Movement Joints In Tile Assemblies

Full Description

There has been considerable discussion concerning the need for movement joints in tile assemblies. The question is not whether they are needed; that is a simple yes. The questions are “Where do they go?”, and “What is used to fill the joint in the tile assembly that will control or compensate for movement in the entire assembly?” There are several different types of construction movement joints defined by the Tile Council of North America (TCNA) that are needed in tile assemblies:

• Construction / Cold Joints are formed between two successive placements of concrete. Quite often, the reinforcement in the concrete will continue through the two successive placements.

• Contraction / Control Joints formed in the concrete or sawn into cured concrete. This creates a weakened plane in the concrete that regulates the location of cracking from natural movement during the curing cycle. The concrete will crack the same as the random cracks we commonly observe in concrete slabs, except with the inclusion of control joints, this random cracking is controlled to a specific location. There is a potential for continued movement that will cause these cracks to open and close with the same as the unrestricted natural cracks that occur randoml