Leasehold Definitions - Jargon Buster

40 definitions for letter B:

Baluster, banister (joi.)

A post in a balustrade of a bridge or flight of stairs. Wooden turned balusters were first used in England in Elizabethan times and were then about 8 cm (3 in.) in diamater.

Balustrade

Collective name to the whole infilling from handrail down to floor level at the edge of a stair, bridge, etc.

Barge board

A long section of timber used to face the edge of a pitched roof at the point where it meets the gable end.

Barge board, verge b., gable b.

A sloping board (built in pairs) along a gable, covering the ends of roof timbers, and protecting them from rain. Old barge boards were often beautifully carved.

Base course

The lowest or lowest visible course of a masonry wall, often provided with a water table.

Basic variable mortgage rate

The mortgage lender's standard rate of interest which may be increased or decreased, depending on prevailing economic conditions.

Batten

A length of timber to which roof tiles are fixed.

Bay window

A window formed in a projection of the wall beyond its general line. Unlike an oriel window, it is carried on foundations outside the general building line and an oriel is carried on corbels.

Bearer (carp.)

A horizontal timber, often a joist, which spreads load.

Beneficiary

A person for whose benefit property is being held by trustees, executors or administrators.

Bill of quantities (q.s.)

A list of numbered items, each of which describes the quantity of some work to be done in a civil engineering or building contract. When the procedure of tendering is adopted (as is usual in Britain), the bill is sent out to contractors. Those contractors who wish to do the work write an extended price opposite each item. This price bill is the contractor's offer (or tender or bid) to do the work.

Bitumen

A tar like substance which when heated becomes liquid, and then hardens after cooling. Generally used for joining both layers of a flat felt roof.

Blistering (pai.)

Bubbles in a paint surface, caused by vaporization of moisture or resin under the surface.

Block / Block of Flats

Self-contained units in a residential property are termed Blocks of Flats. When such blocks seek to form a Right to Manage Company, the Block needs to fulfil legal criteria pertaining to the number of units, its capacity for redevelopment, the proportion of commercial to residential property, and the ability of the tenants to meet qualifying criteria.

Block bonding

Connecting several courses of brickwork of one wall into the courses of another, often for bonding shallow facing bricks into thicker common bricks in the backing, and for bonding new work into old. Compare toothing.

Bond (1)

Laying bricks or stones in a wall in a regular pattern, devised when mortars were weaker and had less adhesion than now. It was important then for every vertical joint to be at least a quarter of the length of a brick or stone from the next vertical joint above or below. It is not now so essential. Common bonds include: American, diagonal, English, English cross, Flemish, garden-wall, heading, stretching.

Bond (2)

The placing of slates or plain tiles to exclude rain in such a way that the joint between adjoining units is at or near the centre of the unit in the course below them.

Bond (3) pla.

Adhesion (also called interface strength) resulting from mechanical bond (C) and specific adhesion (C).

Bond (4) tim.

The layer of glue in a plywood joint.

Bond (5)

See lashing, also C.

Bond failure (pla.)

The commonest fault in plasters - detachment of a coat from the background or from an earlier coat. Defects that can cause it, either alone or in combination include: lack of key in the background or the earlier coat, sometimes caused by dirt or grease or the formation of salt at the interface; unset plaster caused by premature drying; too wet or too dry background (suction faults); movement caused by moisture expansion or contraction or settlement of the building (BS 5492).

Bow window

A bay window which is curved in plan.

Brick definitions

The BSI defines four types of clay or concrete brick: cellular bricks with indentations (frogs) exceeding 20% of the volume; 'solid' bricks with a frog less than 20% of the volume, alternatively with small holes passing through that do not exceed 25% of the volume; thirdly 'perforated' bricks with small through holes exceeding 25% of the volume; fourthly 'hollow' bricks with large through holes exceeding 25% of the volume. 'Small holes' are less than 2cm across or 5 sq.cm. in area. But the bulk of US bricks in current use are 'solid' according to these definitions. Bricks with small through holes are nevertheless known as 'perforated' although the BS call them 'solid' (BS 3921, 6073).

Bridging loan

A temporary loan, which allows a buyer to complete on the purchase of a property before selling their previous property.

British Standard, BS, BS specification

A numbered publication of the British Standards Institution description the quality or the dimensions of a manufacture, such as pipes or bricks. Frequently dimensions and the quality are described in two separate standards. The use by architects or engineers of British Standards in their specifications can reduce reduce the volume of the description to a reference (for steel frames, for example) to BS 449.

British Standards Institution, BSI

The British organization for standardizing, by agreement between maker and user, the methods of test and dimensions of materials as well as codes of practice and nomenclature. Corresponding organizations other countries are AFNOR (Association Francais de Normalisation); ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials); ASA (American Standards Association). A German standard number is prefixed DIN (Deutsche Industrie Norm).

Building code (USA)

Local building laws corresponding to Building Regulations in Britain. Compare code of practice.

Building inspector

An employee in Britain of a local authority, building society, or insurance company, who tells his employers whether a building is built in accordance with the law or advises them on its rateable value, fire risk, and mortgage value. He needs wide knowledge of building construction, which may be attested by the Building Inspector's Certificate of the Institution of Municipal Engineers. See inspector (C), building official.

Building Insurers

The issuers of Insurance for the Building

Building line (1)

The line fixed, usually by the local authority, as a limit to building near a road.

Building line (2)

The outside face of the wall of a building, shown, in plan, as a line on a drawing.

Building official (USA)

An employee of a local authority whose duty it is to enforce a building code. He may correspond to the British building inspector.

Building regulations

Prior to the owner of a property carrying out extension work, alterations or structural changes, building regulations need to be obtained from the local authority giving their approval for the work to commence.

Building Research Digest BRE Digest

Inexpensive leaflets stating the conclusions of the Building Research Establishment about a building topic. They are issued monthly, covering hundreds of subjects from 'Co-ordination of building colours' to 'Materials for making concrete'. The full title is Building Research Establishment Digest.

Building Research Establishment (BRE)

The BRE of the British Department of the Environment was created in 1971 by the fusion of four government bodies, the Building Research Station (Watford, Herts), the BRE Scottish Laboratory (East Kilbride, Glasgow), the Fire Research Station (Boreham Wood, Herts), and the former Forest Products Research Laboratory (Princes Risborough, Bucks). One example of the international reputation of the BRE its work on single-stack drainage.

Building survey (formerly a full structural survey)

This type of survey does not typically include a valuation of the property. This survey is designed to provide a full assessment of the construction of the building and its current condition. It includes details of major and minor faults detected and may recommend further specialist investigation of particular aspects of the property. It is particularly useful for listed buildings, older properties, or properties of unique design and also for dilapidated buildings or properties where alterations have been made or are planned.

Building surveyor (q.s.)

A person trained in the techniques, costs and law of building construction. He advises on alterations, building defects, easements, extensions, renovations, energy conservation, planning applications, improvement grants, maintenance, fire insurance, and structural surveys in buildings in use. 'Chartered' building surveyors are Fellows or Associates of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Others belong to the Incorporated Association of Architects and Surveyors or the Faculty of Architects and Surveyors.

Buildings Insurance

The policy issued by the insurers for a Building

Buy to let mortgage

A type of mortgage specifically for investors buying a property with the intention of then letting it out

Boiler flue

The part of a boiler that removes waste gasses from combustion to safe disposal (usuallly outside a building). There are some types of flue that serve dual purpose and bring in fresh air for the combustion process as well as removing waste gasses.