Terms of the Trade

We know jargon can be both confusing and annoying. While our system design specialists will explain the process thoroughly, we wanted to give you some common terms of the basement industry.

• Foundation Wall

The foundation walls of your home are the exterior basement walls. These walls may be poured concrete, block, or stone.

• Floor Joist

The floor joist is also known as the basement ceiling.

• Sill Plate

The sill plate sits joins the foundation wall and the floor joist. It lays horizontally along the top of the foundation wall.

• Rim Joist

The rim joist connects the floor joist and the sill plate. It sits vertically, perpendicular to the sill plate.

• Footing

The footing is the concrete slab on which your basement floor sits. If your home has monolithic slab, it just means that the footing and the floor were poured as a single slab, so they are one unit.

Wall Joint

• Basement Floor

The basement floor may also be referred to as a slab or floor slab. Typically, we’ll just refer to it as the basement floor.

• Sub-Slab Soil

This may be referred to as floor backfill. Sub-slab soil is the soil beneath your basement floor.

• Grade

Grade simply refers to ground level. Often, the word grade is used to describe the slope of the ground at the surface level.

• Backfill

Backfill is the soil that builders dug out and put back. When building your home, soil was excavated and returned.

• Virgin Soil

Virgin soil is the soil that was not disturbed by the builders.

• Exterior Footing Drain

This is more commonly known as drain tile. It is an exterior drainage system that runs along the exterior footing of the home.

When you schedule your free estimate, we send you a packet specific to your needs. In the packet is a book that explains in further detail everything you need to know before your system design specialists evaluates the problem.