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Glossary of DIY Home Improvement Terms - S

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

• Safety glasses or goggles - Protective eye wear which should be worn for any work that produces dust or particles at high speed.
• Sanding - Generic term for using abrasives on surfaces, either by hand or by a sanding machine.
• Sanding block - Shape for holding abrasive paper during sanding.
• Sash window - Vertically sliding window frame housed in a box and operated on runners or with cords.
• Satin finish - A painted surface having a dull lustre.
• Sawhorse - A four-legged trestle.
• Scaffold tower - Sectional scaffold frames built up to provide a stable working platform.
• Scale - The deposit left when water is heated to the point where dissolved hard-water salts are deposited.
• Scarfing - The joining of the ends of two pieces of timber with sloping lap joints so they appear continuous.
• Score - To scratch a line with a pointed tool.
• Scraper - Tool designed for removing unwanted finishes or coverings on wood or walls. Narrow-bladed scrapers are for paint, wide-bladed ones for wallpaper.
• Scratchcoat - The bottom layer of cement.
• Screed - A thin layer of floor levelling compound; A shortened name for screed batten.
• Screed batten - A thin strip of wood fixed to a surface to act as a guide to the thickness of an application of plaster or render.
• Screw eye - A metal screw that has a loop at the head end.
• Scribe - To mark with a pointed tool; to match the edge of a material to the contours of a wall or floor.
• Scriber - A pointed instrument for marking a workpiece by scratching.
• Sealant - Paste squeezed into crevices to form a waterproof seal, such as around a bath.
• Seam - Edges of fabric turned back and sewn together.
• Seasoned timber - Timber that has been stacked and allowed to dry to render it stable.
• Self-grip wrench - Also known as a mole grip, this has jaws controlled by an adjuster to exert great force on objects.
• Set - Angle at which saw teeth are bent to give clearance in a kerf; when glue has hardened.
• Sett - A small rectangular paving block.
• Shakes - Natural splits in timber occurring along the grain, caused by uneven shrinkage.
• Shave hook - A scraper shaped for removing old paint from mouldings. The head can be triangular, pear-shaped or a combination of the two.
• Sheathing - The outer insulation on electrical wiring.
• Sheers - Lightweight net curtains.
• Shims - Thin strips of wood, often wedge-shaped, used for levelling timber battens.
• Shingles - Thin pieces of wooden building material, with one end thicker than the other, which are overlapped to cover roofs and walls.
• Shiplap boards - Lumber with rebated edges that is joined with half-lap joints.
• Shooting board - A device for holding a plane at the proper angle for making accurate angular cuts.
• Shoring - Timber which is used as a temporary brace during repairs.
• Short circuit - The accidental rerouting of electricity to earth, which increases the flow of current and blows a fuse or trips a circuit breaker.
• Short grain - When the general direction of, wood fibres lies across a narrow section of timber.
• Silicones - Chemical substances used in lubricants, polishes and other commercial products.
• Sill - Horizontal beam at the foot of a door or window. The lowest horizontal member of a stud partition.
• Siphonage - The flow of liquid created by suction as result of below atmosphere pressure.
• Size - A gelatin-like filling and sealing material.
• Skarsten scraper - Tool for smoothing wood surfaces or removing paint, available in long- and short-handled versions with a selection of blades.
• Skew nail - To drive nails in at an angle to prevent the work being pulled straight out.
• Skirting - Wooden boards placed at the junction of floor and walls.
• Sleeving - Yellow-and-green insulation tubing for slipping over the bare earth wire of cable at connections.
• Sleeper wall - A low masonry wall that serves as an intermediate support for ground-floor joists.
• Slip stone - A sharpening stone with rounded edge for irregularly shaped woodworking tools.
• Slow bend - A type of plumbing elbow which has a gradual bend.
• Soakaway - A hole, usually about 1.5 m cube, filled with rubble to accept non-foul waste water.
• Soffit - The underside of part of a building such as an archway or the eaves ete.
• Soft jaws - Fibre or soft metal covers which fit over the jaws of a vice to protect the work.
• Soft solders - Any low temperature solders.
• Softwood - Timber from coniferous trees.
• Solder - Alloy of tin and lead; to join the surfaces of metals together with fused solder.
• Sole plate - Wooden member which forms the bottom rail of a stud partition; A wooden member used as a base to level a loadbearing timber-frame wall.
• Solid floor - Concrete slab laid over a bed of compacted hardcore. Modern solid floors incorporate a damp-proof membrane.
• Solvent - That liquid which is capable of dissolving a certain material.
• Spacers - Small pieces of wood used to hold concrete forms or tiles desired distances.
• Spalling - Flaking of the outer face of masonry caused by expanding moisture in icy conditions.
• Spandrel - The triangular infill below the outer string of a staircase.
• Spatterlng - Simple distressed paint effect achieved by splattering one or more colours on to a previously painted surface. Achieved by dipping the bristles of a stiff brush in paint and flicking it at a surface.
• Spirit level - Vial containing liquid and an air bubble fitted into a holder, which can be of a number of designs and sizes, for checking levels.
• Splicing - The connection of two wires without a fitting.
• Sponging - Decorative paint technique using a sea sponge or equivalent either to dab a top coat (or coats) of a wash or glaze over a base coat or to remove selected areas of an overlying wash or glaze.
• Staff bead - The innermost strip of timber holding a sliding sash in a window frame.
• Steel rule - Accurate tool for measuring and laying out. Can also be used as a straightedge.
• Steel wool - Matted steel strands used as an abrasive for smoothing metal and wood.
• Stencilling - A way of decorating surfaces by dabbing paint through a motif (or motifs) cut out of acetate or similar medium onto a surface.
• Stiles - Vertical members of doors or windows.
• Stillson wrench - Heavy-duty wrench with a moving jaw operated by a nut, for gripping round objects.
• Stipple - Raising or texturing a surface finish with tiny dots, using the bristle tips of a brush.
• Stippling - Creating a 'speckled' effect using one of two similar techniques. Either cover a base coat with a glaze or wash and, while it is still wet, strike it with a flat-faced brush, so that flecks of the base colour are revealed, or simply apply speckles by dipping a brush into a glaze or wash and then stab with it at the base coat.
• Stopcock - Brass tap fitted on a mains pipe to enable water supply to be switched off.
• Stopper - A wood filler made in colours to match various kinds of timber.
• Storm window - An extra window fitted externally to reduce heat loss, noise, etc.
• Straight edge - A metal or wooden strip one of whose surfaces can be used to draw an exactly straight line.
• Stranded Hemp - Soft, rope-like material which is packed into plumbing joints to render them waterproof.
• Stretchers - Bricks or blocks placed lepnthwise in a wall.
• Striker plate - A jamb-mounted plate which receives the latch or bolt of a lock.
• String - Board running at each side of staircase to hold the treads and risers.
• Stucco - An exterior wall surface of a plaster-type material.
• Stud partition - Wall constructed from timber sections and covered with a finishing material.
• Subfloor - Rough boards or plywood placed on floor joists to which the final finishing material is applied.
• Subsidence - A sinking of the ground caused by the shrinkage of excessively dry soil.
• Sugar soap - An alkaline preparation, available in crystal form to be mixed with water, which is used to clean and degrease painted surfaces.
• Swag - A loop of draped fabric, suspended across the top of a window, either as a pelmet or on its own as a window treatment. A wide window may have a series of swags.
• Swan-neck bend - A double bend commonly found in rainwater down pipes.
• Sweating - The condensation of moisture on a surface.
• Switch - A directing or controlling device for the current flow in a circuit.