Alignment
The placing of one or more rows of blocks in line.
Anchoring
Attaching the elements to the load bearing structure.
Assistance
The supply of accessories for laying, usually supplied by the construction company: removal and dumping of waste material, distribution, mortar, workmen to help the layers, water, electricity, etc.
Attitude/lie
Orientation of strata of a deposit.
Bedding mortar
A layer of material, usually binding, on which the elements of paving or facing are placed.
Bevel or chamfer
The removal of the sharp corners of an edge.
Bindero – block
A brick shaped block with rough surfaces, split, usually used for the outline or border of an area of paving, but also sometime as a paving element.
Block cutting machine
Cutting machine with large diamond disks for cutting blocks and producing semi-worked elements.
Bocca di lupo
A type drainage structure at the base of kerbing.
Bush hammer
Tool for producing a bush hammered surface i.e. a surface composed of many little spikes like small pyramids.
Boiacca – liquid mortar, grout
A semi-liquid mixture of water and powered binder (cement, lime) with or without the addition of very fine sand.
Briglia
Large brick shaped block often used in hydraulic projects (stream beds, river banks, etc.)
Bugnato – Ashlar or rusticated
Finish obtained with roughly split elements, which have bulging surfaces (bugne).
Calibrating – standardising, making uniform
Producing elements of uniform measurements.
Camber or drainage
The slope given to steps, roads, sills, coping stones etc. in general equal or greater than 1%.
Coping stone
The topmost element of a structure.
Cappellaccio
The top weathered part of a porphyry deposit or outcrop.
Casellario – description form
A document describing the cut and working in detail for all the elements of a supply of pieces.
Chiselling
Impact working of the surface with suitable tools.
Concentric circles
A type of pattern for laying cubes.
Concio – quoin
A shaped block for corners, walls, arches.
Crated
The product is packed in wooden crates. The loaded crates weigh 1.5 – 2 tonnes and occupy a volume of 1 – 1.3 metres cubed depending on the size of the crate.
Cube
A roughly cubic shaped element produced by mechanical splitting with different sized edges depending on the type. Almost always there are two faces with natural surface (the visible upper and lower faces) and four with split surface.
Dardine
Corner kerbstones, usually in pairs, for driveways.
Dentil
A square section linear indentation on the side or surface.
Deposit
A mass of rock of suitable quality for quarrying.
Diamond disk
A cutting tool made of a round blade of steel with segments covered with industrial diamond powder.
Face
The front part of an element with measurements of length and width.
Visible face
The outer part of an element which can be seen after the piece has been laid.
Fiammatura (spacco termico) – flame-texturing
Working of the surface with an oxyacetylene torch which causes the fusion and re-cooling of the crystals.
Filler
A layer of bedding mortar between the structure and the cladding.
Fresa – grinding machine
A sawing machine for cutting pieces.
Fresata – Ground
Cut with a grinding machine.
Foundation layer
The layer between the ground and the bedding layer of the paving.
Fuga (giunto) – spacing (joint)
The space between elements of paving or cladding after laying.
Gangsaw block
A square block, which has suitable dimensions to obtain good output when put on the sawing machine.
Giandino (sgiandino) – a type of chisel
A tool used to produce split sides.
Grain
The appearance of the crystals which make up a rock.
Grezzo
1) Raw material
2) Material from a quarry which is suitable for working.
Guide
One or more lines of cubes laid in parallel lines at the border of an area to be paved.
Kerbstone
A brick –shaped block used for edging pavements, flower beds, steps, etc. and outlining areas or paved surfaces.
Knife blade slab
Irregular and convergent nature of the thickness of a slab obtained from natural splitting.
Head
The lateral surface of a slab with thickness and width of the slab. In the case of kerbstones the head is the upper visible face.
Joint
The plane where the sides or heads of two pieces are adjacent.
Open joint
The spacing, greater than 1 mm, between pieces is visible.
Closed joint
The elements are extremely close together and so the joint is only visible from close-up.
Highlighted joint
The joint is marked by chamfered edges or dentils or other working to produce and aesthetic effect.
Hidden joint
The joint is not visible due to plastering or other masking.
Inclusion
A crystalline mass structurally and chromatically different from the homogeneous groundmass of the porphyry.
In sacks
The packaging for small elements (cubes, cobbles, etc.), resistant sacks with ropes for lifting them with machines. Weighing up to 1.5 tonnes they occupy a volume of a little less than a mc.
Irregular Block
Irregular shaped block.
Layering
The tendency of porphyry to split along natural planes.
Laying surface
A surface prepared for the laying of the porphyry paving or cladding.
Large cutting machine (saw frame)
Multi-blade (or single blade) machine for cutting blocks.
Lasso – fissure
Loose, not packaged
This means the product is on sale without any packaging and is loaded on to the truck etc. loose.
Manhole cover
A unit which covers the access to drainage channels.
Mazzaranga – tamper
An iron tamper weighing about 20 – 25 kg used manually to compact paving of cubes.
Metal grid (zanca)
A metal element of varying size and shape which can be inserted into a structure during building.
Overhang, jut
The jutting out of an element with respect to another element or architectural component next to or below it, which occurs during laying.
Morsa (keystone)
The last cube in a strip.
Off cuts
Waste material produced during operations.
Overlapping arcs (normal)
The most common method or pattern for laying cubes.
Over squared
Cut at an angle, not perpendicular to the slab surface, with positive value.
Owl’s beak or half bull – quarter round
Linear working with convex curved section.
Palette
A wooden base used for packing the finished or semi-worked product on.
Peacock tail or fan
A type of pattern for laying cubes.
Punch
A punching tool.
Quarry surface or natural surface
Rough surface of material derived from the natural fissures. Usually has various colours and the slabs are of variable thickness.
Sawn surface
Surface resulting from cutting with diamond disks. The level of finish corresponds to that of a ground surface.
Machine plane surface
Surface resulting from sawing with other multi-blade machine.
Flame textured surface
Surface produced by the operation of oxypropane or oxyacetiylene torch. The resulting change in temperature causes the disintegration of the surface with the removal of minute scales, producing an appearance which is similar to the natural surface.
Hammed effects
These surfaces are the result of impact techniques produced by hand or by machine. Depending on the tools used, the surface obtained is:
• oiubted, using a large or fine punch and mallet
• chiseled, using a chisel and mallet
• bush hammered, using a bush hammer.
Finishes obtained using abrasives
Surfaces resulting from working with different grade abrasive. Depending on the grade of the abrasive, the finish is defined as:
• rough, obtained with no. 1 (60grain) grade
• medium, obtained with no. 2 (120 grain) grade
• fine, obtained with no. 3 (220 grain) grade
• satin, obtained with no. 4 (400 grain) grade and rubber resin and emery paste
• polished, obtained with a felt disk and polish or lead leaf and special disks.
Quartobuono (mitra) – Mitred joint
A type of corner joint between tiles.
Randa – strip
A strip of area to be paved with cubes. The width varies depending on the size of the cubes and the total area to be paved.
Reinforcing
Metal reinforcing (usually brass or steel) inserted into a structure to increase its resistance to specific forces.
Ribbon skirting
A type of skirting or paneling for flights of steps/stairs.
Riser
The vertical part of a step.
Running free-lenght
The length is not a precise measurement but may vary within certain limits, usually not less than the width. Any length is available, within limits.
Running free length slab slab
A split or cut slab with fixed width and not precise length but varying within certain limits, usually not less than the width.
fixed measurement slab
A slab with precise length and width measurements.
Slab with sawn surface
The visible face has not been worked after sawing (e.g. flame – treated or polished).
Irregular shaped slabs/tiles (crazy paving, mosaic)
Irregular shaped slabs produced by fissures and sorted at the quarry into groups based on thickness and size.
Rust
Natural stains deposited on the surface of elements with natural quarry surface caused by iron oxide or other chemicals.
Sanding
The filling of the spaces between paving elements with sand.
Sand texturing
A surface finish obtained with a high pressure jet of quartz sand.
Side
Lateral surface of a slab or piece with the measurements of thickness and length or width of the slab.
Split side (ashlar)
The lateral surface of a slab which has been mechanically or manually split giving a bulging surface.
Ground side
The lateral surface of a slab, sawn with diamond disks. The level of finish corresponds to that of a ground surface.
Small mason’s hammer
An elongated hammer with flattened end used to insert cubes into the bedding mortar and to move small quantities of sand.
Smollero – coarse tile
A small slab with slit head and sides which is “planted” rather than laid.
Soglia – door sill, ledge
Tile used for interior doors or exterior doorways.
Soglia carraia – tiles/blocks for driveways
A block which unites the level of the road to the height of the pavement, garage, etc.
Spacing
Spacing of elements to produce a specific aesthetic result.
Spalla – jam, frame
Vertical element around an opening (door, window, etc.)
Squared-off block
A block has been rendered more or less brick shaped.
Strap
Metal or plastic tape used for packaging (remember to protect the edges where the strap is in contact with the porphyry).
Structure (of a rock)
This term indicates the mineralogical relationships of the constituents: level of crystallization, grain size, size and shape of crystallised minerals, etc.. Only visible with a microscope.
Template
A 1:1 scale shaped model of wood, cardboard or plastic showing the shape of the piece to be produced in porphyry.
Toro (bastone) – bull-nosed
Linear working with convex curved section.
Tolerance
The different in measurement with respect to the normally accepted size of an individual product or between a series of elements of a lot.
Trial laying
Simulation laying of paving, cladding or complex patterns in the workshop to check the measurements and colouring.
Tread
The horizontal plane of a step.
Under squared
As before but with negative value.
Useful thickness
The different in height between the surface before and after laying.
Vibrating plate/tamper
A machine varying in weight and size depending on the paving to be compacted.
Wedge
A triangular shaped piece of a cube used in laying.