TCNA Handbook Question.

We had a situation come up this past week at USG that resulted in the below email reply that I thought would be of interest, and a great learning opportunity.

It involves a tile wall assembly and the directions to have a movement joint designed by a design professional. Now most folks usually believe that movement joints are only for floors – that is not true and reading the section on movement joints explains in great detail when and where to use movement joints. The purpose of that statement in the TCNA Handbook is that labor (contractors) are tired of buying failed jobs when the customer either won’t pay for or don’t like the looks of a movement joint in their tile work. Contractors don’t want to be the ones to design the joints so it is now in writing that they can show the customer exactly what has to be done to make the job work.

I took a look this morning at the 2011 TCNA Handbook and the wall assembly – w231/w241-11 on page 241 and saw the directions about the movement joints according to EJ171. When you go to that page (274/275) you see two wall assemblies showing movement joints – both at the bottom of the wall and that is what they are directing folks to pay attention to in those wall assemblies. It is the same concept as the corner movement joint requirements as any time you change direction (corner or floor) you need a soft joint to allow movement without breaking the tile. You should also completely read the explanation section on movement joints starting on page 271 that tells what materials to use and how/when/where to use them.

If you don't already own a copy of the TCNA Tile Handbook you can get one online from:
WWW.Tileusa.com or drop me an email: Srausch@usg.com and I will have one of our field reps drop a copy off to you. If you're in the tile business you MUST HAVE this book.

Steve