Get to know your house terms

Homebuyers and homeowners can be excused for not knowing the names of all of the parts of a house. A typical house contains more than 3,000 different components. You may hear people throwing around terms such as soffit, cornice and joist without knowing exactly what they are.

Some of the names for house parts have made their way into common English usage in a non-housing context. For instance, most people know the term “eavesdropper” for someone who listens in on someone else’s conversation. One also finds house parts in people’s names, such as the actor Clark Gable or tennis star Patrick Rafter.

Here’s a primer on some of the components of a typical house from John A. Kilpatrick’s book “Understanding House Construction,” published by the Home Builders Press of the National Association of Home Builders.

•Molding is found both on the interior and exterior of houses. It is the wood, metal, plastic or plaster trim used around windows and doors, at the tops and bases of walls, along cornices, and for other decorative details.

•Base molding is a decorative band or finish board that is used to cover the joint between the wall and the floor; it is also sometimes called baseboard.

•Crown molding is a decoration used to cover the area where the wall and the ceiling intersect.

•Flashing is sheet metal or plastic used to cover joints and openings in exterior surfaces of the house to protect against water leakage.

•Framing is the structural skeleton of the house, usually made of beams, studs and joists. The beams are members used to support the structure. For instance, the center beam is a member that runs the length of the first floor of a house and supports the house structure above it. The collar beam is horizontal member in the roof that provides structural strength by connecting opposite rafters.

•Studs are the upright wood or metal members used to form the walls and partitions. Joists are the horizontal parallel beams that support floors and ceilings.

•Cornices are found on the exterior of the house. They are the structural trim that is used to cover the area where the roof and the wall meet. A soffit is a special type of cornice that covers the exposed underside of a projecting house part, such as the exposed underside of part of your roof that extends beyond a wall of your house. The eaves are the edges of roof that run parallel to the ground. You put gutters along the eaves to carry off rainwater and snowmelt from the roof.

•Moving up to the roof, the rafters are the structural members that form the legs of the triangle created by the framing.

•The ridge board is the length of lumber at the peak of the roof to which the upper ends of the rafters are fastened.

•A gable is the triangular end wall of a house that extends from the eaves to the peak of the roof. (A famous house in Salem, Mass. has seven of them).

•A dormer is a projection built out from a sloping roof as a room extension or for a window.

Not all houses have all of these features, and there are many house features that are not described above. If you wish to learn more about the components of a house, you may order the book “Understanding House Construction” by calling (800) 223-2665, or by visiting www.BuilderBooks.com.

If you are ready to build your new home and would like more information, we invite you to contact the Spokane Home Builders Association at (509) 532-4990. We are a local trade association comprised of more than 1,000 professional businesses affiliated with the building industry, and we can help you achieve any project you have in mind.