drop cloth A drop cloth is a piece of fabric or plastic that is used to protect items from paint or splatter. Home Improvement Glossary dropped pattern Dropped-pattern wallpaper calls for careful planning, because the pattern needs to be aligned both horizontally and vertically with the strip of wallpaper on both sides. Because of the dual alignment, dropped patterns incur a good deal of waste in order to have enough paper to make all the necessary pattern matches. There are two different kinds of dropped patterns: half-drops and multiple drops. Home Improvement Glossary drum sander A large machine used for sanding floors that is roughly the size of a lawn mower. Home Improvement Glossary dry rot The damage caused by a fungus that eats away at wood causing extensive damage. Home Improvement Glossary drywall Drywall is a construction material that is made of plasterboard in the center with a heavy paper on the outside. Drywall is used to finish the walls in most houses made since the mid-1960s. Home Improvement Glossary dye lot Dye lot refers to the color pass that is used to make a certain batch of tiles or wallpaper rolls. There can be color variations from dye lot to dye lot even though the pattern name and number do not change. Home Improvement Glossary edge sander A smaller hand-held disc sander, to refinish the perimeter of the room and inside closets. Home Improvement Glossary eggshell finish A paint finish that is often used for decorative finishes because