Glossary

Cantilevered glass balustrade:
Where the glass balustrade is not supported by a frame, but is only attached at the base.
 
Cavity:
The cavity space immediately behind a wall cladding with vents at the base of the wall that allows for drainage behind the cladding.
 
Clerestory windows:
High level windows often used for passive ventilation or for getting light to otherwise dark areas within the house.

Green roof:
A roof that supports a growing medium and planting and therefore absorbs and mitigates surface water runoff.

Hardfill:
Gravel fill compacted into foundations to support a concrete floor.
  
Hydronic underfloor heating:
A water based radiant heating system usually embedded in a concrete floor slab.

Impermeable surfaces:
Generally refers to areas of the site that aren’t landscaped and therefore do not contribute to absorption of surface water.

Joists:
Horizontal timber beams that support flooring.
 
Passive solar design:
Refer to passive solar design page.

Passive ventilation:
Natural ventilation without mechanical assistance. With opening clerestory windows the natural flow created by heat rising can be used to draw cool air into the house.

Purlins:
Horizontal timber members usually on top of trusses or rafters that directly support the roof cladding.
 
Rafters:
Sloping timber beams that support roofs.
 
Soffit:
Generally the underside of roof eaves.
 
Solar hot water panels:
Solar panels that heat hot water in the hot water cylinder by circulating an antifreeze fluid through a coil in the cylinder.
 
Solar PV panels (photo-voltaic panels):
Solar panels that generate electricity (as opposed to solar hot water panels – see above).
 
Thermal break:
An element of low thermal conductivity placed in a construction assembly to reduce heat transfer through materials of high conductivity. Thermally broken aluminium joinery is one example, where either polyamide insulating thermal strips or an insulating polymer is placed between the interior and exterior joinery frame extrusions.
 
Thermal bridging:
An area of an object (such as a wall or floor) which has significantly higher heat transfer in an otherwise well-insulated construction, resulting in an overall reduction in thermal performance of that building element. For example, steel studs in an insulated wall dramatically reduce the overall energy performance of the wall, because of excessive thermal bridging through the steel. Steel studs need a thermal break to improve their performance.
 
Thermal envelope:
The roof, wall, glazing and the floor construction, between unconditioned external spaces and conditioned spaces, enclosing all habitable spaces, bathrooms, kitchens and other rooms in the building likely to require conditioning.
 
Thermal mass:
Heavy high-density building materials (such as concrete) that can absorb and store heat to be released later when the heat supply (usually the sun) is no longer warming the material. Thermal mass can also keep living spaces from overheating as they are slower to warm up than lower density materials such as timber, and therefore moderate temperature fluctuations.
 
Thermally broken:
See thermal break
 
Trapezoidal (steel cladding):
A cladding profile where the top and bottom of the profile are parallel, but the sides are not parallel. On trapezoidal steel cladding, each side of the profile typically slopes inward towards the top or outside face.