Living in a condominium or homeowners’ association has many great advantages. Being able to rely on the management team to provide stellar services, as well as finding the best professionals to care for your community, is a huge homeowner perk.
The Regal team is proud to be among the professionals chosen to care for, and enhance, many New Jersey communities, as you can see from our project photos below.
Today, we thought it would be helpful to take you inside our construction glossary and define some of the lingo you may hear when the board is discussing building enhancement or repair projects.
FOUNDATION
and its components
The foundation is the part of your structure that connects to the ground. The foundation also bears the load for the entire structure. Foundations are usually made of brick, stone, concrete, wood, steel or a combination of both; however, concrete foundations and slabs are the most common.
Footing
:
The footing is the part of the foundation that supports the concrete slab, floor joists, or blocks. Footings are formed by filling an excavated ditch with concrete to ground level. The footing runs along the entire perimeter of the structure.
Slab
:
The part of a concrete foundation that covers the entire ground surface area, forming the floor of the structure.
Stem Wall
:
A stem wall is a short reinforced concrete wall rising above the ground and running the perimeter of the structure. The walls can be poured at the same time as the slab or the footing. Stem walls protect a structure by raising its elevation and guarding against flooding.
Pier
:
Piers are excavated holes filled will reinforced concrete running at intervals along the perimeter of a structure. Footings and stem walls often have piers.
Pier and Beam
:
A foundation made from a combination of concrete piers and wood floor joists. In this foundation system, piers create the footing of the foundation while the joists sit on top of them and form the floor.
FRAMING
Framing is fitting together the main part of a structure with wood or steel. Framing occurs after a structure’s foundation is prepared and set. The typical process is to add outside panels made from plywood that give the structure its stability.
SHEATHING
Sheathing is the board or panel material used in floor, wall and roof assemblies, of both residential and commercial construction, and can come in different types such as,
wood, gypsum or cement. The most basic function of sheathing, in any application, is to form a surface onto which other materials can be applied.
