Movement Joints in Tile

Log Out | Topics | Search Moderators | Register | Edit Profile

Author Message Beth Stroshane New member Username: beth_stroshane Post Number: 1 Registered: 10-2005 Posted on Thursday, October 20, 2005 - 05:07 pm:    1. What kind of sealant are you specifying in your tile soft joints? The TCA handbook recommends urethane, polysulfide, or silicone sealants. Grout manufacturers provide sealants that match their grout, both sanded and unsanded, which all appear to be acrylic. Or have you avoided the issue by specifying pre-formed soft joints such as Schluter Dilex. 2. TCA also requires that the joints be located and detailed on the drawings. Is anyone meeting resistance from their designers? How are you "encouraging" their cooperation? Anne Whitacre, CCS CSI Senior Member Username: awhitacre Post Number: 261 Registered: 07-2002 Posted on Thursday, October 20, 2005 - 05:33 pm:    Beth: you can avoid some of the tile soft joints by using latex modified setting bed and grout. In a typical toilet room, you probably won't need them. in a faciity large enough to need such joints, I use silicone, and sand it if its in the floor. I don't consider polysulfide to be worth the money (5-8 year life) and urethane isn't much better. we don't use the preformed joints; not for any reason that I'm aware of; it just hasn't come up. Doug Brinley AIA CSI CDT CCS Senior Member Username: dbrinley Post Number: 139 Registered: 12-2002 Posted on Thursday, October 20, 2005 - 05:47 pm:    We work out 'soft' joints on tile layout (shop) drawings. (The hard joints are reviewed prior to concrete pours). Almost all of our work is specified as latex modified thinset, and latex modified grout as per Anne's remarks. Our 'soft' joints are sealant products. We have not used preformed material. The biggest problem we have is coordinating the hard joints. Usually these don't get coordinated far enough in advance because the tile guys never get involved. So, the tile guys work around whatever happens. We've tried to coordinate the hard joints with the tile design on the drawings, but usually something goes amiss. This requires a real craftsman's/craftperson's eye for detail, and a commitment that doesn't exist on our projects. Nathan Woods, CCCA Senior Member Username: nwoods Post Number: 30 Registered: 08-2005 Posted on Thursday, October 20, 2005 - 05:50 pm:    Doug, I think you have a typo in your last sentence. The last word should be "budgets", not "projects" :-) Doug Brinley AIA CSI CDT CCS Senior Member Username: dbrinley Post Number: 140 Registered: 12-2002 Posted on Thursday, October 20, 2005 - 05:55 pm:    That's pretty funny because we're preparing a cost estimate for a project that was: $14M in Feb 2004, then $19M in Nov 2004, and $24M in Jan 2006. So, we're not using tile anymore - we'll just put newspapers down on the floor. Ronald J. Ray, RA, CCS, CCCA Senior Member Username: rjray Post Number: 47 Registered: 04-2004 Posted on Thursday, October 20, 2005 - 09:10 pm:    I agree with the other post, except I specify mildew resistant silicone for soft joints Wayne Yancey Senior Member Username: wyancey Post Number: 83 Registered: 05-2005 Posted on Monday, October 24, 2005 - 02:22 pm:    Schluter Systems has nonelastomeric sealant control and expansion joint accessories.