Some Building professions

Exercise 1. Read and translate the text

A man, who has been an apprentice for some years in a building trade and has therefore enough skill to be considered a skilled worker at his trade, is called tradesman or craftsman.

He may be a carpenter-and-joiner, bricklayer, mason, slater-and-tiler, plumber, electrician, house painter, glazier, floor-and-wall tiler, plasterer, paper-hanger, steeplejack, hot water fitter and so on.

Bricklayer is a tradesman who builds and repairs brickwork, lays and joints salt glazed stoneware drains, sets chimney pots, manhole frames and fireplaces. He renders brickwork, including the insides of manholes. A sewer and tunnel bricklayer is a specialized bricklayer. In some districts of Great Britain, bricklayers also fix wall and flooring tiles, and slating and lay plaster and granolithic floors. But elsewhere these are plasterer's specialities.

Carpenter is a man who erects wood frames, fits joints, fixes wood floors, stairs and window frames, asbestos sheeting and other wallboard.. He builds or dismantles wood or metal formwork. The two trades of carpenter and joiner were originally the same, and most men can do both, but specialize in one or the other. In the USA the term "carpenter" includes a joiner. The word is derived from the French word "charpente" which means a wood or metal framework.

Joiner is a man who makes joinery and works mainly at the bench of wood which has been cut and shaped by the machinists. His work is finer than the carpenter's, much of it being highly finished and done in a joiner shop which is not exposed to weather.

In Scotland a joiner is a carpenter-and-joiner.

Mason is a stone worker or stone setter. In Scotland and the USA a bricklayer is usually also a mason. A fixer or fixer-mason or a builder mason is a mason which sets prepared stones in walls, weather the stone be one facing or to the full wall thickness.

Plasterer is a tradesman who may be a fibrous plasterer or a plasterer in solid work. The latter lays successive coats of plaster or rendering and fixes fibroplaster such as mould cornices and wall pattern. He can use a horsed mould, erect lathing for plaster, and apply stucco. A civil engineer constructs and reconstructs residential and industrial buildings, bridges, schools, museums, theatres, power stations, kindergartens, dams, reservoirs and irrigation systems. Civil engineers and architects must have some knowledge of sculpture, painting, design, mechanical engineering, geography, city planning, etc. Civil engineers and architects have the main aim - to provide people with all modern conveniences, such as running water, gas, electricity, central heating and so on.

Besides, they must create attractive structures. It is the duty of an engineer to design the project which will most nearly satisfy the needs of the occupants at the lowest practical cost. Civil engineer must not only help to fulfil construction programs but to carry out scientific and research work to improve building materials and methods.