Adobe – (a-doe’-bee) A sun dried mud brick used as a building material.
Arroyo – (a-roy-o) Dry riverbed that fills occasionally during our rainy season. Avoid building in arroyos!
Banco – (bawn’-co) A bench built from adobe usually covered with plaster, sometimes built beside the kiva fireplace or on a portal.
Canale – (ka-nal’-lee) A spout, which protrudes from the roof that carries rain water off a flat pueblo roof.
Casa – (kah-sah) A house
Corbel – (kor’-bell) A short sculptured beam lying on top of a post, principally decorative.
Horno – (hor’-no) A Freestanding adobe bread oven found at most pueblos and Indian homes.
Kiva Fireplace – (kee’-va) A sculptured beehive-shaped fireplace.
Latilla – (la-tee’-ya) Small branches used as ceiling planking, usually between vigas which are made of aspen, pine, or cedar.
Lintel – (lin’-tel) An exposed beam at the top of a window or door.
Nicho – (nee’-cho) A sculptured indentation in the wall used to display art work.
Placita – (plah-SEE’-tuh) Fortified place, small town, court or patio.
Portal – (por-tal’) An outdoor patio covered by a roof supported by posts.
Saltillo tile – (sal-tee’-yo) A fired earthen tile made in Mexico.
Stucco – (stu’-ko) Final color coat plastered on exterior of an adobe-style building.
Talavera tile – (tal’-a-ver-a) Colorful hand-decorated Mexican tile used for counter tops and trim.
Truth Door – A door that shows the true inner rammed earth wall. see picture
Viga – (vee’-ga) A round log used as ceiling beams, usually pine or spruce.
Wainscot – (weyn-skot) The lower three or four feet of a wall when finished differently form the remainder of the wall.
Energy Efficient Terms
L.E.E.D – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is a program of the U.S. Green Building Council to provide standards for environmentally sustainable construction. 
LEED as a construction standard is used for both home building and commercial building.
Build Green New Mexico – Another standard for “green” construction based on the work of National Association of Home Builders, applying to residential construction. Both LEED and Build Green New Mexico standard are allowed to qualify a new home for New Mexico’s Sustainable Building Tax Credit, which is reportedly the most generous tax credit for energy efficient homes in the nation. www.buildgreennm.com
Blower Door Test – A fan-based test changing the home’s inside pressure relative to ambient outside pressure, to detect air leakage form outside the thermal envelope by measuring air loss.
Duct Blaster Test – Similar to above, but specifically tests duct and mechanical equipment for unintended air leakage. Older homes routinely fail this test massively. Results are given in percentage of air loss.
Sustainable Building Tax Credit – Referring to a law passed by the NM Legislature in 2005, these NM tax credits are designed to reward builders who construct residential buildings to at least the LEED for Homes or Build Green NM “Silver” levels. The program was designed to encourage the spread of highly energy efficient building techniques and required support skills.
“R” Value and “U” Value – The “R” value is a measurement of heat loss retardation characteristics of a building component. For example increasing the thickness of an insulating material increases the “R” value. The “U” value is the inverse of “R” value. “U” value describes how well a building element conducts heat. It measures the rate of heat transfer through a building element over a given area, under standardized conditions, and therefore lower “U” value numbers mean higher levels of energy conservation. Both “R” and “U” values are commonly used in building component discussions.
Energy Efficient Terms from Jack C. Milarch, Jr. Housing Journal Volume 39 Issue 7