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Glossary of DIY Home Improvement Terms - D

This page of our online a to z glossary of DIY home improvement terms is for do-it-yourself terms beginning with the letter 'D'.

• Dado rail - Beading or panelling fixed on the lower half of a wall, well above the skirting. It is a traditional feature that has become popular in recent years.
• Damp proofing - Treating a surface to prevent water seeping through.
• Distemper - A type of paint made by mixing glue and water with size, whiting etc. Ready-made distemper is now out of commercial production, but you can make it yourself. Lighter in colour when dry than when applied.
• Doorhead - The upper, horizontal part of a door's frame.
• Dormer window - A window which projects out from a sloping roof.
• Double bend - An S-shaped pipe fitting.
• Double glazing - The setting of two parallel panes of glass in a window frame to reduce heat loss, external noise, etc.
• Downpipe - A pipe, usually of metal, used to carry rainwater from the roof to the ground.
• DPM - Damp-proof membrane, either under a floor screed or between outer and inner leaves of a cavity wall at openings to prevent moisture rising up.
• D.P.C. - Damp proof course - a waterproof layer built into masonry to prevent rising damp, usually about 150 mm above ground level.
• Distressed effects - Decorative paint techniques that make use of broken colours rather than solid ones. Examples are ragging and sponging.
• Dowel - Short lengths of dowelling (tubular-shaped wood, sometimes grooved) used for joining wood.
• Dragging - A decorative paint technique for walls and ceilings. After a colored base coat has dried you apply a glaze and, while this is still wet, you drag an almost-dry paintbrush across it.
• Drip groove - A groove cut or moulded in the underside of a windowsill to prevent rainwater running back to the wall.
• Drop - The distance of a vertical descent, such as a window or a table.
• Drop-in seat - An upholstered board dropped into the frame of a chair.
• Drop pattern - A wallpaper pattern in which the repeated images match up diagonally rather than horizontally.
• Dry brushing - Process in which a glaze applied over a previously painted colour is stippled with a dry brush and then lightly brushed with a dusting brush while still wet.
• Dry laying - Setting down tiles without using adhesive so that you can adjust pattern and positions before starting to fix the tiles into place.
• Dry lining - An internal finish to walls composed of sheets of plasterboard rather than wet plaster.
• Dry rot - The decay of timber brought about by fungal attacks in damp conditions. It appears as right-angled splits with a powdery appearance.
• Dynamic head - The driving force generated by the central heating pump.