What Does It Mean...

Aggregate - Materials that are added to mortar or grout at time of mixing to impart special properties to the mortar or grout; quantities of loose fragments of rock or mineral.

Anchor - Metal device for securing dimensional stone to a structure or back-up walls.

Back-Up Wall - That part of masonry or other type wall behind the stone veneer.

Base - The bottom course of a stone wall, or the vertical first member above grade of a finished floor. Or, in a classical column, it is the part between the shaft and pedestal or paving.

Base Course - The lowest course, or footing of a wall or pier.

Bat - A piece of brick, usually half the size or smaller.

Bond Coat - An adhesive material used between the back of the stone tile or paver and the prepared surface.

Border Stone - A flat stone used as an edging material, a border stone is generally used to retain the field of the terrace or platform.

Bouldering - Paving with cobblestones.

Cap - Masonry units laid on top of a finished wall, column, door, or molding.

Caulking - The application of a sealant in a joint or opening to prevent the passage of water, air, dust, and noise. Or, making a joint tight or leak proof by sealing with an elastic adhesive compound.

Cement - Hydraulic mixture, without aggregate, consisting of a calcined mixture of clay and pulverized limestone.

Cladding - An exterior veneer stone covering that is non-load bearing.

Clear Coating - An invisible to glossy film or penetrate applied to substrates to protect, repel or resist water and hydration of minerals.

Coating - A protective or decorative covering applied to the surface or impregnated into stone for such purposes as waterproofing, enhancing resistance to weathering, wear, and chemical action, or altering the appearance of the stone.

Cobblestone - A natural rounded stone large enough for use in paving.

Collar Joint - The vertical longitudinal joint between wythes of masonry filled with mortar or grout.

Control Joints - Control joints are grooves that are scored into a concrete surface to "control" cracking.

Concrete - A composition material consisting of Portland Cement, aggregate, and water. When mixed together, will result in a chemical action that will set and harden into rock-like mass.

Diaper - Any continuous pattern in brickwork, usually applied in a diamond or other diagonal patterns.

Dry Wall - Dry wall is constructed one stone or block upon the other without the use of any mortar. Generally used for retaining walls.

Edgeset - A brick set on its narrow side instead of on its flat side.

Fabricated - Dimensional stone manufactured and ready for installation.

Facing - Any material forming a part of a wall, used as a finished surface.

Fines - The powder, dual, silt-size, and sand-size material which results from processing rock.

Flagstone - Thin slabs of stone used for paving walks, driveways, patios, and is generally a fine-grained sandstone, bluestone, quartzite, or slate.

Float - A flat board with handle on one side, used for spreading and smoothing cement.

Gravel - Composed chiefly of quartz, but may contain granite, limestone, basalt, and other rocks.

Green Mortar - Mortar that has set but not dried.

Grog - Crushed brick that is blended with clay to form new brick.

Grout - A mixture of cement material and aggregate to which sufficient water is added to produce pouring consistency without segregation of the constituents.

Head Joint - The vertical mortar joint between ends of masonry units.

Inlay - Surface decoration achieved by the insertion of lines or patterns of contrasting material.

Jointer - In masonry terminology, a jointer is a tool used to make control joints on a newly poured concrete surface.

Keystone - The last wedge-shaped stone placed in the crown of an arch regarded as binding the whole.

Line - A string stretched taut as a guide for laying the top edge of a course of masonry units.

Line Pin - A metal pin used to attach line used for alignment of masonry units.

Mortar - A plastic mixture of cement , water, and fine aggregates which combine together through a chemical process of crystallization to form a hardened solid that bonds building units together.

Mortar Bed - A troweled layer of mortar, in a plastic state, in which building units will be set.

Mortared Wall - Stacked stones or blocks that are held together by mortar.

Notched Trowel - Trowel with a serrated or notched edge used for spreading mortar or adhesive in ridges of a specific thickness.

O.C. - On Centers. An abbreviation frequently used in dimensioning shop drawings, designating dimensions from the center of one member to the center of the next.

Paver - A single unit of fabricated stone for use as an exterior paving material.

Portland Cement - A hydraulic cement product obtained by pulverizing and calcimining a properly proportioned mixture of three minerals: lime, silica, and alumina.

Raked Joint - A mortar joint formed by removing the mortar a given depth from the face of the masonry.

Screed - A straight board used to even off the surface of sand or freshly poured concrete.

Scribe - To mark the edge of one stone unit to be cut to fit snugly against another.

Stripped Joint - A joint without mortar.

Tamped - Tapped or pushed down to fill a space or make level.

Temper - To moisten and mix clay, plaster, or mortar to the proper consistency.

Thin Bed - A mixture of Portland cement with sand, and additives that improve water retention, used as a thin mortar for installing stone tile.

Tight Joint - Stone installed with a 1/32" joint.