GLOSSARY 

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W 

WALL FABRIC

Durable surface on cotton backing, with top colours applied by surface printing or rotogravure. 

WALLBOARD

Boards such as pressed cellulose fibreboard, plasterboard, or plywood used in place of plaster in interior surfaces. 

WALLCOVERING

Wallcovering falls into two broad categories: those made with basic materials (e.g., paper, vinyl) and those made with specialty materials (e.g., textiles, metal foil, natural fibres, cork, wood veneer, textured fibreglass, etc.). 

WALLCOVERING ADHESIVE (PASTE)

Wallcovering adhesive or paste is available as powder material, which must be mixed with water at the job site, or premixed material, which is formulated at the factory and ready to use. 

WALLCOVERING, FLOCK FINISH

Soft, fluffy fibres of wool, cotton, silk, nylon, or rayon blown onto an adhesive-coated backing to produce a velvet-like finish on wallcovering. 

WALLCOVERING, PATTERN MATCH

Strips of wallcovering will match each other in one of three ways:

1. RANDOM MATCH - The wallcovering matches anywhere along the length of the strips.

2. STRAIGHT-ACROSS MATCH - The design elements of the wallcovering pattern match horizontally from strip to strip.

3. DROP MATCH - The design elements of the wallcovering appear at different locations along the strip and match diagonally rather than horizontally. A drop match may be either a half drop or a multiple drop. With a half drop match, every other strip is the same. With a multiple drop match, it may take three, four, or more strips before the design repeats.  

WALLCOVERING SEAM

The following four types of seams commonly are used to join strips of wallcovering:

1. BUTT SEAM - A butt seam is made by aligning the edge of one wallcovering strip tightly against the next strip without any overlap.

2. DOUBLE CUT SEAM - A double cut seam is made by overlapping two strips of wallcovering, then cutting through both strips at the same time, and removing the overlapping and under-lapping pieces.

3. WIRE SEAM - A wire seam is made by allowing the edge of one strip of wallcovering to overlap the next very slightly (about 1/16 inch).

4. OVERLAP SEAM - An overlap seam is made allowing one strip of wallcovering to overlap the other strip by ½ inch or more. The overlap seam usually is reserved for use on corners, archways, soffit, and similar areas that may be difficult to cover. 

WALLCOVERING, TEXTILE

Linen, cotton, velour, chintz, silk, and felt are among fabrics used un-backed or paper-backed for wallcovering. 

WALLCOVERING TEXTURE

Wallcovering textures range from plain and smooth to flocked, embossed, and various tactile patterns. 

WASH PRIMER

Priming paint usually supplied as a one- or two-component system. The paint contains carefully balanced proportions of an inhibiting chromate pigment, phosphoric acid, and synthetic resin binder mixed in an alcohol solvent. 

WASHABILITY

The ability of a wallcovering or coating to withstand occasional sponging with a detergent solution. 

WATER-BASED

Coatings in which the majority of the liquid content is water. 

WATER BLAST CLEANING

An alternative to air abrasive blast cleaning for wood, concrete, or metal surfaces. Water blast cleaning can be used with or without abrasive injection. 

WATER-BASED COATING - WATER-BORNE COATING

Latex paint and paint containing a water-soluble binder. 

WATER-DISPERSIBLE COATING

An organic coating that normally is solvent-borne, but by adjusting the chemistry can be dispersed in water. 

WATER JETTING

Directing jets of pressurized water against a surface to remove paint and debris. Water jetting is typically classified as either high-pressure (10,000 to 25,000 p.s.i.) or ultra high-pressure (25,000 p.s.i. or greater). 

WATER-REDUCIBLE COATING

Coating that can be diluted (reduced) with water, water-cosolvent mixtures, and sometimes with alkali (alkali-soluble resins). 

WATER STAIN

Solution of dye, water, and alcohol. 

WATER-THINNED COATING

A coating that is water-borne and uses water for thinning. The binder may be a material that requires water for setting, that is soluble in water, or that is emulsifiable in water. 

WAX

Wax is used for polishing floors and woodwork after painting, bleaching, or staining. Waxes used by the decorator and wood finisher include: 1.) carnauba wax, a hard wax obtained from the leaves of a Brazilian palm tree; 2.) beeswax, a soft wax obtained from the honeycomb of the honey bee; 3.) candelilla wax, a wax obtained from a Mexican shrub; and 4.) mineral wax, a wax based on paraffin derived from crude oil. 

WELD SPATTER

Beads of metal produced during the welding process that adhere to the surface near the weld. 

WET ABRASIVE BLAST CLEANING

Adding water to an abrasive blast cleaning operation. Water may be injected into the abrasive stream or applied externally to the abrasive stream as it exits the blast nozzle. Wet abrasive blast cleaning creates less dust than open abrasive blast cleaning. 

WET AIR

Saturated air that contains small droplets of moisture (condensed water vapour). 

WET EDGE TIME

Length of time that a wall paint can stand and be brushed or rolled back into the next stretch without showing lap marks.  

WFT - WET FILM THICKNESS

Thickness of a liquid film immediately after application. 

WET FILM THICKNESS GAUGE

Device for measuring wet film thickness. 

WETTING

The ability of a vehicle to spread uniformly and rapidly over the surface of pigment particles. 

WHIP CHECK

Safety cable that connects air hoses across the coupling to keep the hoses from flying around if the connection separates.  

WHITE LEAD

Lead carbonate. 

WHITE-METAL BLAST CLEANING

Highest grade of blast cleaning. 

WIRE BRUSH CLEANING

Cleaning a surface with a wire brush that is either a hand tool or a power tool. 

WIRE ROPE

Cable made of steel strands wrapped around a core, and often used in rigging and scaffolding. The direction of the strands is called the lay of the rope. The proper way to wind rope onto a drum is opposite to its lay. 

WIRE SEAM

See WALLCOVERING SEAM. 

WOOD FILLER

A material in liquid or paste form used to fill cracks or holes in wood. 

WOOD VENEER LAMINATE

Real wood laminated to a fabric backing for use as a wallcovering. 

WORK CAGE

A single-point adjustable suspension scaffold unit enclosed with guards, mid-rails, and toe-boards, and large enough for the operator to work standing up. 

WORK MIX

The mixture of various sizes of abrasive material that results from the periodic addition of new abrasive to recycled abrasive during the blasting operation. Sometimes called "operating mix."  

WRINKLING

A defect in which the coating film resembles the skin of a prune.