Dictionary of Interior Designing

Balcony - A horizontal cantilevered projection including a hand-rail or balustrade to serve as passage or sitting out place.

Back - The inner surface of the wall which is not exposed to weather is termed as back.

Back flap hinges - This type of hinges are used with thin shutters where butt hinges are not used. These hinges are fixed to the back side of the shutters and frame .

Barsati - Habitable room on the roof with or without toilet / kitchen. Bat - It is the portion of a brick cut accross the width or a brick cut by some fraction of its length.

Basement - The lower storey of a building below or partly below ground level.

Baluster - It is a wooden , metal or masonary vertical member supporting a hand rail.

Balustrade - It usually consists of a row of balusters surmounted by a rail and is provided to perform the function of a fence or guard for the users of the stair-way.

Bay Window - A window projecting outward from the walls of a room is termed as a bay window.

Bead - It is a rounded or semi-circular moulding provided on the edges of surface of wood.

Batten - It is the name given to a narrow strip of wood normally nailed over joints of boards.

Beam or R. C. C. Beam - These are the supporting elements. For bigger span and heavy loading conditions or in situations where intermediate walls are not provided , to reduce the span of the floor slab , R.C.C beam and slab construction is adopted.

Bearing capacity of soil - The maximum load per unit area which the soil or rock can carry without yielding or displacement is termed as the bearing capacity of soil.

Blowing - This is commonly known as blistering of plaster. This consists the formation of small patches of plaster swelling out beyond the plastered surface.

Balanced footing - It is commonly known as Strap footing. In this the load from the outer column is balanced by the load from the inner column through a cantilever beam , acting through a fulcrum.

Barge board - It is a timber board used to hold the common rafters forming verge.

Beamless slab - It is also known as flat slab , it is a type of construction in which the flooring slab is directly supported on columns without the agency of beams or girders.

Bifurcated stairs - This type of stair is provided in modern public buildings. In this type of stairs , the flights are so arranged there is a wide flight at the start which is sub-divided into narrow flights at the mid-landing.

Blocking course - It is a course of stone masonary provided immediately above the cornice to check the tendency of the cornice to overturn and incidentally it adds to its appearance.

Bond - It is a term applied to the over-lapping of bricks or stones in a wall in alternate courses , to bind the whole wall together.

Breast walls - They are stone walls provided to protect the slopes of cutting in natural ground from the action of weather.

Brick masonry - These walls are also provided to support earth , loose stone , coal etc. The wall acts as one mass to resist the thrust from the backing and is much more stronger than dry stone masonry wall.

Butt hinges - This type of hinge is most commonly used for fixing door or window shutters to the frame. The sizes of hinges vary from 50mm long x 37mm wide to 125mm long x 75mm wide.

Back flap hinges - This type of hinges are used with thin shutters where butt hinges cannot be used.

Barrel bolt - This type of bolt is similar to tower bolt except that the stapples are replaced by a barrel.

Buttress - It is similar to a pier built on the exterior of a wall and properly binded to it. Buttresses are placed at intervals along wall to make it stable for resisting outward.

Bulking of sand - When dry sand comes in contact with moisture , thin film is formed around the particles , which causes them to get apart from each other. This result in increasing the volume of sand. This phenomenon is known as bulking of sand.

Building line - The line upto which the plinth of a building adjoining a street or extension of a street or on a future may lawfully extend.