DAB - To dress the face of a stone by picking with a pointed tool

DACITE - Fine-grained extrusive (volcanic) rock, intermediate in color and composition between basalt and rhyolite.

DADO - Stone treatment on interior walls which does not extend to the ceiling, often ornamented.

DAMP COURSE - A course or layer of impervious material which prevents vertical penetration of water by capillary action.

DAMPPROOFING - Prevention of moisture penetration due to capillary action by the addition of one or more coatings of a compound that is impervious to water.

DAMPPROOFING COURSE - A horizontal or vertical course or layer, usually at least six inches above the ground level, that prevents the capillary entrance of moisture from the ground or a lower course.

DATUM - A horizontal plane elevation used as a reference plane.

DEADMAN - Buried cross timbers, or a bulk of concrete or stone, to which are attached guy pieces of wood, or wire cable, to anchor an upright post or derrick nearby.

DEFLECTION - The amount by which a horizontal member bends at the center under stress.

DELAMINATION - A failure in a laminating assembly characterized by the separation or loss of adhesion between plies, such as in built-up roofing or glue-laminated timber.

DENTIL - Block projections on an entablature.

DENTIL COURSE - Mold course immediately below the cornice, having on one of its members, small uniformly spaced blocks, referred to as dentils.

DEPTH OF GLOSS - The optical phenomenon of relative depth perceived when viewing reflective surfaces.

DERRICK - A hoisting device, usually made up of a guyed mast, a boom hinged to it, and pulley ropes.

DESIGN - To bring into being a mental concept.

DETAIL - A graphic representation of a part, usually at a larger scale than the design to which it belongs.

DIABASE - A granular igneous rock, dark gray to black, sometimes called dolerite.

DIAMOND MATCHING - (Quarter matching) A veneer panel matching pattern similar to book matching, except that the third and fourth panels are inverted over panels one and two.

DIAMOND SAWED - Finish produced by sawing with diamond toothed saws (either circular or gang).

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

DIE - A covering layer of interior stone from wall to ceiling.

DIMENSION - Stone-Natural building stone that has been selected, trimmed, or cut to specified shapes and sizes. Final surface treatment, or finish is as specified.

DIORITE - Granular, crystallized igneous stone composed of feldspar and hornblende.

DOGS AND CHAIN - Pair of steel hooks with rings attached into which chain is slung; vertical pull on chain draws hooks together in horizontal direction to grip stone blocks.

DOG’S TOOTH - A brick laid with it’s corner projecting from the wall face.

DOLLY POINTED - See picked.

DOLOMITE - A calcium magnesium carbonate; a crystalline variety of limestone, containing in excess of 40 percent of magenesium carbonate as the dolomite molecule.

DOLOMITE MARBLE - A crystalline variety of limestone, containing in excess of 49% of magnesium carbonate as the dolomite molecule.

DOLOMITIC LIMESTONE - A limestone rich in magnesium carbonate, frequently somewhat crystalline in character. It is found in ledge formations in a wide variety of color tones and textures. Generally speaking, its crushing and tensile strengths are greater than oolitic limestones, and its appearance shows greater variety in texture.

DOLOSTONE - A dolomitic limestone..

DOVETAIL ANCHOR - A splayed tenon that is shaped like a dove’s tail, broader at its end than at its base, which fits into the recess of a corresponding mortise.

DOVETAIL MOLDING - A molding in which interlocked triangles are used.

DOWEL - A cylindrical metal pin used in aligning and strengthening joints of adjacent stone units, or to assist in anchoring stone units.

DOWELS - Straight metal bars or rods used to connect two sections of masonry or masonry to other materials.

DRAFT - The tooled strip or border of faced stone, also known as a margin.

DRAFTSMAN - One who translates and draws or prepares a design into drawings.

DRESSED/ HAND DRESSED - The cutting of rough chunks of stone by hand to create a square or rectangular shape. A stone which is sold as dressed stone generally refers to stone ready for installation.

DRESSING - The shaping and squaring, sometimes called scabbling, of blocks for storage and shipment.

DRILL - To cut a cylindrical hole, or a tool used to drill a cylindrical hole.

DRIP - A recess cut into the underside of projecting stone to divert water and prevent it from running down the face of a wall or other surface of which it is a part.

DRIP MOLD - A molding shaped for drip.

DROVE - A mason’s blunt chisel for facing stone.

DRUM - One of the cylindrical stone blocks of a column shaft.

DRY PACK - A mixture of Portland Cement and fine aggregate, dampened, but not to the extent that it will flow. It is usually rammed or packed in a hole to secure a bar or anchor, but it is also packed under base plates.

DRY SEAM - Unhealed fracture which may be a plane of weakness.

DRY WALL - Dry wall is a stone that is constructed one stone upon the other without the use of any mortar. Generally used for retaining walls.

DUAL FINISH - Two finishes on one piece of stone, such as thermal and polished.

DURABILITY - The measure of the ability of dimension stone to endure and to maintain its essential and distinctive characteristics of strength, resistance to decay and moisture, and appearance.

DUTCHMAN - A small, matching piece of dimension stone that is cut, finished and attached with the tightest possible joint to a floor, wall, top, or other larger piece of stone to increase its length or width or to repair or replace a missing or damaged area. Dutchmen are usually affixed in the fabrication shop with epoxy or polyester resin.

ECCENTRICITY - The distance between a vertical load reaction and a centroidal axis of masonry.

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

EFFECTIVE HEIGHT - The height of a member that is assumed when calculating the slenderness ratio.

EFFLORESCENCE - A deposit or encrustation of soluble salts generally white, usually carbonates or sulfates, that may form on the surface of stone, brick, concrete or mortar when moisture moves through and evaporates from the masonry.

EGGSHELL FINISH - Dull polish or matte surface.

EIGHT-CUT FINISH - Fine, bush-hammered; interrupted parallel markings not over 3/32" apart; a corrugated finish; smoother near arris lines and on small surfaces.

ELLIPSE - The conic section resulting from cutting a cone obliquely through its curved surface.

EMULSION - Mixture of solid particles of binder and the liquid carrier in which they are suspended but insoluble.

ENCRINAL MARBLE - Marble deriving decoration from fossils or shells.

ENDOLITHIC - The process of adding color to incised lettering in stone.

ENTABLATURE - A horizontal, projecting group of stones immediately above a column capital. Consists of three major parts

ENTASIS - The curve resulting from the gradual diminishing in the diameter of the upper two-thirds of a column.

EPOXY - A class of synthetic, thermosetting resins which produce tough, hard, chemical resistant coating and excellent adhesives.

EPOXY RESIN - A flexible, usually thermal setting resin made by polymerization of an epoxide and used as an adhesive. They are characterized by toughness, good adhesion, corrosion, chemical resistance, and good dielectric properties. Most epoxy resins are the two-part type, which harden when blended. It is used as surface coatings, adhesives for composites and for metals, floor surfacing and wall panels, cements and mortars.

ERECTION - The process of and setting vertical dimensional stone in place.

EXFOLIATION - Peeling, swelling or scaling of stone or mineral surfaces in thin layers, caused by chemical or physical weather or by heat.

EXPANSION - Enlargement of length and bulk by reason of temperature rise or absorption of water.

EXPANSION ANCHOR - A metal expandable unit inserted into a drilled hole that grips stone by expansion.

EXPANSION BOLT - An anchoring device; a socket that grips a drilled hole in stone by expanding as the bolt is screwed into it.

EXPANSION-CONTRACTION JOINT - A joint designed to expand or contract with the temperature change.

EXPEDITER - One who clerks and hastens the arrival of building materials or equipment to meet a progress schedule.

EXPOSED AGGREGATE - Phrase applied to the larger pieces of stone aggregate purposefully exposed for their color and texture in a cast slab. Can be done by casting on a slab or by application to an existing wall over epoxy or cement coat.

EXTERIOR - The outside of a building or situated on the outside.

FABRICATED - Dimensional stone manufactured and ready for installation.

FABRICATION - The work involved in transforming building stone from quarry blocks to cut or finished stone. This includes primary sawing into slabs. It may also include both hand and mechanical techniques such as sawing, drilling, grinding, honing, polishing, and carving.

FACADE - A face of a building, usually the front.

FACE - Refers to the exposed surface of stone on the structure. Or, a horizontal belt of vertical face, often used in combination with moldings.

FACE SHELL - The wall of a hollow masonry unit, on its front and back surface.

FACE SHELL BEDDING - Mortar applied only to the face shells of hollow masonry units.

FACING - Any material forming a part of a wall, used as a finished surface. Also, a wall in which the stone face and the back-up wall are of different materials.

FACTOR OF SAFETY - The factor by which the expected weight or stress is multiplied to indicate the surplus of strength or resistance provided for safety’s sake.

FALSE JOINT - A groove routed in a solid piece of stone to simulate a joint.

FASCIA - A horizontal band of vertical face, often used in combinations with moldings.

FAULT - A dislocation of stone strata which may interfere with natural underground drainage, or a break in the layers or bedding plane.

FEATHER EDGE - A sharp arris formed by beveling or cutting a piece of stone

FEATHER-EDGED COPING - Coping that slopes in only one direction (not ridged or gabled). In some areas, it implies slope towards rear of wall.

FELDSPAR - Any group of crystalline minerals, all silicates of aluminum with either potassium, sodium, calcium, or barium. An essential constituent of nearly all crystalline rocks.

FERRUNGINOUS - Limestone or quartz-based stone (sandstone) containing a high proportion of iron oxide.

FIELD - The expanse of wall between openings, corners, etc…, principally composed of stretchers.

FIELD STONE - Loose blocks separated from ledges by natural processes and scattered through or upon the ground cover; applied also to similar transported materials, such as glacial boulders and cobblestones.

FIELDSTONE - A weathered stone found on top of the ground.

FILLER STRIP - Refers to a resilient material placed in the rear portion of a joint to function as a sealant stop.

FILLET - Rebate, often used as a decorative feature with moldings.

FILLING - A trade expression used in the fabrication of marble to indicate the filling of natural voids with color-blended cements, shellac or synthetic resins and similar materials.

FINES - The powder, dual, silt-size, and sand-size material resulting from processing (usually crush tog) rock.

FINISH - Final surface applied to the face of dimensional stone during fabrication.

FINISH FLOOR - The exposed top member of a flooring assembly.

FINISHER - Person or business which operates a plant or machinery for the fabrication of domestic and foreign stones for building and other purposes.

FIRE CLAY - A clay used for making brick that is highly resistant to heat without deforming.

FIRE RESISTANTIVE MATERIAL - See noncombustible material.

FIREPLACE - An opening on a hearth, served by a chimney flue, where an open fire may be laid.

FIREPROOF - Relatively incombustible.

FIREPROOFING - Any material or combination protecting structural members and increasing their fire resistance.

FIXING - A term used in Europe to describe the installation of stone work.

FLAGSTONE - Thin slabs of stone used for flagging or paving walks, driveways, patios, etc…, and is generally a fine-grained sandstone, bluestone, quartzite, or slate, but thin slabs of other stones may be used.

FLASHING - Manufacturing process to produce specific color tones in clay units by creating a reducing atmosphere in the kiln. Or, a thin impervious material placed in mortar joints and through air spaces in masonry to prevent water penetration and provide water drainage. Also, metal or other protective material used to cover joints, tops of walls, parapet walls, or angles, as of a roof.

FLEURI - The mottled effect obtained when certain marble varieties are sawn parallel to their natural bedding plane.

FLEURI CUT - Unique to the marble industry, it is cut parallel to the natural bedding plane.

FLINT - Dense, fine-grained, naturally occurring form of silica that fractures conchoidally.

FLOAT - A mason’s tool, a flat board with handle on one side, used for spreading and smoothing plaster or cement.

FLOAT COAT - The final mortar coat applied with a float over which the neat coat is applied.

FLOOR - The horizontal surface of a room or building upon which one stands or walks. Also, the area between two adjacent levels of a building.

FLOOR PLAN - The plan, or horizontal section, of a building.

FLOORING - Stone used as an interior pedestrian walking surface.

FLUSH - Descriptive of adjoining surfaces in the same plane.

FLUSH JOINT - A joint where the mortar or sealant is pressed flush with the stone face.

FLUTED - Stone having a regular series of concave grooves.

FLYING BUTTRESS - A buttress that includes a rampant arch to carry the inner thrust to the pier.

FOLIATION - The layered or banded structure of rock in which the mineral grains became re-aligned at right angles to a directional force that existed during metamorphism.

FOUR-CORNER FINISH - Coarse bush-hammered finish with same characteristics as 6-cut, but with markings not more than 7/32" apart.

FOUR-MAN BOULDERS - Rough stones under 750 pounds.

FOYER - A subordinate space between an entrance and the main interior to which it leads.

FREESTONE - A stone that may be cut freely in any direction without fracture or splitting.

FRIEZE - Flat member of the entablature occurring above the architrave and below the cornice.

FRITH STOOL - A stone seat near the altar of a church.

FROG - A depression in the bed surface of a brick, sometimes called a panel.

FRONT - The more important face of a building, or that containing its main entrance.

FULL MORTAR BEDDING - Mortar applied to the entire thickness of a masonry unit.

FURRING - The method of finishing the interior face of masonry wall to provide space for insulation, to prevent moisture transmittance, or to provide a smooth or plane surface for finishing.

FURROWING - The practice of striking a ‘V’ in a bed of mortar with the point of the trowel.