Terms

• Acrylic - A family of synthetic resins made from acrylic acids.
• Adhesion - The ability of one material to stick to another.
• Alkyd - A family of synthetic resins made from organic acids, combined with oils and alcohols.
• Alligatoring - A reference to a certain failure in paint that looks similar to an alligator hide. Also known as checking.
• Binder - An ingredient or blend of ingredients in stain that holds the pigment particles together.
• Bleeding - A reaction in the stain or dye that causes the pigment to rise to the surface of the wood.
• Blushing - Trapped solvent or moisture in the finish that gives a white/grey cloud look to the coating. It can appear in spots or across the entire piece.
• Bridge - The ability of the coating to dry over a crack or void in the wood.
• Bubbles - The formation of air bubbles in the top of the finish
• Catalyst - An agent that is added to finish that causes a reaction in the coating. This reaction causes the finish to be more durable than without the catalyst.
• Checking - Small cracks or lines in the finish. Also known as alligatoring.
• Cold Checks - The cracking of a finish due to exposure to cold temperatures.Usually exposure happens before the finish has completely cured.
• Craters - The appearance of small holes or depressions in the finish. Also known as fisheyes.
• Crazing - Very fine lines or crystalline patterns in the finish usually caused by too much catalyst.
• Cross linking - The molecular reaction in a finish from adding catalyst that causes the finish to harden more than without added catalyst.
• Distressing - Intentionally marking, gouging or scratching a finish to give the piece an antique look.
• Dye - A type of color that soaks into the fibers of the wood instead of being left on top like pigment. Commonly used to evenly color wood before staining.
• Filler - A very heavy bodied, slow drying pigment used to fill in grain and create a flat, smooth surface to topcoat.
• Fish Eye - A small crater or depression in the finish. Often caused by silicone or oil contamination.
• Flatting Paste - An additive used to reduce the sheen or gloss of a finish.
• Flash Point - The temperature at which a finish will ignite when exposed to a flame.
• Flow-out - The ability of a liquid to level itself as it dries.
• Ford Cup - A brand of viscosity cup.
• Glazes - Slow setting heavy bodied pigment stains commonly used to accent grain or for other color accents like antiquing.
• Gloss - The sheen or reflectivity of a coating.
• HAPS - (Hazardous Air Pollutants Incompatibility) - The inability of one finish product to work with another product.
• Lacquer - A generic term for finishes using nitrocellulose as a main ingredient.
• Lifting - The separation of one coat from another often seen as "alligatoring" or checking".
• Mar - A scratch or rub mark on the finish.
• Mar Resistance - The ability of a finish to resist scratch or rub marks.
• Mil - One thousandth of an inch. 0.001.
• N.G.R. - (Non-Grain-Raising) - Usually refers to certain stains that do not raise the fiber of the wood when applied.
• Nitrocellulose - Lacquer's main ingredient. A very flammable material that has a tendency to yellow with exposure to sunlight.
• Opaque - The opposite of transparent. The hiding quality of a pigmented coating.
• Orange Peel - A rough finish surface reminiscent of an orange peel's texture.
• Pigment - The raw ground colorant used to give a stain its tone.
• Pinholes - Small holes in a finish.
• Primer - A specialized coating made for application to raw wood as a first step in a finishing process.
• Precats - A finish that arrives already catalyzed from the manufacturer.
• Reducer - Thinner.
• Sags - A ripple in the coating caused by excessive millage when sprayed. Usually seen on vertical surfaces.
• Sealer - An undercoat of finish who's function is to stop further absorption of successive coats into the wood, thus helping the successive coats to level.
• Stearate - An additive to the coating or to sandpaper that makes it sand easier.
• Substrate - The material or product to be coated.
• Toner - A pigmented sealer or topcoat reduction that is used to color certain areas of the wood over the existing stain, giving a uniform look to the stain.
• Topcoat - The final finish coat, usually a specific finish product designed to give better flow out and durability than the sealer coat.
• VHAPS - Volatile Hazardous Air Pollutants.
• Viscosity - The thickness of a coating in its liquid state.
• Viscosity Cup - A small cup used to measure the thickness of a coating.
• V.O.C. - (Volatile Organic Compound) - The solvent ingredients in a finish.
• Washcoat - A reduced finish that is applied over raw wood to reduce stain penetration, or over stains and fillers to promote adhesion of the next coat.
• Waterbase - A coating that uses water as the main vehicle for carrying the resins of a finish.
• Water White - A high grade of lacquer that shows very little amber tone when applied.
• Zahn Cup - A brand of viscosity cup.

Interior Design Terms (B) for Consultants and People in the Home Renovation Industry

• Ball catch: A spring-loaded ball set in the mortise in a door that slips into a hole on a strike plate in the doorframe.
• Ballflower: an ornament that looks like a ball placed in a globular flower of which the three petals form a cup round it. 14th  century and occasionally 13th  century.
• Baluster: The vertical post in a balustrade.
• Balustrade: The collection of rails and posts with a rail along the top that form the waist height wall to the sides of stairs or to a terrace or balcony.
• Bambooing: (Faux Finishes) the imitation of bamboo is achieved by painting turned or carved wood to copy the bamboo knots and grain, then decorating it. It was popular during the eighteenth century. It is often used to change the look of an old piece of furniture.
• Band and Hook Hinge: A gate hinge that is made from heavy wrought iron strip or steel which drops onto a pin fixed to a wall.
• Banding: The strip of timber that edges a veneer. Often a clashing strip.
• Baroque: A style from 17th century Europe that is often characterised by abundant curves and ornament.
• Barrel Vault: An overhead structure or covering often glazed that is a horizontal half cylinder.
• Bas Relief: Figures (sculptured work) which project less than half their true proportions from the wall or surface on which they are carved.
• Basilica: the name that was used by Romans to describe their public halls of justice or exchange or other business. The plan was usually rectangular divided into aisles by rows of columns that in the middle being the widest with a semicircular apse at one end in which the tribunal was placed. The name became synonymous with church.
• Batiste Fabric: Lightweight, usually light colours, often printed. High count of fine yarns. More opaque than voiles. Usually composed of 100% polyester or a polyester blend.
• Battered: A term used in construction or architecture that refers to a wall that slopes backward as it rises from the ground. A slope at the back of a house may be battered or cut so that it is self-retaining. May also apply to walls that may gently slope inward e.g. the walls of a castle tower.
• Bauhaus: The most dominant force in Contemporary Design, with the shortest life span. German Architect and Designer Walter Gropius was the founder. He combined two schools, the Art Academy  and the school of Arts and Crafts of Weimar in Germany in 1919. The school was  noted for a program that synthesised technology, craftsmanship and design aesthetics. Like the Arts and Crafts Movement before it, the Bauhaus aimed to reform the making of everyday objects, but rather than rejecting technology and the machine, they embraced industrial production.
• Bay Window: A window in a formed wall that projects from the main wall line to form an alcove.
• Beading: A decorative strip or moulding. Found on furniture, silver, glassware, pottery etc.
• Beaux Arts: From the French language, the fine arts.  The term applied to art and architectural schools in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth, whose courses stressed the study and imitation of past design areas.
• Bed Cover with Corner Pleats: This is a tailored bedcover with a clean style. It covers the bedding completely. It has a box like fit and look and is neat and unobtrusive. It has inverted pleats at the corners and produces a tidier effect than a duvet cover.
• Beech: A hardwood.  Light reddish-brown in colour.
• Belfrey: A bell tower.
• Berber: Originating from North Africa, the process of hand spun, undyed wool yarn hand weaving. It has been imitated on a commercial basis and now the name Berber provides a homespun natural feel and coloured carpet.
• Bergere: (Fr) - An armchair which has a completely upholstered seat, back and arms.
• Berlin Woolwork: Gros point needlework in bright colours using canvases, patterns, and yarn distributed by Berlin manufacturers, Popular during the mid 19th century.
• Bevel: One surface meeting another at an angle.
• Binding: A strip of fabric, either straight or bias, which binds fabric edges and encloses piping.
• Blast Cleaning: i.e. shot, bead or sand blasting to clean an object or create an effect.
• Blistering: (paint) is bubbles or blisters in the paint film. It is caused by water vapour being attracted by heat and forming spaces beneath the film, or resins from knots in the timber being attracted to heat, or paint being used on surfaces which have extreme heat. To prevent this problem, make sure that the substrate is completely dry before painting. Remove any knots and replace with plugs. Use heat resistant paints for areas that have extreme heat. Select light paint colours as they reflect more heat.
• Blisters or Bubbles: (wallcovering) This means that the paper is not flat on the substrate and has pockets of air trapped behind. It is caused by under soaking or not evenly brushing paste, or insufficient smoothing whilst handling.
• Blocking: Timber used at right angles to the framing joists to provide support from twisting and buckling.
• Blushing: Milky opalescence in lacquer usually caused by lack of compatibility in the paint or being applied in cold or wet weather.(moisture in the lacquer).
• Board and Batten: A type of siding composed of wide boards and narrow battens. The boards are nailed to the sheathing so that there is one/half inch space between them. The battens are nailed over the open spaces between the boards.
• Bobbin Twist: A turned chair stretcher used from the 17th Century on, it looks like a row of bobbins and was used on the backs and legs.
• Boiserie: Carved wooden paneling. In Rococo and neo Rococo interiors these would be gilded and have a white background.
• Bolster: A cylindrical pillow, or in furniture a long cylindrical shaped cushion to support the head as in the "Le Corbousier Chaise Lounge".
• Book matching: A way of placing successive sheets of veneer sliced so that when laid, side by each sheet acts as a mirror image of its neighbour.
• Borders: (wallcovering)  These are narrow widths of wallpaper available in 5 metre or 10 metre rolls and come in varying widths. They are a decorative item, which can be used to create different spaces on walls.
• Boucle Fabric: French for curled, indicates a curled or looped surface.
• Boullework: A form of marquetry originally from 10th century Italy. Usually with tortoiseshell and brass. Improved by Andre Charles Boulle in France during the 17th century and popular during that time.
• Bow Window: A curved window sometimes called a circular bay.
• Bowled floor: A floor that slopes towards one end as in a theatre.
• Bracing: is used to laterally support a building.
• Bracket: A projecting support. Can be from any material. In masonry it will be a corbel. Often in decorative form. Brackets support anything from arches and lintels to shelves and curtain rods.
• Braid: (drapery) is a woven ornamental trimming that has two finished edges, it is a flat border. Used for trims and edges for curtains, upholstery and accessories.
• Brick Veneer: A covering of brick. Usually to the exterior walls but often used as a feature to the interior.
• Brick and Brick Paviours: Bricks are made from clay, which is formed into shapes and dried in a kiln. Paviours are made in a similar fashion but they are thinner and often have special finishes on the surface. They are both hardwearing and chemical resistant. They are laid on a bed of mortar.
• Broadcloth: Used for tablecloths, bedspreads and drapery.
• Brocade: Rich jacquard, woven fabric with an all over interwoven design of raised figures or flowers. Brocade has a raised surface in contrast to felt damask, and is generally made of silk, rayon and nylon yarns with or without metallic treatment.
• Brocatelle: (fabric)  like damask uses more than two colours. It has a satin or twill figure on a plain or satin ground. Different to damask as raised areas of pattern are formed by a double warp.
• Brooming: (Broom finish) Scratching a floating coat to make a key for plaster or using a soft broom to create a textured surface to exterior concrete pathways creating an anti slip finish.
• Buckram: A material used for lining and stiffening which is either sewn or ironed into place.
• Buff: To polish or grind down to a smooth finish.
• Building Code: Building Laws corresponding to Building regulations.
• Building Surveyor: A person trained in the techniques, costs and law of construction, Often known as a Quantity surveyor.
• Bulkhead: A boxed shape used to cover services etc. Either internal or external.
• Bullnose: The rounding of an edge or aris. E.g. to the edge of a table or a rounded edge of a brick.
• Burlap: Coarse, canvaslike fabric made of jute, hemp or cotton. Also called Gunny.
• Burr: (Burl) The curly figuring found in timber. E.g. Burred Walnut.
• Butt Hinge: This is the most common of all hinges. It is the standard hinge found on most doors. Each side of the hinge being a simple rectangle with screw holes for fixing joined together with a removable pin. The two halves are folded together with one side screwed to the door and the other to the frame allowing the door to swing on the pin.
• Butt Veneer: The type of veneer having a strong curly figure like crotch caused by roots growing out of the trunk at varying angles.
• Butt: To meet without overlapping.
• Buttoned: A feature of tufted upholstery in which usually fabric covered buttons are sewn over points of tufting to finish.
• Buttress: A projection from a wall to create additional strength and support. The flying buttress is used to support the wall at the junctions where an arch or arched truss is adding force to the wall both vertically and horizontally.

• Adhesion: - The property causing one material to stick to another.
• Barrier Coat: - A coat applied which separates the substrate from contact with the topcoats.
• Bleeding: - When a dye or color absorbs through to the top layer. This is due to a common solvency of the topcoat and the dye.
• Bloom: - A bluish haze of a film usually caused by insufficient drying time of the oil stain before topcoating.
• Blushing: - A white, milky cast in a film which is caused by trapping moisture into the film. Blushing can be prevented and eliminated by slowing down the drying of the coating by adding a blush retarder.
• Blush Retarder: - A reducer with slower drying properties.
• Body: - The thickness of viscosity of the coating while in liquid form.
• Bond: - The adhesion of or ability of two items to stick to one another.
• Bridge: - When a finish forms a layer over a crack or void.
• Burn-in: - Method of filling a defect in wood using a hot knife and a Burn -In Stick of resin or shellac.
• Coat: - The act of applying a coating to a surface.
• Coating: - Any material applied to a surface leaving a protective layer on that surface. e.g. lacquer, polyurethane, vinyl, acrylic, butyrate, Danish or drying oils, and shellac are all types of coatings.
• Cold Checking: - the cracking of a finish due to exposure to cold temperatures.
• Crawling: - When a coating applied tends to flow away from areas leaving them uncoated. This is usually caused by grease or oil contamination of the surface to be coated.
• De laminate: - The separation of layers due to lack of intercoat or substrate adhesion.
• Distressing: - Fly speck spotting (and/or other age marks) in the finished surface or on the substrate.
• Dye: - A coloring material that dissolves completely in a system very transparent.
• Dry Hard: - The elapsed time at which a coating has reached its optimum hardness
• Fading: - The loss of color due to exposure to sunlight.
• Fast to Light: - A color which is not significantly affected by exposure to sunlight.
• Fish Eye: - Pock marks or craters that show up on finished surface when silicone is present.
• Flash or Flash-Off: - The point at which a sprayed coating stops flowing or leveling, premature flash causes orange-peel when the atomized droplets do not flow into a completely flat and even film.
• Flash-Off Control Solvent: An addative that extends the wet time or "flash" of a sprayed or brushed coating.
• Flash Point (Flamability): - The temperature at which a material will ignite when exposed to a source of ignition.
• Flood: - The act of very heavily applying a coating to the substrate.
• Flow: - The fluid sheeting and leveling of a coating.
• French Polish: - A shellac base coating which is applied by manually "padding" it onto the surface.
• Glaze: - An oil based pigmented treatment which is applied between lacquer coats to accent or give a grained effect.
• Gloss or Sheen: - The shininess or reflectability of a surface.
• Holiday: - An uncoated area of a coated surface usually missed unintentionally.
• Incompatible: - Used in reference to coatings and/or stains which are not capable of being mixed with one another.
• Leveling: - The act of applying a coat which will smooth out a previously rough (orange peeled) coat.
• Lifting: - The softening and repenetration of a previous coat resulting in anything from an "orange peel"to a "stripping" effect. This is usually caused by applying strong solvented coating over a curing type coating (curing type coating would be catalytic lacquer, urethane lacquer, polyurethane and enamels.)
• Non-Volatile: - The solid material which is left after total solvent evaporation.
• Nitrocellulose: - The primary resin material used in making lacquer.
• Opaque / Opacity: - The degree of hiding of a pigmented coating. The opposite of transparent.
• Orange Peel: - A rough surface of a film similar in appearance to the skin of an orange. This is usually caused by spraying in high heat, draft or a material that is too thick or heavy in viscosity.
• Pigment: - A finely ground, insoluble powder which contributes color to a coating - usually very color fast.
• Pinholeing: - The appearance of numerous small holes in a film, usually caused by bubbles due to high heat drying of the coating.
• Primer: - A coating which is first applied to a bare surface.
• Reducer / Thinner: - To add solvent in order to thin a material to a workable thickness (viscosity).
• Sanding Sealer: - A lacquer or other coating formulated to give better filling and sandability than the topcoat products.
• Substrate: - The surface or material to be coated.
• Transparent: - Clear enough to see through.
• Translucent: - Allows light to pass through but not clear enough to see through.
• Viscosity: - The thickness of a coating material in its liquid form.
• Volatile: - The solvent portion of a coating.
• Washcoat: - Very thin coat of shellac or sanding sealer or coating.
• Water White: - A term used to describe the color of a coating in its liquid form. (Water white -- meaning as clear and colorless as drinking water.)