Construction Materials

Thematic Vocabulary Unit Nº 270 v.05

      Main Definitions

1. building material |n| material used for constructing buildings.
2. construction site |n| a place where a building is being built or repaired.
3. supply |n| a stock of a resource from which a person or place can be provided with the necessary amount of that resource.
4. "There were fears that the drought would limit the exhibition's water supply."
5. stock |n| have or keep a supply of (a particular product or type or product) available for sale.
6. "Most supermarkets now stock a range of organic produce."

         Bricks

1. brick |n| a small rectangular block typically made of fired or sun-dried clay, used in building.
2. "Mud and wattle or sun-dried bricks are used in house building in rural areas; well-off families may use concrete blocks."
3. cinder block |n| a lightweight building brick made from small cinders mixed with sand and cement.
4. "His dark patio was hemmed in by a cinder block retaining wall that created a barrier between the 1940s house and the rest of the yard."
5. firebrick |n| a brick capable of withstanding intense heat, used especially to line furnaces and fireplaces.
6. "Another problem was the scarcity, not only of miners, but also of skilled labour to make firebricks and build the furnaces."

          Wood

1. wood |n| the hard fibrous material that forms the main substance of the trunk or branches of a tree or shrub.
2. "First, the axes glance off the tree, the wood is so hard to cut.
3. lumber / timber / planks |n| timber sawn into rough planks or otherwise partly prepared.
4. "A total of six ships have put in here asking for both furs and lumber in the past two months."
5. "The exploitation of forests for timber."
6. "As you lay the planks, use a hammer or mallet and a scrap piece of flooring to force the planks tightly together and assure a snug fit."
7. plywood |n| a type of strong thin wooden board consisting of two or more layers glued and pressed together with the direction of the grain alternating, and usually sold in sheets of four by eight feet.
8. "The units are made of plywood with a maple veneer, and are attached to the wall studs."

 

      Metals

1. metal |n| a solid material that is typically hard, shiny, malleable, fusible, and ductile, with good electrical and thermal conductivity (e.g., iron, gold, silver, copper, and aluminum, and alloys such as brass and steel).
2. "Vessels made of ceramics or metal"
   
3. aluminium |n| the chemical element of atomic number 13, a light silvery-gray metal.
4. "Modern formal gardens use water in geometric pools and metals like steel and aluminium in structures."
5. bronze |n| a yellowish-brown alloy of copper with up to one-third tin.
6. "During the fifth century BC the Athenians introduced the third and more lowly currency metal: bronze , an alloy of copper and tin."
7. iron |n| a heavy ductile magnetic metallic element, is silver-white in pure form but readily rusts; used in construction and tools and armament.
   
8. "A driveway with large iron gates."
9. steel |n| a hard, strong, gray or bluish-gray alloy of iron with carbon and usually other elements, used extensively as a structural and fabricating material.
10. "This shining metal was not raw iron but hard steel, which bent the softer wrought-iron blades of the Gauls."

      Stone

1. gravel |n| a loose aggregation of small water-worn or pounded stones.
2. "Keep their roots shaded with gravel or some large stones, mulch them now and then and they'll be happy for years."
3. stone |n| the hard, solid, nonmetallic mineral matter of which rock is made, especially as a building material.
4. "The houses are built of stone"
5. sand |n| a loose granular substance, typically pale yellowish brown, resulting from the erosion of siliceous and other rocks and forming a major constituent of beaches, river beds, the seabeds, and deserts.
6. "The sand was flying everywhere."

      More Construction Materials

1. asphalt / tarmac / blacktop |n| a mixture of dark bituminous pitch with sand or gravel, used for surfacing roads, flooring, roofing, etc..
2. "Teal and green floor tiles in the kids' bathroom are made of waste products derived from gravel, asphalt , and cement."
3. concrete |n| a heavy, rough building material made from a mixture of broken stone or gravel, sand, cement, and water, that can be spread or poured into molds and that forms a stone like mass on hardening.
4. "Slabs of concrete."
5. glass |n| a hard, brittle substance, typically transparent or translucent, made by fusing sand with soda, lime, and sometimes other ingredients and cooling rapidly. It is used to make windows, drinking containers, and other articles.
6. "A piece of glass"
7. "A thing made from, or partly from, glass, in particular.
8. insulation |n| a material that reduces or prevents the transmission of heat or sound or electricity.
9. plaster |n| a soft mixture of lime with sand or cement and water for spreading on walls, ceilings, or other structures to form a smooth hard surface when dried.
10. "This demolition exposed ‘stripes’ of structure throughout the existing plaster walls and ceilings."
11. plasterboard |n| a type of drywall made of plaster between two sheets of heavy paper.
12. "For additional noise reduction, use 5/8-inch plasterboard on all the wall
13. subble |n| waste or rough fragments of stone, brick, concrete, etc., especially as the debris from the demolition of buildings.
14. "Two buildings collapsed, trapping scores of people in the rubble."
15. siding / shingle |n| material applied to the oustide of a building to make it waterproof.
16. water |n| a colorless, transparent, odorless, tasteless liquid that forms the seas, lakes, rivers, and rain and is the basis of the fluids of living organisms.
17. "They are dissolved in warm water and the liquid is taken as a drink between meals."

      Some Accessories

1. ironwork |n| things made of iron, such as gates, parts of buildings, etc.
2. fitting |n| a small part attached to a piece of furniture or equipment.
3. nail |n| a small metal spike with a broadened flat head, driven typically into wood with a hammer to join things together or to serve as a peg or hook.
4. "I also need a hammer and nails , picture hooks and the step ladder."
5. pipe |n| a tube of metal, plastic, or other material used to convey water, gas, oil, or other fluid substances.
6. "Roads, bridges, utility lines, water and sewer pipes , and other supporting services have to be rebuilt."
7. screw |n| a short, slender, sharp-pointed metal pin with a raised helical thread running around it and a slotted head, used to join things together by being rotated so that it pierces wood or other material and is held tightly in place.
8. "The logs, the wood flooring, the cabinets, all of the materials down to the nails and screws which hold it together, were donated or purchased with donated funds."
10. tile |n| 
11. a thin rectangular slab of baked clay, concrete, or other material, used in overlapping rows for covering roofs.
12. wire |n| metal drawn out into the form of a thin flexible thread or rod.
13. "Having very thin wire needles pushed into your skin and twiddled is a very bizarre experience.".
14. "A coil of copper wire."

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