GLOSSARY

Adobe	Clay mixed with straw and sun-dried to form a brick.
Auger	Tool for piercing and boring.
Barn curtains	Composite fabric used to protect animals or crops from weather.
Bay	Section of barn between major framing units of posts and beams (bents).
Bent	Vertical posts joined with horizontal and braced members. A series of bents forms a frame.
Brace	Diagonal mortised timber at right angles to post and beam for strength.
Cantilevered or forebay	The second floor projects beyond the ground floor. Of Swiss and German origin.
Chinking	Material used to fill space.
Crib barn	Ventilated storage enclosure usually for corn or grain.
Gambrel roof	Roof with a double slope, the lower steeper than the upper.
Gin pole	Anchored vertical pole fixed with block and tackle to assist with barn raising.
Girt	Major horizontal structural component between posts.
Gothic/rainbow roof	An architectural design from medieval Europe revived in America between 1830 and 1890.
H-bent	The distinctive center aisle framing in a three-aisle Dutch barn in which the ends of the horizontal beam protrude through the vertical posts.
Hay carrier	First patented in 1867, these devices (there were more than 8,000 designs) traveled on a wood or metal rail mounted to the barn ridge and moved slings, forks, or tongs holding hay across the barn for storage.
Hay hood	A peak extending from a barn’s gable end usually sheltering the hay carrier.
Haymow	Area of barn where hay is stored.
Hex signs	Colorful geometric patterns of German origin.
Hoop house	A tube-like shelter consisting of plastic or fabric over a bowed metal frame.
King post	A vertical support rising from a horizontal beam to the apex of the roof.
Laminated dimensional lumber	Layered wood of predetermined, precut size.
Log barns	Structures built from the entire trunks or sections of trees and notched to fit together.
Mortise and tenon	Wood joinery in which a slot is cut (mortise) in one piece to receive a projected member (tenon) of another and then held together with a peg.
Notch	A v-shaped cut that receives a matching cut for a secure fit.
Peg	Carved wooden device. Secures mortise and tenon joinery, also called a treenail.
Pentice	Shallow, sloping roof attached to an outer wall below the eaves, also called a pent roof.
Pike pole	A sapling with a spike in one end to jab into the frame as a bent is being raised to an upright position.
Plate	Horizontal timber connecting the tops of outside posts in bents.
Pole buildings	Dimensional lumber framing covered with sheet metal, quick to erect.
Purlin	Horizontal timber parallel to the rafter plate and ridge for stability and support.
Queen posts	A pair of vertical posts placed symmetrically on a tie beam, rising to the principal rafters.
Rafters	Light, dimensional timber to which roofing materials are attached.
Shawver truss	A type of barn frame construction designed by John Shawver, which allows for greater spans and uses less lumber.
Shingles	Small sections of slate, wood, or a composite used to cover a roof.
Siding	Outer wall covering.
Sill or sill plate	Long horizontal timbers laid on the foundation to bear the floor joists and support the posts and studs of the frame.
Silo	A vertical cylindrical structure of wood stave, stone, block, tile or metal for the storage of animal fodder.
Stick and daub	A type of material used to fill spaces between studs. May be saplings or sticks (wattle)
	or horsehair (daub). Also known as wattle and daub.
Story pole	A long section of wood on which important measurements are marked.
Stovewood/cordwood	Lengths of cedar (usually 16 inch) laid in a limestone mortar to serve as the foundation and sometimes entire walls of a structure.
Swing beam	A beam large enough to span the width of a barn without interior support posts. So named because a team of horses could then “swing” or be turned inside the barn.
Timber frame/post and beam	The supportive skeleton of a structure built with solid timber using mortise, tenon and pegged construction rather than dimensional lumber.
Transverse crib barn	A gable entrance barn with two rows of animal stalls on either side of a central aisle with the haymow or hayloft over the stalls.