Design Glossary - W

Wainscot, Wainscoting:

Wood panelling on boards up to dado height in a room, wainscot oak Quarter-sawn oak used for panelling.

Waist:

The narrow part of an object, in particular the least thickness of a reinforced-concrete stair slab.

Wall Anchor:

A steel strap screwed to the end of every second or third common joist and built into the brickwork to ensure that the joists give lateral support to the wall. It is fixed to the same joists as those to which the strap anchors are fixed.

Wall Plate:

Horizontal timber along the top of the walls at eaves level to which rafters and ceiling are fixed.

Wall:

panel or partition between two spaces.

Wallboard:

Building boards made for surfacing, rather than for insulating ceilings and walls. Wallboards include plywood, tapered-edge and other plasterboard, and glossy laminated plastics glued to a backing of hardboard or plywood. Hardboards give some insulation, are fairly cheap, and much quicker to put up than matchboard, but most of them cannot be installed in a damp place such as a bathroom.

Wall Painting (Mural):

(paint effects) this is as it sounds, painting a picture or pattern directly onto the wall.

Wainscoting

Wallpaper

Wallpaper:

Decorated printed paper sold in rolls for sticking on the plaster of walls. At least a sealer or lining paper should be put on new plaster to prevent it discolouring paper.

For more information on wallpaper

Walnut:

A decorative hardwood, mainly from southern Europe. The English variety has a finer figure and colour but is rare. Walnut is a wood with a grey background and dark, sometimes ruddy streaks, used for carving, turnery, and veneers, in which its burrs and crutches are valued.

For more information on Timber and Wood

Wane:

Bark or the rounded surface under the bark, on sawn timber.

Warm Colours

Warm Colors

Warm Colors:

The reds, yellows and oranges of the color wheel are referred to as the warm colors, these colours give the effect of creating more adrenaline, raising your blood pressure, increasing your rate of breath and therefore increasing your temperature, making you feel warm. Obviously the stronger the color the more intense the effect.

For more information on Warm and Cool Colors

Warp:

The threads of a fabric that run vertically.

Waste Pipe:

Pipe carrying water from basin, bath, or sink.

Water-Based:

Descriptive of wax, pigment, resin, etc. dissolved in water.

Water Softener:

A chemical unit that treats water in such a way that soap lathers easily in it. It removes the calcium and magnesium salts called hardness, which produce furring in pipes, kettles, and boilers. wood) caused by converted timber getting wet.

Water Stain:

This traditional type of stain comprises of vegetable dyes dissolved in boiling water. The modern type uses acrylic resin. The water stain is useful for emphasizing the grain in softwoods, but it has a disadvantage of raising the grain.

Wavy Grain

Wavy Grain:

(timber) the cells run in a regular pattern of waves. It is difficult to plane and produces “fiddle back” figure.A curly attractive grain often seen in birch, mahogany, and sycamore.

For more information on Timber and Wood

Weather Bar:

A term occasionally used for water bar. A water and draught excluder for an inward-opening casement. Either window or door.

Weather Fillet:

A cement fillet.

Weather Moulding:

A moulding housed into the bottom rail of an outside door to throw water off the threshold. It includes a drip.

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