scraper n.— «Without those ongoing improvement costs, a house runs the risk of being what the building industry calls a “scraper.” That’s a house with so much deferred maintenance that it’s cheaper to scrape it off the...
soil nailing n.— «He estimated that roughly two-thirds of the steep walls required extra attention to shore them up, using an engineering technique called soil nailing.» —“Museum opening delayed to 2010″ by Tracie...
panelizing n.— «Volunteers gave up an entire weekend last April for the “blitz build.” The frame of the house, which was built last winter inside a large warehouse, was moved to the site for this event. Volunteers then put the walls and...
witness mark n. generally, an intentional, accidental, or naturally occurring spot, line, groove, or other contrasting area that serves as an indicator of certain facts; in geography and surveying, a blaze, cut, hole, paint splash, or message...
flowing volcano n.— «There were things I didn’t figure on, however. I never thought, by playing online games, that I could learn how to build something called a “flowing volcano,” which, apparently, is used—quite...
stretcher n.— «The bricks laid longways are called stretchers; the bricks laid crossways, so that you can only see one end, are called headers. In English bond, the courses of stretchers and headers alternate. In Flemish bond, each course...