Half Bathroom  A bathroom with a sink and toilet.

Hand-scraped  Also called hand-sculpted.  Hardwood planks are individually hand-scraped to create distinctive, one-of-a-kind floors.

Hazard insurance  Insurance that covers events such as earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, and other acts of god.

Header (Lintel)  A structural beam across the top of the window (or door) opening supporting the weight of the wall above the opening.

Head Flashing Flashing installed above the window head detail just below adjacent facing material that the window abuts.

Head Lap  Shortest distance from the butt edge of an overlapping shingle to the upper edge of a shingle in the second course below. The triple coverage portion of the top lap of strip shingles.

Hearth  Floor of the fireplace; it should extend into the room for safety from stray sparks.

Heat Welding A process for sealing seams for linoleum floors and some vinyl sheet floors. Heat welding requires skilled professionals who use specialized tools

High Energy Bills High utility bills in summer and winter can often be traced to air leaks in your home’s envelope, inefficient windows or inefficient or incorrectly installed heating and cooling equipment, or poorly sealed and insulated ducts.

Hip  The inclined external angle formed by the intersection of two sloping roof planes. Runs from the ridge to the eaves.

Hip Roof  A type of roof containing sloping planes of the same pitch on each of four sides. Contains no gables.

Hip Shingles  Shingles used to cover the inclined external angle formed by the intersection of two sloping roof planes.

Holiday  An area where a liquid-applied material is missing.

Homeowner’s insurance  Property insurance that protects homeowners against theft, personal liability, and fire.

Home performance – refers to measuring how a well a house achieves home building standards related to health and safety, building durability, energy-efficiency and comfort issues. Repeated measurements help homeowners confirm the results of improvements.

Home warranty insurance  Private insurance for home buyers that covers appliances and plumbing, heating, and electrical systems in the home.

Horsefeathers (also called feathering strips)  Tapered wood filler strips placed along the butts of old wood shingles to create a level surface when reroofing over existing wood shingle roofs.

HUD flood zone  An area prone to flooding, as determined by the Housing and Urban Development, a branch of the federal government.

Hybrid mortgage  A mortgage that combines some attributes of fixed rate mortgages with other attributes of adjustable rate mortgages. E.g. a loan which is fixed for 5 years but then reverts to an ARM.

Hydrostatic pressure  Pressure applied to envelope materials by various heights of water at rest.