Real Estate Glossary

Real Estate Glossary
Our glossary is the largest dictionary of real estate and construction terms on the Internet with almost 10,000 definitions.



 
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Safety bar installed in a bathtub for use when bathing.

Frequent samples done periodically for purposes of testing material or water.

Specified time, after the due date, in which a borrower may make a payment without incurring a penalty.

1. A rating in a scale to classifying according to rank, quality, degree, etc.
2. The ground level around a building.
3. The degree or rise of a sloping surface.
4. To change the original slope of ground to prepare for paving or for drainage purposes.
5. A method of classifying the quality of building materials, such as lumber.

Foundation beam, which is resting, at grade level, on pilings, which are supports in a vertical position to provide stability when soul is not stable.

Point where the ground slope changes.

Lath with marks indicating its grade.

Flat or sloping surface, the ground elevation, upon which a building is built.

Stamp, or other marking, which shows the classification of the quality of the material.

To evaluate the proposed slope of a driveway, road, etc. a calculation is done by dividing the rise and fall of the grade by the distance over which the rise and fall is measured. This decimal figure is then multiplied by 100 to obtain the percent grade.

Steel pin, which hold the measuring string over the area that an excavation is being dug.

Cylinder sections used are used to bring the top of a manhole close to grade so the manhole casting on the top is level with grade.

Surveyor's rod with feet and decimal feet marked for measuring. A surveyor can ascertain the vertical change in grade, between his transit, from which he is viewing and the location of the grade rod.

Stake that marks the correct height of a finished footing when they are cut to the proper elevation, and set into the footing excavation, which uses no forms. The tops mark the proper height.

Measuring stick for the distance from an overhead structure to the wanted level of the top of a concrete surface. The grade stick is used to check the measurement as the concrete is poured to the proper depth and the slab is floated. Often using a grade stick is the only way to determine if a pour surface is level because there is no reference point.

Increasing tax rates as levels of taxable income rise.

Earth-moving equipment that uses a scraper blade for smoothing the ground.

The slope or rate of increase or decrease in the elevation of a surface; usually expressed as a percentage. Percentage is determined by dividing the rise of the grade in feet over a 100-foot length by 100. Gradient = vertical rise or fall/horizontal distance.

1. To determine the quality level of material.
2. Bring the ground level of a building site to the proper level for construction.

View of an area, with the information for grading and shaping necessary to bring the ground to the proper level for construction.

To mark with degrees, lines or numbers needed for measuring.

Designation issued by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) to members meeting specific performance and education requirements for residential real estate.

Mortgage where the monthly payments are low for the first few years, gradually rise for a few years and then remain fixed.

The marking of a flask, tube, container, etc. with a series of degrees for measuring.

1. The natural growth pattern in wood, which gives a specific design.
2. Pattern in which the lattice structure, formed by the crystals produced when liquid metal becomes solid.

Often, when wood is exposed to water, the wood fibers swell and rise above the surrounding wood. Fine sandpaper is used to sand the fibers off.

1. Consisting of grains, coarsely textured, granular.
2. Defect in a paint surface, which appears rough, as though sand or some other material had become mixed with it.

Basic unit of weight in the metric system, which is equal to about 1/28 of an ounce; (.0022046 pound or 15.4324 grains troy) and, virtually is, the weight of one cubic centimeter of distilled water at 4 degrees Centigrade.

Provision that, when a law is changed or a new law is passed, those whose specific activity was legal under the previous law will be allowed to continue, by virtue of this provision.

1. To make an unnecessarily showy play.
2. Main, stepped up, seating structure with more than three square feet available for each person.

A very hard, crystalline, plutonic rock, gray to pink in color, consisting of feldspar, quarts and smaller amounts of other minerals, which is produced naturally under intense heat and pressure. Often used as floors in office buildings or as kitchen and bathroom countertops in homes.

Separate unit in a house or above the garage (slang term).

The technical term used in deed of conveyance of property to indicate a transfer to another party.

One to whom an interest in a piece of property is conveyed.

Person conveying interest in a piece of property to another.

A reference kept with public records that cross-indexes grantors and grantees with one another, along with the properties they relate to.

1. Having a grainy surface.
2. Containing or consisting of grains or granules.

Wooden fence consisting of horizontal rails holding 2 inch by 2 inch split redwood slates.

1. A diagram as a curve, broken line, series of bars, etc. that represent the successive changes in the value of a variable quantity or quantities.
2. A diagram plotting one value against another, showing the relationship between them and its changes over a chosen period of time. Forms are normally pie charts, columns or a line graph.

A soft, black, lustrous form of natural carbon dust, which is used in locks, etc. as a lubricant.

An iron bar with claws at one end which are used to grasp or hold things by throwing up over the top of a wall where the hook catches and hold, securing the line to the top of the wall.

1. To grind into particles by rubbing or scraping against an object. 2. A frame of metal bars to hold fuel in a fireplace or stove. 3. Evenly-spaced metal bars at right angles making a framework that covers openings of drains, etc. and restrains large objects from flowing through.

1. A frame of metal bars to hold fuel in a fireplace or stove.
2. Evenly-spaced metal bars at right angles making a framework that covers openings of drains, etc. and restrains large objects from flowing through.

Loose mixture of pebbles and rocks which consists of fragments more coarse than sand.

Built-up roof, which is protected from the elements with a final coat of gravel.

Raised rim around the edge of a roof, which keeps the final coat of gravel from washing or rolling off.

1. A device used to measure specific gravity, for example liquids.
2. Instrument that measures the gravitation pull of the earth at different places.

A return system often used in steam heating which can use one set of pipes with a gravity return condensate system. Heated water turns to steam and rises through the pipes and into the radiators. After the steam cools, it condenses into water and drips back, through those same pipes, into the boiler.

Heating system, which circulates warm air through ducting using the rise of warm and the fall of cooler air, to heat a house.

Backing paper on gypsum wallboard (sheetrock) panels or the paper on both sides of gypsum backing board panels.

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Our glossary is the largest dictionary of real estate and construction terms on the Internet with almost 10,000 definitions.

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