This article is ratedStart-class on Wikipedia'scontent assessment scale. It is of interest to the followingWikiProjects:

ArchitectureLow‑importance This article is within the scope ofWikiProject Architecture, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage ofArchitecture on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can jointhe discussion and see a list of open tasks.ArchitectureWikipedia:WikiProject ArchitectureTemplate:WikiProject ArchitectureArchitecture Low This article has been rated asLow-importance on theproject's importance scale.

The merge tag has been on this article since April 2008. I am in favor of merging this article into theTopping out article. While both terms are commonly used, "Topping out" is the term more commonly used on the Internet. Here's the comparison in number of pages:

• Topping out (432,000)
• Topping off (364,000)

Please indicate your support or lack of support below: I will tally this in one week's time (midnight August 5, 2008 (UTC).

• Support - Since "topping out" is more used, I favor merging this article into "Topping out.Sunray (talk)05:47, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

• Support - I studied architecture and work in construction support services in the UK. I've only ever heard it refered to as "topping out".—Precedingunsigned comment added by212.44.32.134 (talk)14:45, 31 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

An image used in this article,File:Topping off liberty hotel.jpg, has been nominated for speedy deletion for the following reason:All Wikipedia files with unknown copyright status What should I do? Don't panic; you should have time to contest the deletion (although please reviewdeletion guidelines before doing so). The best way to contest this form of deletion is by posting on the image talk page. If the image isnon-free then you may need to provide afair use rationale If the image isn't freely licensed and there is no fair use rationale, then it cannot be uploaded or used. If the image has already been deleted you may want to tryDeletion Review To take part in any discussion, or to review a more detailed deletion rationale please visit the relevantimage page (File:Topping off liberty hotel.jpg) This is Bot placed notification, another user has nominated/tagged the image --CommonsNotificationBot (talk)13:57, 23 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to one external link onTopping out. Please take a moment to reviewmy edit. If necessary, add{{cbignore}} after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add{{nobots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}} to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:

• Added archivehttp://web.archive.org/web/20080928203019/http://www.nationalreview.com:80/comment/wood200312230101.asp?category=all%20projects&id=23 tohttp://www.nationalreview.com/comment/wood200312230101.asp?category=all%20projects&id=23

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set thechecked parameter below totrue orfailed to let others know (documentation at{{Sourcecheck}}).

This message was posted before February 2018.After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored byInternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other thanregular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editorshave permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see theRfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template{{source check}}(last update: 5 June 2024).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them withthis tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them withthis tool.

Cheers.—^{cyberbot II}_{Talk to my owner:Online}07:44, 10 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The History section says it originated in Scandinavia and is now common in European countries and the English-speaking West. But among the photos there is a topped-out building in China. Is this from Western influence or do they have a local tradition?27.32.62.224 (talk)05:24, 28 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

More thoughts:

Surely it is a natural human impulse to have some sort of recognition when a building reaches a stage of completion. But this need have no relation to what was originally a quasi-religious ceremony with the tree. Is only the latter "Topping Out", and the other could be "Completion Ceremony"? But I am only arguing from common sense and have no sources, so this makes it Original Research. But I think that not making some distinction amounts to misleading the reader by omission. So what is the resolution?27.32.62.224 (talk)06:14, 28 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

I am removing the following passage and all related material:

> A Scandinavian tradition of hoisting a pine tree to the top of framed out buildings had a more functional purpose: when the pine needles fell off, the builders knew the wood frame below had cured/dried out so they could enclose the building

This claim seems to have half a dozen sources online, but none of them date from before this statement was added to Wikipedia on Jan 31, 2023. If anyone wishes to add this back, please find a source from before that date or we may risk a case ofWP:CITOGENESIS.168.91.239.66 (talk)03:01, 8 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, fair enough.

With the help of HathiTrust, Google Books, and my university's off-site microfilm collection, I just tried checking some possible matches for the suspiciously vague citation "Engineering News, early 1970s", and found nothing useful, though I didn't do a through search, I just checked the matches that seemed most likely, since borrowing the microfilms from off-site and operating the microfilm reader are both quite tedious. I'm open to giving it another shot if you have any strong leads, though.

FTR, here's the first relevant diff:https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=1136653690&oldid=1085177037&title=Topping_out; looks like the IP user that added it was most likely in either Florida or Puerto Rico, in case that helps identify which "Engineering News" they might be referring to (if they're not just making up a fictitious citation).

Solomon Ucko (talk)19:54, 9 September 2025 (UTC)[reply]

• Start-Class Architecture articles
• Low-importance Architecture articles