
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Fur - Fur describes nailing small strips of board or larger scantling upon a surface, in order to make a level surface for lathing or boarding, or to provide for a space or interval back of the plastered or boarded surface, as inside an outer wall, by way of protection against damp.
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Fusarole - A fusarole is a moulding generally placed under the echinus or quarter round of capitals in the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian orders of architecture.
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Fust - A fust is the shaft of a column, or trunk of a pilaster.
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