b'PRESIDENTS LETTERChris WalkerMovement jointswhy you need themPeople who succeed in any pro- cuts so tight, I may have been elimi-fession take pride in their work. Asnatingtheinstallationsabilityto Ispentmoretimeintheindustryaccommodate even minor changes andbegantobeawardedmorein humidity, temperature or defl ec-challenging installations, our teamstion when the installations needed took great pride and produced whattoexpandandcontract.Justthe we thought was oftennot alwayssamethey were cuts produced byjust about perfect. Looking back,a highly skilled craftsman. Too bad some of themin factwere per- they were technically wrong. fectly wrong! Besides just not knowing any bet-Now,thisgoesbackalmost30ter, expansion and perimeter joints years. I have continued to learn andare often ignored because they can hopefullyknowmorethanIdidbeavisualdistraction.Itisdiffi -then. But its humbling to look backcult to argue with someone who is andrealizehowmuchwehadtodead-set against them for aesthetic learn. Like the old saying goes, Wereasons,becauseaesthetically,I dont know what we dont know.agree with them much of the time. ThereshouldneverbeatimeBut, aesthetics dont trump physics. that you stop learning. In hindsight,People usually come to an enlight-eventhoughIhadbeenintheened understanding of the need for industry for several years, I had onlymovementjointsafteraninstalla-abasicunderstandingofcontroltion has failed. joints: where to use them, and whyThis is an avoidable and expensive and how they need to be an inte- conversation, one you should have gral part of a tile assembly. Lack ofonly once, or betternever. Once movement joints is one of the mostyouhavehadityouwillbeable prevalent reasons for tile installationtoauthoritativelyinstructsomeone failures.oftheneedforproperlydesigned IusedtothinkIwasachiev- controljointsintheinstallation, ingpeakperformancebyproduc- especiallyafterhavingrepairedor ingcutswithmicrometerinsidereplaced a failed installation because cornersorperimeterjoints.Littleyou did not include them.didIknowthatbymakingthoseSome time ago, I insisted on 5/16 22 TileLetter | November 2019'