Nailing It (Pt.1 Plus Glossary)

We are all experts in something. Right?
Words underlined are in the Glossary If at any time during our trip together you run across a word you don’t quite get the meaning of check out the Glossary I will try to get the meaning across. (Promise)
We all have a friend or a friend of a friend that is an expert in something and that person is always ready and willing to pass professional tidbits on to you. Right? Perhaps you know a lawyer, an accountant, an investor, a mechanic, a carpenter, a plumber, or a painter; people you would trust when you need advice relative to the field they are experts in.
When you have knowledge in a particular field it behoves you to pass that knowledge on to those that need it. (me 2007)
But then there is cash. We’ve all heard the song ‘I’ve got lots of lovely lolly . . .’ then again maybe that’s just me. Anyway the gist of it is: nothing is for free.
So, if you have read this far there is a good chance you have bought this book or you are browsing. If you are browsing: buy it, it is a tool and if you plan on buying or building a house then believe me, you will use it. Knowledge is power. (I heard that once)
When your house is built you can build a home, and the fewer cracks in the foundation the better for all.
So who am I to offer up such sage advice?
Glad you asked. Now you will get the long version. I’m a Limey at heart. Born in Tripoli, Libya, North Africa (that’s always a conversation stopper when I cross the Border) both my parents were born and raised in England, during the Second World War.
In 1952 my mum was a WAC. (Women’s Army Corps). My dad was a Jump Master, in the RAF (Royal Air Force) the guy that says jump and gives you a push as you ask, ‘how high . . . ?’ They served overseas, met, dated and I was born after an appropriate waiting period; 3lbs 4oz.. Mum described me as a loaf of bread with legs. With the onset of labour pains, mum and me rushed to the tiny British Hospital, in the eye of a sandstorm, mum screaming expletives at a taxi driver who barely spoke three words of English. The effort was made so I would be born on sovereign soil and be a British Subject. Alas a hospital is not an embassy, so it made no difference, today I would probably find it easier to get a Libyan passport than a British one. I was not supposed to live more than an hour or two, so I was to be christened without delay. It was such a rush job that my mum said I was to be named Philip James and by the time the nurse got to the priest it became James Philip: cause for further expletives I would wager.
Apparently we stayed in Libya for a year, I often reminisce, thinking of me and mum walking the beaches of the Mediterranean. Then mum, dad and the loaf of bread took the long way home travelling to Singapore first, then on to Liverpool, England.
We emigrated to Canada in sixty-six. God. When we got off the plane, it was so hot and everything was so big and I mean really, really big. I stood at the top of the stairs disembarking from a BOAC 707, the wind blowing up my gray wool shorts. I was riveted to the spot, with my mouth hanging open in awe. Someone behind my snapped me out of my stupor, saying move your arse. I’m pretty sure it wasn‘t my mum.
I have worked in and around construction since I was sixteen, (see résuméé ) now that I’m nineteen and a half I know everything there is to know. ‘Holmes on Homes’ has nothing on me. (joking)
No. The fact is I’m fifty-four years old and I‘ve come a long way from the four-eyed, little geek who had to wear remnants of his old school uniform to his first day at school in Canada. The same gray shorts I wore on the plane, complete with knee high gray socks, practical black oxfords and a nice white shirt. At least my mum didn’t make me wear the old school tie that really would have been embarrassing.



GLOSSARY
2x4’s - Pieces of wood of indeterminate length and specie that are not 2x4” (actual dimensions 1½ x 3½ ”) same rules apply to 2x6, 2x8, and 2x12. If you want to the actual measurements pick up a thingy and check it out for yourself.
Authority having jurisdiction - The place where the buck stops, ignore them and they will make you pay.
Accountant - See Professional Engineer
Basement - The underbelly of a house offering habitable space below ground.
Behove - Incumbent upon you. (do the right thing)
B-Vent - (see also C-Vent) a double-wall portion of the exhaust system off your furnace or hot water tank; requiring a minimum of 25mm (1”) of clearance to anything combustible (including board)
Blocking - short pieces of lumber used to firestop or strengthen an assembly. Also known as ‘girts’ when used in a wall. Blocking used to carry a point load should be the same width or depth as the load above it; if there is a 3-ply post above then block the same area below. Always place the material so the grain is running the same as the joists.
Boarding - a generic term for the installation of Gypsum Board. The generally used wall finish. A material comprised of 2-layers of paper with gypsum sandwiched in between. It comes in sheets; is heavy; and is delivered (as quickly as possible; get the hell out of the way!) by the same people everywhere. It would seem they have figured out some way to fold space and disrupt the space time continuum. Their conversations are lively but extremely coarse and I swear over a fifteen year period they have all had experiences with the same girl.
Bylaw - Rules or regulations people within the City have to abide by these rules are law and can be enforced by fines or legal action
Cajole - Suck up to
Carpenter - Wood butcher
Cathartic - Giving you a feel good feeling.
Cold Joints - Formed when concrete starts to cure or harden and another lift is poured on top. This will occur when the concrete truck is delayed or the guys pouring stop to take lunch.
Complaints - Bitchin’
Council House - Property owned and operated by the City, tiny and generally overused, rundown and in need of repair, accommodation having a fireplace in the living room while the rest of the house was unheated. Housing that paid for itself a thousand times over.
Crawl Space - A heated or unheated space beneath the ground floor of your house.
C-Vent - Single-wall exhaust ducting off an appliance that requires 150mm (6”) of clearance to combustibles.
Damproofing - a tar like coating that is sprayed on your foundation wall to grade level. Applied in two coats twenty-four hours apart. Before applying ensure all imperfections and tie holes are sealed with an appropriate bituminous material (thick tar) or grout.
Daylights - When the foundation of the house diminishes, allowing the occupants to exit the house without necessarily going up stairs. Happens on a sloped lot.
Drain-tile - A gravel layer or manufactured pipe placed below the floor slab providing drainage, to hopefully alleviate the ingress of water beneath the footings.
Expert - see tool
Firestopping - Fire-Stopping: Fire Stop. Stopping Fire. In many areas of a building there are concealed spaces. Spaces that will be hidden after boarding. Vertical spaces connected to Horizontal spaces are typical. For instance the little space in the corner above the furnace room where the B-Vent runs up through the floor joists or attic on its way up to the roof or any other hidden space that connects one space to another. To stop the spread of fire these spaces must be separated from each other. The accepted materials for this use are: ½” Gypsum Board; ½” plywood (not Oriented Strand Board (OSB)); sheet metal or solid 1½” lumber. There are products that are applied like caulking but they are expensive and not necessary for firestopping but they are required in fire rated assemblies or fire separations. Know the difference; if you are penetrating a fire separation then the rating of the separation must be maintained with a product and a system that is proven. Firestopping is not the same thing.
Footing drains - see drain-tile.
Footings - The horizontal concrete upon which you place a foundation wall.
Foundation - A foundation is the base of a house, comprised of the footing and the foundation wall.
Foundation Wall - is the vertical aspect of the foundation. The concrete wall sitting on the footing: upon which you will build your house. (see Fig. #1)
Free - Mythical condition; requiring impressive self control and a look over the shoulder to see the occurrence is going unnoticed. Generally a condition that requires extreme caution. If experience is genuine it should be grasped with both hands and elicit a conservative Yahoo(!:) Do not draw attention to yourself.
Frost Protection - The depth to which you will have to dig so that your footings will not be affected by frost heave. Frost heave will actually lift things out of the ground given enough time. That’s why in some areas rocks pop out of the ground, especially in farmers fields every spring.
Grain - Lumber is made up of long fibres like a bundle of straws. The bundle has a side and ends. If you are looking at the end then you are looking at the end grain. When you use blocking in a point load the side grain should be running the same as the joists.
House - building: made of straw, twigs or bricks, you decide.
Home - where the heart is; where memories are conceived; a calming and cathartic state of mind. The place kids remember or never forget.
Honeycombing - The formation of air pockets in concrete due to improper placement during the pour.
Joist - dimensional lumber of differing sizes. Common dimension for floors 2x10 or 2x12. Most lumber is bowed or bent, when laying a floor the joists should be placed on edge, ‘Crown -Up.’ Do not skimp on the joist size. You will feel the difference, floors can sag and bounce if you go to the minimum. When Grandpa crosses the living room the china will fall over in the cabinet.
Insulation - a variety of materials that keep the heat in. Think mittens. Seriously, think, thick, plush woolly mittens.
Joking - hurting someone or something
LP’s - Long Playing record, played on a turntable at 331 / 3 Revolutions Per Minute. Predates cassette tapes and Cds.
Mono-pour - When the footing and foundation are poured together.
Not - No; Nada; no way José : over my dead body; read my lips. NO!
Permit - a piece of paper from city hall that authorizes your project. Call it a hoop if you will. You have to pay for it. The bigger your project the higher the cost and the more hoops you have to jump through.
Point Load - the point or location where a concentrated load is transferred to a supporting element. For example a beam carrying floor joists bearing upon a wall. The beam carries a part of the weight of the joists, the flooring and everything on the floor. But the beam only has two ends therefore all that weight is concentrated to the ends and is transferred to whatever is below. If the load is sitting on a double plate with nothing under it then ‘Houston we have a problem.’ Preferably the load should be carried by a post to foundation or footing, complete with blocking at the floor assembly. The idea is to avoid the last straw. Do not overload the camel.
Plumb - (see also square) Being plumb means perpendicular to a horizontal surface or meeting it at 90°
Plumber - water specialist that knows the three rules of plumbing: Shit flows downhill; payday’s on Friday and don’t lick your fingers. Favourite saying: this is going to be expensive.
Professional Engineer - Expert in a particular field: Geotechnical, Structural, Mechanical, Electrical and Civil, see also tool.
Promise - do the best I can
Knowledge - POWER!
Land Use Contract - A legal document governing many aspects of the development of a property and may include: building type and finishes, setbacks and usage. The regulations supersede those of the City or Municipality and are generally more restrictive.
Lawyer - See accountant
Limey - British, Brit, (Scouse)
Minimum - Lowest standard. Like the Building Code. Of course for some it’s a game of let’s see who can get below the minimum. Kinda like getting lower than low.
Non Disturbance Area - Self explanatory, stay out, don’t touch, get off. Do Not Disturb! Believe me you would not believe the number of people that just don’t get those three little words. DO NOT DISTURB.
Resume - history: usually written by the winner.
Return-Air - Part of a forced air heating system. The system has two sides supply and return. Return side sucks cold air, the supply side blows hot. The ratio of sucking to blowing should be as close to equal as you can get it. The arrangement allows air to flow and prevent undesirable positive or negative pressure effects.
Scouse - From Liverpool
Secondary Suite - A mortgage helper. A house keeping suite separate from the house. Requires a separate permit and a multitude of building considerations. Fire stopping, Fire separations and sound proofing, to name three.
Setback - the distance required under a City Bylaw from a building to property line, usually measured of the foundation or supporting element. Side; front and rear. Side and rear can be interior or exterior. Meaning you have a neighbouring property (interior)or you don’t (exterior).
Shot Rock - broken rock from blasting approximately a 3” minus.
Slab on Grade - House with no basement or crawl space below grade.
Specie - one of those as apposed to one of those or one of those.
Sump - A large concrete collector for footing drains and rain water leaders (RWLs) the drain pipes run to this lower chamber and dump water into it (inlets). There are pipes leading out of the sump (outlets) allowing it to drain. The benefit of the sump is it allows materials to settle and be cleaned out rather than flowing down the pipes eventually clogging them. If you are in an area that doesn’t have a storm system you may also want to discuss ‘soakage pits’ as an alternative. Speak with the plumbing or building inspector in your area for further information.
Square - a rectangle having all four sides equal in length. Dictionary definition but there is another shape that can have four equal sides: a parallelogram. Which by definition has opposite parallel sides. This is a shape that is not square. To be square your structure must have 90° corners both in the horizontal and in the vertical (see plumb). Being square is good.
Teeving Bastards - (not all but consider they might be) Engineers, Lawyers, Accountants, Painters, Investors, Boarders, Roofers etc. etc. etc.
Thingy - Any tool you do not know the name of; for example a tape measure. Avoid Mr. Thingy.
Tool - someone or something that gets the job done or someone or something that can’t.
Vapour Barrier (VB) - plastic or poly (6mil. Ultra Violet (UV) resistant) always placed to the warm side and should always be in contact with the insulation. (Think mittens!!!!!) Let’s say it is twenty below outside but it’s ok, you have mittens. So when you pull the mittens out of your parka and hold them close to your hands, well your hands feel so much warmer. Right? No. Wrong. Wake up! When your hand; like the vapour barrier is in contact with the Insulation (read mittens) then your hands will stay warm. It is the best analogy I can come up with. The fewer air gaps between the insulation and the VB the better. Your hands/house will be warmer. Remember cumulative heat loss will cost dollars.
Water Table - The depth at which you find ground water. If you find water at a depth shallower than that required frost protection; you have a problem, (think swamp) and further expense. My advice. Keep looking.