Window & door fabrication glossary
The terms fabricators use every day — from soot to sash to cutting optimization — in plain English.
- Soot
- A traditional unit of measurement used in the Indian window and door trade where 8 soot equal 1 inch. A size written as 32.5 means 32 inches plus 5 soot. AluSync supports soot natively, alongside inches and millimetres.
- Fenestration
- The arrangement of windows, doors and other openings in a building. The fenestration industry covers the design, manufacture and installation of windows and doors.
- Fabricator
- A business that cuts, assembles and finishes windows and doors from profiles, glass and hardware — as opposed to the extruder who makes the raw profiles or the dealer who only sells them.
- Profile
- An extruded length of aluminium or uPVC with a fixed cross-section that forms part of a window or door — for example the outer frame, sash or interlock. Profiles are cut to length and joined to build a frame.
- Frame
- The fixed outer structure of a window or door that is installed into the wall opening and holds the sashes, glass and hardware.
- Sash (Shutter)
- The moving part of a window that holds the glass and slides or swings within the frame. In many Indian workshops the sash is also called the shutter.
- Mullion
- A vertical bar that divides a window into separate sections or panes. It provides structure and separates adjacent sashes or fixed lights.
- Transom
- A horizontal bar that divides a window into upper and lower sections — for example separating a fixed top light from an openable section below.
- Fixed light
- A pane of glass set permanently into the frame that does not open. Often combined with sliding or openable sections in a single window.
- Casement window
- A window with a sash hinged at the side (or top) that swings open like a door, rather than sliding within the frame.
- Sliding / track window
- A window whose sashes slide horizontally along tracks built into the frame. A "2-track" or "3-track" window describes how many parallel sliding channels it has.
- Glazing bead
- A thin profile that holds the glass in place inside the sash or frame. Beads are cut per side and sized to the glass opening so the pane is held securely.
- Georgian bar
- A decorative glazing bar that creates a grid pattern across the glass, giving the look of multiple small panes. It is decorative and does not change the billable glass calculation.
- Wire mesh
- An insect screen fitted to a window, often on its own track. Mesh is cut to width and can be optimized to reduce material waste.
- Cutting list
- The list of every profile piece a job requires, with its length and quantity, used by the shop floor to cut material. A good cutting list reflects the real stock lengths the workshop buys.
- Cutting optimization
- Arranging the required cuts across stock lengths so the least usable material is left as offcut. AluSync packs cuts against your real stock lengths and shows the visual layout and exact wastage.
- Wastage
- The percentage of purchased material that ends up as unusable offcut rather than in the finished product. Lower wastage means more of every profile you buy becomes billable window.
- uPVC
- Unplasticised polyvinyl chloride, a rigid plastic used to make window and door profiles. uPVC windows are valued for thermal insulation and low maintenance; AluSync supports both uPVC and aluminium fabrication.
- SQFT and SQM
- Square feet and square metres — the two units used to measure and price window area. AluSync lets you price in either per estimation, while keeping the underlying calculations consistent.