construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

, furring (furring strips) are strips of wood or other material applied to a structure to level or raise the surface, to prevent dampness, to make space for insulation, to level and resurface ceilings or walls, or to increase the beam of a wooden ship. Furring refers to the process of installing the strips and to the strips themselves. ''Firring'' is a U.K. term for wood strips which are usually 50 mm wide, tapered and fixed above wood roof joists to provide drainage falls below roof boarding. Furring strips themselves are typically referred to as ''

batten A batten is most commonly a strip of solid material, historically wood but can also be of plastic, metal, or fiberglass. Battens are variously used in construction, sailing, and other fields. In the lighting industry, battens refer to linea ...

s'' in the U.K. and sometimes the material is called ''strapping'' in the U.S.

In buildings

Wood furring strips typically measure 1 x 2 or 1 x 3 inches. They can be laid out perpendicular to studs or joists and nailed to them, or set vertically against an existing wall surface. The spacing between the strips depends on the type of finishing material. Wider spacing is typically used behind the heavy boards that support ceramic tiles. Closely spaced strips are needed for thin panelling or plaster. The use of strips with plaster, however, is called either

lath and plaster Lath and plaster is a building process used to finish mainly interior dividing walls and ceilings. It consists of narrow strips of wood ( laths) which are nailed horizontally across the wall studs or ceiling joists and then coated in plaster. The ...

wattle and daub Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung a ...

. The origin of the furring strip may be from the root "furr", which is the term given to the space behind the field of lath.Ten Tips for Great Stucco by Bruce Bell Metal furring strips are used for commercial projects, or in towns where fire-proof supporting elements are required by the local building code. Often called "hat channels" to describe the profile (cross section), they consist of two flanges on each side of a trapezoid shape, 7/8 in thick. Furring is also used to support roof materials and may be seen under barn and shed roofs but is now used less often, replaced by labor-saving

plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...

Drywall Drywall (also called plasterboard, dry lining, wallboard, sheet rock, gypsum board, buster board, custard board, and gypsum panel) is a panel made of calcium sulfate dihydrate (gypsum), with or without additives, typically extruded between thick ...

has become the most common interior wall finishing material and does not need furring due to its strength. Furring is still used in remodeling work to fill out uneven sections for resurfacing, or to add room for insulation.

Ship repair

Furring is a type of ship rebuilding method indicative of the late 16th century and early 17th century England. It was adopted as a remedial process to solve

crank ships Crank may refer to: Mechanisms * Crank (mechanism), in mechanical engineering, a bent portion of an axle or shaft, or an arm keyed at right angles to the end of a shaft, by which motion is imparted to or received from it * Crankset, the componen ...

that were built too narrow. When a ship could not bear sail, was too narrow or her bearing laid too low, a second layer of frames was attached outboard of the first to make her broader and lay her bearing higher. This was done by ripping the planks off and applying the second frames on top of the original frames, and then adding the planks back on. "They commonly fur some two or three

strake On a vessel's hull, a strake is a longitudinal course of planking or plating which runs from the boat's stempost (at the bows) to the sternpost or transom (at the rear). The garboard strakes are the two immediately adjacent to the keel on ...

s under water and as much above, according as the ship requires, more or less." (Mainwaring, 153) This would increase beam at and near the waterline, and thereby the

transverse stability The metacentric height (GM) is a measurement of the initial static stability of a floating body. It is calculated as the distance between the centre of gravity of a ship and its metacentre. A larger metacentric height implies greater initial stab ...

of the hull. Although this appeared to have fixed the problems with "makeshift corrections" due to miscalculation, it was seen as a poor remedy and at times was used as a black listing method among shipwrights during the end of the 16th century and beginning of the 17th century England (ex.

Phineas Pett Phineas Pett (1 November 1570 – August 1647) was a shipwright and First Resident Commissioner of Chatham Dockyard and a member of the Pett dynasty. Phineas left a memoir of his activities which is preserved in the British Library and was publi ...

and the ''Prince Royal''). Because it was seen as such an incompetent occurrence to miscalculate while building, even the writers of the time had plenty to say about its uncertainties: "I think in all the world there are not so many ships furred as are in England, and it is a pity that there is no order taken either for the punishing of those who build such ships or the preventing of it, for it is an infinite loss to the owners and an utter spoiling and disgrace to all ships that are so handled (Mainwaring, 153)". The only archaeological evidence of furring found to date is on the

Princes Channel Wreck The Princes Channel wreck, also known as the Gresham Ship is an Elizabethan shipwreck (c. 1574) that was discovered in the Princes Channel in the Thames Estuary. It was discovered by the Port of London Authority in 2004 during a dredging operati ...

References

* Mainwaring, G. E. & Perrin, W. G. (Ed.) (1922). The Life and works of Sir Henry Mainwaring. Volume II: The Seaman’s Dictionary. Navy Records Society: London. * Wagstaffe, Cate. 2010. Furring in the light of 16th century ship design. MA thesis, SDU: Esbjerg.
furring diagram
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728090847/http://www.thamesodyssey.org/images/Furring-diagram.jpg , date=2011-07-28 Building materials Building technology Shipbuilding

In buildings

Ship repair

See also

References