JOINTS IN BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

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Definition
• The separation or planes of weakness
introduced at different locations in a building
are known as joints in the building.
• The purpose of providing joints at different
locations is to accommodate large
dimensional changes occuring due to
expansion and contraction of the building
without structural failure or penetration of
moisture.

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Types of joints
• Isolation Joints
• Construcion Joints
• Control Joints

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I. Control joints

Control joints (also referred to as contraction

joints) are used to create lines of weakness
so that cracking that may result from tensile
stresses occurs along predetermined
locations.

Without them, drying shrinkage would result in

random cracking
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Control joints can be:
 Hand-tooled into fresh concrete,
 Sawed into partially cured concrete,
 Formed with fixed divider strips of wood or of
specially molded fiber, cork, or sponge
rubber.

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Control

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Good Control Joint

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Control Joint

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Control joints
Normally control joints are provided:

At 2 times the slab thickness in feet for a

maximum aggregate size of less than ¾”.

For example for a 5” slab with a ¾” coarse

aggregate the maximum joint spacing would
be 10’.

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When the maximum coarse aggregate size is
greater than ¾”, the spacing could be
increased to 2 ½” times the thickness.

For the prior example this would increase to

13’.

Whenever required to convert an irregular slab

shape into rectangular or square.

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II. Construction Joints
• Construction joints are concrete-to-concrete
joints that prevent any relative movement
across the joint.
• Construction joints provide a place for
construction to stop and continue at a later
time.

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Construction joints
Construction joints are usually coated with oil
to prevent bond with the next pour, and
located so that they can also act as control
joints or isolation joint.
They can be keyed or doweled to prevent
vertical differential movement of adjoining
slab sections.
They may also be necessary if unforeseen
events (for example delays in delivery, pump
breakdown or bad weather) interrupt a pour.
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Construction Joints

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III. Isolation Joints
(Expansion Joints)

Isolation joints, allow movement to occure

between a concrete slab and adjoining
columns and walls of a building.
Isolation joints are used to separate new
concrete from existing or adjacent
construction, which might expand and
contract differently or experience different
soil settlement or other movement.

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Isolation joints

If the fresh concrete were not separated from

these elements by an isolation joint, a crack
could form where the two meet.

Isolation joints should be 1/4 in. to 1/2 in. wide,

and filled with a molded fiber, cork, or rubber
strip that is set 1/4 in. below the surface.

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Isolation joints

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Isolation joints

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Isolation Joint

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