Many factors contribute to movement in the slab, stressing the importance of honoring movement, expansion and saw cut joints. These contemporary expansion profiles create an aesthetically pleasing look while also extending the life of the floor covering.
EXPANSION JOINT GUIDE
Concrete slabs and large floor surfaces move — with temperature, with humidity, and as a building settles. Expansion, movement and saw-cut joints give that movement somewhere to go. A floor expansion joint cover is the profile laid over such a joint: it protects the exposed edges of the floor covering on both sides and keeps the joint serviceable, instead of letting the movement break up the floor. Küberit KE-Expansion profiles are pre-fit expansion joint covers suitable for all types of floor coverings.
Expansion profiles belong wherever a floor covering crosses a joint in the slab, or covers an area large enough to move on its own. These Küberit projects show typical cases:
Large floating floor surfaces
Boutique chain, laminate flooring →Parquet in high-rise residential
SoHo, New York →Barrier-free door thresholds
Medical center, Wiehl →The terms are often used interchangeably on site. A movement joint is the general case: any joint that lets building components move relative to each other. An expansion joint is the variant where thermal expansion drives that movement. Saw-cut or control joints are cut into the slab to decide where it will crack. Küberit KE profiles are made to be laid over all three — the point is to honor the joint underneath rather than to bridge it rigidly.
Tile and natural stone are rigid and cannot absorb movement, so a joint in the slab has to be carried up through the tile layer, and large tiled areas need additional movement joints. A tile expansion joint profile keeps that joint open while protecting the tile edges on both sides. KE-A and KE-B are installed before the tile, set into the same adhesive, in heights from 2 mm (1/16") to 15 mm (9/16") to match the tile thickness. KE-B is a patented two-part profile with a closed, maintenance-free movement joint that allows ±2.5 mm (3/32") of movement on each side. KE-A comes in anodized aluminum or stainless steel with a black or grey flexible insert.
