Movement (control) joint — tiling

A movement joint (also called a control or expansion joint) is a deliberate flexible gap built into a tiled floor or wall, filled with a flexible sealant instead of rigid grout, so the tiling can expand, contract and shift slightly without the stress cracking tiles or popping them off the bed. In Dubai's heat this matters more than people expect: large tiled areas, floors over underfloor services, sunny balconies and terraces all move, and without movement joints the tiles have nowhere to go but up — the classic tenting or cracked-grout failure. They belong at the perimeter of a tiled area, over any structural joint, at changes of plane, and at regular intervals across a large field. Leaving them out is a common reason grout keeps cracking or tiles lift, and retro-fitting them is fiddly — far better designed in from the start by a tiling and waterproofing specialist.