Every door part, fit and condition term Sun's Up crews use, from slab to swing to how it's hung. If a word shows up in a door-hanging guide, its home is here.
Back to the full A-Z index. Other hubs: Moldings, Stairs, Closets and Built-ins, Hardware, Joints and Cuts, Layout, Fit and Shop Talk, Tools, Fasteners, Glue and Materials, Jobsite and Business, Specialty / Built-ins.
Jump to a term: Acclimation · Back Dam · Backset · Barn Door (Track, Anti-Jump) · Bifold (Pivot, Aligner) · Bore / Cross Bore / Latch Bore / Double Bore · Brick Mould · Bypass Door (Track, Guide) · Cased Opening · Core (Hollow / Solid / Solid Wood) · Cross-Legged (Jamb) · Door Leaf (Slab) · Egress (Egress Window / Door) · Flashing · Floor Guide (Barn Door) · French Door / Center-Opening (Astragal, T-Astragal, Flush Bolt, Dummy Pair) · Handing (LH, RH, LHR, RHR) · Header / King Stud / Trimmer (Jack) Stud · Hinge-Bound · Hollow Metal Frame · Horns · Jamb / Head Jamb / Hinge-Side Jamb / Strike-Side Jamb / Jamb Leg · Jamb Stop (Applied vs Rabbeted) · Jamb Width · Margin (Head / Strike / Hinge) · Peep Sight (Peephole) · Pocket Door (Frame, Track, Split Stud) · Pre-hung · Racked · Reveal · Rough Opening · Rough Sill · Shim · Sill / Threshold · Sill Pan · Spindle (Door Hardware Sense) · Split Jamb · Sticks / Rubs · Stile (Door) · Swing / Inswing / Outswing · Transom (Window) · Warp / Bow / Twist · Weatherstrip / Sweep · Witness Marks
Acclimation
Also called: acclimate.
Letting flooring or trim sit in the house so it reaches room temperature and humidity before installing it, so it does not shrink, swell or gap afterward.
Back Dam
A raised lip at the back of a sill pan (built from shim stock or the pan itself) that keeps water from draining backward into the house.
Backset
Also called: bore-to-edge distance.
The horizontal distance from the door edge to the center of the bore hole; standard residential interior is 2-3/8in.
Barn Door (Track, Anti-Jump)
A sliding door hung on an exposed overhead track outside the opening; anti-jump discs are small hardware pieces that keep the rollers seated on the track.
Bifold (Pivot, Aligner)
A folding closet door made of hinged panel pairs that pivot on top and bottom pins and fold against the jamb. An aligner is the clip or magnet that keeps the closed panels flush.
Bore / Cross Bore / Latch Bore / Double Bore
Also called: bore hole, cross bore.
Bore, also called cross bore, is the large 2-1/8in hole through the door face for the lockset body. Latch bore is the smaller 1in edge hole for the latch mechanism.
Brick Mould
Also called: brickmold, brick molding.
The exterior trim piece that an exterior door or window jamb butts into where it meets the siding.
Bypass Door (Track, Guide)
Also called: sliding closet door.
Sliding closet doors that overlap and run on parallel tracks so each panel bypasses the other.
Do not conflate with a patio glass sliding door, a different product.
Cased Opening
Also called: passage, open frame.
A framed opening finished with jamb and casing but no door, a trimmed-out passageway.
Core (Hollow / Solid / Solid Wood)
Also called: HC, SC.
Hollow core = lightweight cardboard-honeycomb interior (standard interior door); solid core = particleboard/wood-composite filled, heavier, used where sound/durability matters; solid wood core is the premium all-wood version.
Cross-Legged (Jamb)
Also called: out of plane jamb. Shop talk: twisted strike jamb.
A twisted strike-side jamb: the jamb legs are not in the same plane, so the door slab hits the stop unevenly and springs back open.
This is a jamb condition, not the everyday phrase for sitting with your legs crossed.
Door Leaf (Slab)
Also called: slab, door slab, leaf.
The swinging door panel itself, as distinct from the jamb/frame around it.
'Leaf' also names a hinge leaf, a different part covered on the Hardware hub. Here it means the door slab itself.
Egress (Egress Window / Door)
A window or door sized and positioned to meet code as an emergency exit, most often a bedroom's escape window.
Flashing
Also called: flashing tape.
Water-diverting membrane or metal installed at a door or window's rough opening to keep water out of the wall assembly.
Floor Guide (Barn Door)
A barn-door hardware component that keeps the bottom of the door tracking straight, distinct from the overhead track itself.
French Door / Center-Opening (Astragal, T-Astragal, Flush Bolt, Dummy Pair)
Also called: inactive leaf, slave leaf, passive leaf.
A pair of doors meeting at the center of an opening. The T-astragal is the meeting strip on the inactive door's edge. Flush bolts, top and bottom, lock the inactive door in place, making it a dummy, meaning it does not operate.
Handing (LH, RH, LHR, RHR)
Which way a door swings and which side the hinges are on, used to order the correct unit.
Header / King Stud / Trimmer (Jack) Stud
Header is the horizontal structural member spanning the top of an opening. King stud is the full-height stud on each side. Trimmer stud, also called jack stud, is the shorter stud under the header that carries its load.
Hinge-Bound
Shop talk: bound at the hinges.
A door that will not swing freely because the hinge mortises are too deep, a screw head sits proud, or paint has built up behind a hinge leaf.
Hollow Metal Frame
Also called: HM, HMF.
A commercial-grade steel door frame, as opposed to a wood jamb.
Horns
On a stool-and-apron window, the ends of the stool that project past the side casing.
Jamb / Head Jamb / Hinge-Side Jamb / Strike-Side Jamb / Jamb Leg
Also called: head, top jamb, hinge jamb, latch jamb, strike jamb, lock jamb, JD, jamb depth.
Jamb = the frame surrounding a door slab; head jamb is the top horizontal member; hinge-side and strike-side (latch-side) jambs are the two vertical legs ('jamb legs').
Jamb Stop (Applied vs Rabbeted)
The milled strip on the jamb face that the door closes against. Applied stop is a separate nailed-on strip; rabbeted stop is milled into the jamb itself.
Do not confuse this with the door stop covered on the Hardware hub, the floor, wall, or hinge-pin bumper that keeps a door handle from hitting the wall. Both are called 'stop' on site, but they are two different objects.
Jamb Width
The overall depth of a jamb, sized to match the thickness of the wall and drywall it sits in. A 2x6 wall needs a deeper jamb than a 2x4 wall does.
Margin (Head / Strike / Hinge)
The gap between the door slab and the jamb (hinge side, strike side and head), held at 1/8in all around.
Peep Sight (Peephole)
Also called: door viewer, peephole.
A small optical viewer set through a door slab so someone can see who is outside without opening it.
Pocket Door (Frame, Track, Split Stud)
A door that slides into a cavity inside the wall instead of swinging; the cavity uses a steel track-and-split-stud frame system installed at framing.
Pre-hung
A door slab pre-mounted in its own jamb at the factory, ready to set into a rough opening as one unit.
Racked
A door frame that is out of square or twisted overall, more severe/global than a single jamb leg issue.
Reveal
The setback of casing from the edge of the jamb, held to a single value: 3/16in, never a range.
Rough Opening
Also called: RO, opening size, structural opening. Shop talk: the hole.
The framed hole in a wall, built to receive a door or window unit. It is built slightly larger than the unit so it can be plumbed, leveled and shimmed into place.
Pro note: We inherit rough openings from the framing crew; a tight or racked one costs an hour. The 787 sizing formula is the strongest number we have.
Rough Sill
The horizontal framing member at the bottom of a window's rough opening.
Shim
A tapered wood or composite wedge used to fill the gap between a jamb and the framing to plumb, level and secure it.
Sill / Threshold
Also called: saddle, sill cap.
Sill is the bottom horizontal member of a window or door opening. Threshold is the strip at the bottom of an exterior door that bridges and seals the gap to the floor.
Sill Pan
Also called: sill pan flashing.
A pre-formed or built-up pan under an exterior door threshold that channels water out and away from the framing.
Spindle (Door Hardware Sense)
The square shaft that connects a knob or lever on one side of a door to the other, turning the latch mechanism.
'Spindle' also names a baluster or picket on a stair railing, covered on the Stairs hub. Here it means the hardware rod that runs through a door lockset.
Split Jamb
Also called: rippable jamb, adjustable jamb.
A two-piece jamb (mill half and site half) that sandwiches drywall thickness, used on pocket doors and to adjust for wall thickness.
Sticks / Rubs
A door that drags against the jamb or stop during its swing.
Stile (Door)
Also called: hinge stile.
The vertical edge members of a door slab; hinge stile carries the hinges, lock stile carries the lockset.
Swing / Inswing / Outswing
Swing = which direction and side a door opens. Inswing/outswing specifically describe whether an exterior door opens into or out of the house.
Transom (Window)
A fixed window unit installed above a door opening.
Warp / Bow / Twist
Three distinct kinds of lumber or slab distortion: warp is general distortion, bow is an edge-wise curve along the length, twist is a torsional distortion (winding).
Weatherstrip / Sweep
Also called: door bottom, door sweep, automatic door bottom.
Weatherstrip = compressible seal around an exterior door/window that blocks air and water; sweep = the seal strip at the bottom of an exterior door slab.
Witness Marks
The rub or contact marks left on a hinge leaf, or any two touching surfaces, that show exactly where something is binding.
What does your crew call it? If you use a different word for something on this page, or we are missing a term you use every day, tell us and we will add it.