Expansion Joints

Expansion Joints are a necessary installation on large areas of tiling. Expansion Joints are needed because all tiles expand and contract with temperature and moisture changes. In almost every case the substrate will move differently to the covering material. The larger the tile field, the more it will expand and contract, and be vulnerable to failure. In 95 per cent of today’s tile installations they will be fixed using the thin-bed method. This means the tile is adhered directly to the substrate with an appropriate adhesive. Using multiple Expansion joints across a large area of tiling helps accommodate the differential stresses within each “field” of tiling, so they don’t build up to a level which would cause shearing stresses at the bonded interface, protecting the tiles from cracking, tenting and debonding.