Movement Joints

Movement joints are designed in to a structure to relieve or absorb anticipated movement between structural elements generally caused by thermal expansion / contraction, settlement, load transfer, dead loads and at times seismic activity. Movement joints are dynamic, and will be subject to horizontal (expansion / contraction), vertical and shear movement. Therefore, before selecting the most appropriate movement joint system it’s important that the engineer outlines the joints movement dynamics to ensure that the proposed jointing systems will accommodate all types of movement.

For more information about movement joints please contact the RIW Technical Department.