Hello all,

I'm wondering how to properly write a word sounding like "forenz".

A forenz is a building implement used in masonry and facade building. It is
generally installed at corners exterior walls of a house, and is used for
spacing apart the courses of brick/stone/masonry block being laid adjacenty
to the wall to form the house faces. It also serves to attach aluminum slats
used to form exterior house facades, in spaced-apart fashion from the
underlying wall.

any thoughts? some construction dude i've been talking to has been calling
it a "forenz". i don't know if its slang, or if it's a french quebecker (i'm
from montreal) term or if it's a plain english term that i'm just not
spelling properly, but i get no relevant hits on google.

thanks a lot