Here is a brief description of some commonly
used moulding and millwork terms
| Astragals: |
Attached to one pair
of doors to keep the other from swinging through the opening.
Also used for decorative purposes such as on the edge
of shelves.
|
| Back Bands: |
A rabbeted moulding used
to surround the outside edge of casing. |
| Base Caps: |
A decorative member installed
flush against the wall and the top of an S4S baseboard.
Also used as a versatile panel moulding. |
| Base Mouldings: |
Applied where the floor
and walls meet, forming a visual foundation. Protects
walls from kicks, bumps, furniture, etc. Base may be referred
to as one, two, or three member base. Shoe and base cap
are used to conceal uneven floor and wall junctures as
well as hide the ½” expansion joint which
should be left around the entire perimeter of the wood
floor (flooring should not be installed so that it butts
against the walls). |
| Base Shoes: |
Applied where the base
moulding meets the floor. Protects the base from damage.
Also conceals uneven lines or cracks where the base meets
the floor. |
| Battens: |
A symmetrical pattern
used to conceal the line where two parallel boards or
panels meet. |
| Beds: |
Used where walls and
ceiling meet. Either sprung or plain. |
| Casing: |
Used to trim inside and
outside door and window openings. |
| Chair Rails: |
Interior moulding applied
about one-third up from the floor, parallel to base moulding
and encircling the room. Originally used to prevent chairs
from marring walls, today they are used as a key decorative
detail in traditional and colonial designs. |
| Chamfer Strip: |
Used in highway and dam
construction forms making a chamfered edge at concrete
corners. Also used where kitchen cabinet tops meet the
wall. Also used as a linoleum cove, under linoleum where
it extends up the wall. |
| Corner Guards: |
An outside corner guard
is used to protect corners or to cover ragged edges where
wall covering and painted surfaces meet at an outside
corner. |
| Coves: |
Used at corners, specifically
as a ceiling cornice. Small coves may be used as an inside
corner guard. Concave profile. |
| Crowns: |
Used where walls and
ceiling meet. Also used to cover large angles. Always
sprung. |
| Flat Stools: |
A moulded interior trim,
rabbeted or bevel-rabbeted that receives the window frame
sill. Non-rabbeted stools include a tongue to fit in the
groove of the window frame sill. |
| Half Rounds: |
May be used as a screen
moulding or bead shelf edge or panel moulding. |
| Handrail: |
Used as a support in
a stairwell. |
| Inside Corner: |
Used to join two walls
at an inside corner. Solves problems of uneven joints
where butted panels, wallpapered, painted or other contrasting
surfaces meet. Gives corners a decorative finished look. |
| Panel Moulding: |
Originally used to trim
out raised panel wall construction. Now often used to
frame attractive wall coverings for a paneled effect. |
| Quarter Rounds: |
May be used as a base
shoe. Inside corner moulding or to cover a 90 degree recessed
juncture. |
| Panel Strips/Mullion
Casings: |
A strip that is applied
over window jamb edges in a multiple opening window. Sometimes
called a panel strip. |
| Picture Moulding: |
Used to support hooks
for picture hanging. Applied around a room’s circumference
near the ceiling line. |
| Rabbet: |
A cut or groove along
or near the edge of a piece of wood that allows another
piece to fit into it to form a joint. The notch is at
a right angle cut. |
| Rabbeted Stools: |
A moulded interior trim
serving as a window frame sill cap. |
| Rounds: |
Used as closet poles
or room dividers. |
| Shelf Cleat: |
Commonly used in closets,
cabinets and bookcases to support the shelves. Also called
shelf strip. |
| Shelf Edge: |
Covers particle or flakeboard
shelf edges. |
| Shingles: |
Used on the rake of a
building or around exterior window frames. |
| Squares: |
Used in cabinets, framing
for shelves and as balusters or spindles for supporting
stair handrails. |
| Stops: |
In door trim, a stop
is nailed to the faces of the doorframe to prevent the
door from swinging through. As window trim, a stop holds
the bottom sash of a double-hung window in place. Also
used as an apron under window stools. |
| T-Astragals: |
A T-shaped astragal that
is rabbeted to the same thickness of a swinging door. |
| Wainscot/Ply cap: |
Trims out the upper edge
or top of a Wainscot. Covers the rough sandwich edge of
plywood in installation where it’s exposed to view.
Also called a Dado cap. |
