» False Ceiling - The false ceiling has come a long way since its invention back in 1958. Gone are the ugly tiles you used to see in any number of office buildings and instead a
wide variety of different materials can be used to ensure that the new ceiling is good to look at as well as practical.
» Fire Rated Wall - A fire-resistance-rated wall having protected openings, which restricts the spread of fire and extends continuously from the foundation to or through the roof,
with sufficient structural stability under fire conditions to allow collapse of construction on either side without collapse of the wall.
» Fabric Ceilings - is a suspended ceiling system consisting of two basic components - a perimeter track and lightweight fabric membrane which stretches and clips into the
track. In addition to ceilings the system can be used for wall coverings, light diffusers, floating panels, exhibitions and creative shapes.
» Fire Rated Raise Floor System - Offered systems are designed to curtail the fire within the building and prevent the smoke from spreading across the space.
» Free-standing enclosures - provide protection for systems incorporating large components or complex mounting configurations.
» Fast Action PVC Roll Up Shutter - open and close extremely fast and therefore not only ensure optimized processes but also consistent temperatures in production halls and
companies.
» Fabricator The company that prepares structural steel members for erection; any entity that assembles building components
prior to arrival on the construction site.
» Facade An exterior face of a building.
» Face brick A brick selected on the basis of appearance and durability for use in the exposed surface of a wall.
» Face nail A nail driven through the side of one wood member into the side of another.
» Face shell The portion of a hollow concrete masonry unit that forms the face of the wall.
» Fahrenheit A temperature scale on which the boiling point of water is fixed at 212 degrees and the freezing point at 32 degrees.
» Fanlight A semicircular or semielliptical window above an entrance door, often with radiating muntins that resemble a fan.
» Fascia The exposed vertical face of an eave.
» Fast track construction A method of pro-viding design and construction ser vices in which design and construction overlap in time; also called phased construction.
» Faying surface The contacting surfaces of steel members joined with a slip-critical connection.
» Felt A thin, flexible sheet material made of soft fibers pressed and bonded together. In building practice, a thick paper or a sheet of glass or plastic fibers.
» Ferrous metal Any iron-based metal. Ferrous steel In common usage, steel unprotected from corrosion by either gal- vanizing or alloying.
» Fibrous reinforcing Short fibers of glass, steel, or polypropylene mixed into con- crete to act as either microfiber reinforcing or macrofiber reinforcing.
» Fieldstone Rough building stone gath- ered from river beds and fields.
» Figure The surface pattern of the grain of a piece of smoothly finished wood or stone.
» Filigree precast concrete A hybrid con- crete system in which precast concrete sec- tions are used as permanent formwork for cast in place concrete.
» Fillet A rounded inside intersec- tion between two surfaces that meet at an angle.
» Fillet weld A weld at the inside intersec- tion of two metal surfaces that meet at right angles.
» Fine aggregate Sand used in concrete, mortar, or plaster mixes.
» Fine-grained soil Soil with particles 0.003 inch (0.075 mm) or less in size; silts and clays.
» Finger joint A glued end connection be- tween two pieces of wood, using an inter- locking pattern of deeply cut "fingers." A finger joint creates a large surface for the glue bond,
to allow it to develop the full tensile strength of the wood it connects.
» Finial A slender ornament at the top of a roof or spire.
» Finish Exposed to view; material that is exposed to view.
» Finish carpenter One who does finish carpentry.
» Finish carpentry The wood components exposed to view on the interior of a build-ing, such as window and door casings,baseboards, bookshelves, and the like; may also
refer to exterior finish carpen- tr y, such as exterior trim, deck railings, and similar items.
» Finish coat The final coat of a paint or other finishing system.
» Finish-coat plaster The final coat of plaster, applied over gypsum base or one or more applications of base-coat plaster.
» Finish floor The floor material exposed to view, as differentiated from the subfloor, which is the loadbearing floor surface be- neath.
» Finish lime A fine grade of quicklime used in finish-coat gypsum plasters and in ornamental plaster work; also called lime putty.
» Finish nail A relatively thin nail with a ver y small head, used for fastening trim and other finish woodwork items.
» Fire area In the International Build- ing Code, an area within a building bounded by fire-resistant construc- tion. Fire area size, occupant load, and location within the building
are used to determine automatic sprin- kler requirements.
» Fire barrier In the International Build- ing Code, a fire-resistant wall intended to deter the spread of fire, used to separate exit stair enclosures, differing occupan- cies, and fire
areas.
» Fireblocking Wood or other mate- rial used to partition concealed spaces within combustible framing, intended to restrict the spread of fire within such spaces.
» Firebox The part of a fireplace, stove, or furnace in which fuel is combusted. Firebrick A brick made to withstand ver y high temperatures, as in a fireplace, furnace, or industrial
chimney.
» Firecut A sloping end cut on a wood beam or joist where it enters a masonr y wall. The purpose of the firecut is to allow the wood member to rotate out of the wall without pr
ying the wall apart if the floor or roof structure burns through in a fire.
» Fire door A fire-resistant door, used in fire-resistance rated partitions and walls. Fire partition In the International
Building Code, a fire-resistant wall in- tended to deter the
spread of fire, used to separate tenant spaces, dwelling units, and corridors from surrounding areas of a building.
» Fireproofing Material used around a steel (or concrete) structural element to insulate it against excessive temperatures in case of fire.
» Fire protective glazing Fire-rated glass for use in fire doors, fire windows, and other protected openings that does not meet all of the requirements for use as a fire- resistance
rated wall assembly.
» Fire-rated glass Glass that is capable of retaining its integrity in an opening after being exposed to fire. See also Fire protec- tive glazing, glass fire wall.
» Fire resistance rating The time, in hours or fractions of an hour, that a material or assembly will resist fire exposure as deter- mined by ASTM E119.
» Fire resistant Noncombustible; slow to be damaged by fire; forming a barrier to the passage of fire.
» Fire-resistive glazing See Glass fire wall. Firestopping A component or mastic installed in an opening through a floor or around the edge of a floor to retard
the passage of fire;
frequently used inter- changeably with fireblocking.
» Fire wall A wall extending from foun- dation to roof, required under a build- ing code to separate buildings, or parts of buildings, as a deterrent to the spread of fire.
» Fire zone A legally designated area of a city in which construction must meet established standards of fire resistance and/or combustibility.
» Firing The process of converting dr y clay into a ceramic material through the application of intense heat.
» First cost The cost of construction, not including operational costs.
» Fixed window Glass that is immovably mounted in a wall.
» Flagstone Flat stones used for paving or flooring.
» Flame-spread rating A measure of the rapidity with which fire will spread across the surface of a finish material as deter- mined by ASTM standard E84.
» Flange A projecting crosspiece of a wide-flange or channel profile; a projecting fin.
» Flash cove A detail in which a sheet of resilient flooring is turned up at the edge and finished against the wall to create an integral baseboard.
» Flashing A thin, continuous sheet of metal, plastic, rubber, or waterproof paper used to prevent the passage of water through a joint in a wall, roof, or chimney.
» Flat-grain lumber Dimension lum- ber sawed in such a way that annual rings are oriented close to parallel with the face. See also Vertical grain lumber.
» Flat seam A sheet metal roofing seam that is formed flat against the surface of the roof.
» Flemish bond Brickwork laid with each course consisting of alternating headers and stretchers.
» Flitch-sliced veneer A thin sheet of wood cut by passing a block of wood vertically against a long, sharp knife.
» Float A small platform suspended on ropes from a steel building frame to per- mit ironworkers to work on a connection; a trowel with a slightly rough surface used in an
intermediate stage of finishing a concrete slab; as a verb, to use a float for finishing concrete.
» Float glass Glass sheet manufactured by cooling a layer of molten glass on a bath of molten tin.
» Floating floor Wood or laminate floor- ing that is not fastened or adhered to the subfloor.
» Floating foundation A foundation placed at depth such that the weight of the soil removed is close to the weight of the building being supported.
» Flocculated Having a "fluffy" micro- structure such as that of clay particles in which the platelets are randomly ori- ented.
» Flood test The submersion of a hori- zontal waterproofing system, usually for an extended period of time, to check for leaks.
» Floor joist See Joist.
» Flue A passage for smoke and combus- tion products from a furnace, stove, water heater, or fireplace.
Fluid-applied roof membrane A roof membrane applied in one or more coats of a liquid that cure to form an imper vi- ous sheet.
» Fluoropolymer A highly stable organic compound used as a finish coating for building cladding.
» Flush Smooth, lying in a single plane. Flush door A door with smooth planar faces.
» Flux A material added to react chemi- cally with impurities and remove them from molten metal. Fluxes are used both in steelmaking and in welding. Welding fluxes ser ve the
additional purpose of shielding the molten weld metal from the air to reduce oxidation and other unde- sirable effects.
» Fly ash Dust collected in the stacks of coal-fired power plants, used as a supple- mentar y cementitious material in concrete and mortar.
» Flying formwork Large sections of slab formwork that are moved by crane.
» Fly rafter A rafter in a rake overhang.
» F-number An index number express- ing the statistical flatness or levelness of a concrete slab.
» Foil-backed gypsum board Gypsum board with aluminum foil laminated to its back surface to act as a vapor retarder and thermal insulator.
» Folded plate A roof structure whose strength and stiffness derive from a pleat- ed or folded geometr y.
» Footing The part of a foundation that spreads a load from the building across a broader area of soil.
» Forced-air system A furnace and/or cooling coil and ductwork that heat and/ or cool air and deliver it, driven by a fan, to the rooms of a building.
» Form deck Thin, corrugated steel sheets that ser ve as permanent formwork for a rein- forced concrete deck.
» Form release compound A substance applied to concrete formwork to prevent concrete from adhering.
» Form tie A steel or plastic rod with fasteners on either end, used to hold to- gether the two surfaces of formwork for a concrete wall.
» Form tie hole A depression, typically conical in shape, in a cast-in-place con- crete wall that remains after the protrud- ing portions of a form tie are removed.
» Formwork Structures, usually tempo- rar y, that ser ve to give shape to poured concrete and to support it and keep it moist as it cures.
» Foundation The portion of a building that transmits structural loads from the building into the earth.
» Framed connection A shear connection between steel members made by means of steel angles or plates connecting to the web of the beam or girder.
» Framing plan A diagram showing the arrangement and sizes of the structural members in a floor or roof.
» Framing square An L-shaped measuring tool used by carpenters to lay out right- angle cuts as well as more complicated cuts, such as those required for stairs and sloping
roof rafters.
» Freestone Fine-grained sedimentar y rock that has no planes of cleavage or sedi- mentation along which it is likely to split.
» Free water In wood, water held within the cavities of the cells. See also Bound water.
» Freeze protection admixture A concrete or mortar additive, used to allow curing under conditions of low ambient tem- perature.
» French door A symmetrical pair of glazed doors hinged to the jambs of a single frame and meeting at the center of the opening.
» Frictional soil A soil such as sand that has little or no attraction between its par- ticles and derives its strength from geo- metric interlocking of the particles; also called a
cohesionless soil.
» Friction connection See Slip-critical con- nection.
» Frit Ground-up colored glass that is heat-fused to lights of glass to form func- tional or decorative patterns.
» Frost line The depth in the earth to which the soil can be expected to freeze during a severe winter.
» Fully restrained moment connection A steel frame moment connection suffi- ciently rigid such that the geometric angles between connected pieces remain unchanged
during normal loading; previ- ously referred to as an "AISC Type 1" con- nection.
» Furring channel A formed sheet metal furring strip.
» Furring strip A length of wood or metal attached to a masonr y or concrete wall to permit the attachment of finish materi- als to the wall using screws or nails; any linear
material used to create a spacial separation between a finish material and an underlying substrate.
