Trap: A fitting that provides a liquid seal to prevent the emission of sewer gases and odors.

Tree Crown: The branches growing out from a tree, including twigs and foliage.

Tributary Area: A loaded area that results in the given structural member supporting the area.

Truss: A frame or jointed structure designed to act as a beam of long span, while each member is usually subjected to lengthwise stress only (either tension or compression).

TVOCs: Total volatile organic compounds

Unfinished Spaces: Areas not intended for habitation or regular occupancy, including those used for warehouse, industrial, or other intended business operations and spaces under construction. These spaces typically lack general finish materials and may also include attics, basements, crawlspaces, plenums, and under-roof areas.

Unit Identifier: A label or placard on MEP equipment and its related components that indicate its reference details, which may include numbers, letters, or a combination thereof, as assigned by the building owner, manager, or maintenance personnel.

Unsafe: In the inspector’s opinion, a condition of an area, system, component or procedure that is judged to be a significant risk of injury during normal, day-to-day use. The risk may be due to damage, deterioration, improper installation, or a change in accepted commercial construction standards.

Use and Occupancy: Classifications established by the IBC® that are the design loads for categorized structures based on usage in pounds per square foot.

UV (Ultraviolet) Degradation: A reduction in performance caused by exposure to sunlight.

Value Engineering: The systematic effort of analyzing planned or designed building features and systems to achieve acceptable performance, function, and safety at the lowest service life cost.

Valve: A device used in piping to control the gas or liquid supply downstream of the device.

Vapor Retarder: A vapor-resistant material, membrane or covering, such as foil, plastic sheeting or insulation facing, that limits the amount of moisture vapor that passes through a material or wall assembly.

Variable Air Volume System: Air handling system that conditions the air to a constant temperature and varies the outside airflow to ensure thermal comfort. Also referred to as VAV system.

VAV: Variable air volume system.

Veneer Masonry Construction: Masonry units are applied as exterior cladding for aesthetic purposes and weather protection; typically contain weep holes or weep screeds for drainage.

Ventilation: The natural or mechanical process of supplying and removing air from any space.

Ventilation Air: Defined as the total air, which is a combination of the air brought into the system from the outdoors and the air that is being recirculated within the building. Sometimes, however, used in reference only to the air brought into the system from the outdoors.

Verify: To confirm or substantiate.

Vertical Crack: Travels upward and downward or is perpendicular to the foundation; can indicate structural movement.

Visible: That which may be easily observed during the walk-through survey portion of the inspection.

VOCs: See “Volatile Organic Compounds.”

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): Compounds that evaporate from the many housekeeping, maintenance, and building products made with organic chemicals. These compounds are released from products that are being used and that are in storage. In sufficient quantities, VOCs can cause eye, nose, and throat irritations, headaches, dizziness, visual disorders, memory impairment; some are known to cause cancer in animals; some are suspected of causing, or are known to cause, cancer in humans. At present, not much is known about what health effects occur at the levels of VOCs typically found in public and commercial buildings.

Waffle Structural System: A type of two-way cast-in-place concrete roof and floor structural system that uses a square dome with concrete placed on top.

Walk-Through Survey: That portion of the inspection where the inspector makes non-intrusive, visual observations of readily accessible areas of the subject property.

Walking Surface: The ground or floor surface that meets specific requirements to be accessible to people with disabilities.

Wall Protector: Non-combustible shield between a wall and anything heat-producing for the purpose of reducing required clearance.

Weep Hole: A hole located near the base of a masonry that allows for the drainage of entrapped water. It may be an omission of mortar, a rope wick, or a screened material.

Weep Screed: A type of flashing material that drains excess moisture, installed along the base and at roof-wall transitions of exterior stucco or stone.

Well: A means of enclosure that is part of the permanent structure that completely encompasses all or a portion of the climbing space of a fixed ladder.

1 … 18 19 20 21