Cant Strip - A triangular shaped piece of lumber used at the junction of a flat deck and a wall to prevent cracking of the roofing, which is applied over it.

Cap - The upper member of a column, pilaster, door cornice, molding, and the like.

Casement Frames and Sash - Frames of wood or metal enclosing part or the entire sash, which may be opened by means of hinges affixed to the vertical edges.

Casing - Molding of various widths and thick nesses used to trim door and window openings at the jambs.

Checking - Fissures that appear with age in many exterior paint coatings, at first superficial, but which in time may penetrate entirely through the coating.

Checkrails - Meeting rails sufficiently thicker than a window to fill the opening between the top and bottom sash made by the parting stop in the frame of double hung windows. They are usually beveled.

Collar Beam - Nominal 1- or 2-inch-thick members connecting opposite roof rafters. They serve to stiffen the roof structure.

Column - In architecture: A perpendicular supporting member, circular or rectangular in section, usually consisting of a base, shaft, and capital. In engineering: A vertical structural compression member, which supports loads acting in the direction of its longitudinal axis.

Combination Doors or Windows - Combination doors or windows used over regular openings. They provide winter insulation and summer protection and often have self-storing or removable glass and screen inserts. This eliminates the need for handling a different unit each season.

Concrete Plain - Concrete either without reinforcement, or reinforced only for shrinkage or temperature changes.

Condensation - In a building: Beads or drops of water (and frequently frost in extremely cold weather) that accumulate on the inside of the exterior covering of a building when warm, moisture-laden air from the interior reaches a point where the temperature no longer permits the air to sustain the moisture it holds. Use of louvers or attic ventilators will reduce moisture condensation in attics. A vapor barrier under the gypsum lath or dry wall on exposed walls will reduce condensation in them.

Conduit, Electrical - A pipe, usually metal, in which wire is installed.

Construction Dry Wall - A type of construction in which the interior wall finish is applied in a dry condition, generally in the form of sheet materials or wood paneling as contrasted to plaster.

Construction, Frame - A type of construction in which the structural parts are wood or depend upon a wood frame for support. In codes, if masonry veneer is applied to the exterior walls, the classification of this type of construction is usually unchanged.

Coped Joint - See Scribing.

Corner Bead - A strip of formed sheet metal, sometimes combined with a strip of metal lath, placed on corners before plastering to reinforce them. Also, a strip of wood finish three-quarters-round or angular placed over a plastered corner for protection.

Corner Boards - Used as trim for the external corners of a house or other frame structure against which the ends of the siding are finished.

Corner Braces - Diagonal braces at the corners of frame structure to stiffen and strengthen the wall.

Cut-in Brace - Nominal 2-inch-thick members, usually 2 by 4's, cut in between each stud diagonally.

Cornerite - Metal-mesh lath cut into strips and bent to a right angle. Used in interior corners of walls and ceilings on lath to prevent cracks in plastering.

Cornice - Overhang of a pitched roof at the cave line, usually consisting of a facie board, a soffit for a closed cornice, and appropriate moldings.

Cornice Return - That portion of the cornice that returns on the gable end of a house.

Cove Molding - A molding with a concave face used as trim or to finish interior corners.

Cross-Bridging - Diagonal bracing between adjacent floor joists, placed near the center of the joist span to prevent joists from twisting.

Crown Molding - A molding used on cornice or wherever an interior angle is to be covered.