Construction joints for

multistory structures
Where to locate them, how to form them

BY BRUCE SUPRENANT
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING & MECHANICS
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
TAMPA, FLORIDA

onstruction joints are

C stopping places for con-

crete work. They’re needed
because it’s not feasible to
place all the concrete for most jobs
in one pour. Breaking the job into
smaller portions allows the contrac-
tor to:
Match pour size with concrete
delivery capabilities

■ Choose the best crew size

■ Make best use of equipment

■ Reduce formwork costs by

increasing form reuse

Vertical and horizontal construc-

tion joints must be carefully located
to produce these b enefits without
weakening the structure. And to
function properly the joints must be
built correctly.

Where to install construction

joints Figure 1. The ACI Code requires construction joints in elevated slabs to be
The architect or engineer often located within the middle third of spans of slabs, beams, and girders. Joints
specifies construction joint location must be located at least two beam widths away from beam-girder intersections.
in the contract documents. Some-
times, though, the contractor is
asked to submit a construction joint
plan after the bid letting. In either
case, the engineer or contractor
should consider economy, appear-
ance, strength, and durability when
choosing joint location.
Economy. If the contractor has in-
put on where to put construction
joints, he can match the pour size to
his crew’s capabilities. Also, placing
a construction joint in a practical
spot, such as between footing and
walls, avoids complex, costly form-
work.
Appearance. Construction joints
can influence how a structure looks.
Often they are installed in an incon-
spicuous position. Sometimes,
though, they are used as a feature of
the structure. Some designers use
reglets and rustication grooves to
hide the joints. Whatever scheme is
used, the joints should fit the archi-
tectural design.
Strength. A construction joint in-
troduces a weak vertical or hori zo n-
tal plane in an otherwise monolithic
concrete member. This obvious slip
plane may reduce the strength of
beams, columns, and walls.
Test results show that construc-
tion joints reduce a member’s shear
strength but not the flexural or
bending strength. Tests conducted
on simply supported beams with a
vertical construction joint at the
center showed the same load-de-
flection and ultimate moment char-
acteristics as an unjointed beam
(Ref. 1). Measurements of crack
widths also indicated similar perfor-
mance between jointed and un-
jointed beams. These results held
true for a joint that was deliberately
debonded between the two con-
crete pours. The construction joint
in these tests was located in a region
of negligible shear.
In a region where the shear is sig-
nificant, a construction joint with a
smooth surface reduces the shear
strength of the member by 40%. But
a beam having a joint with a rough-
ened surface has a failure mode and
ultimate load similar to an unjoint-
ed beam. A 1⁄16-inch texture over the
Figure 2. Bulkheads form vertical
construction joints for elevated slabs
(above) and beams (below).
Bulkheads are stiffened and braced to
resist lateral concrete pressures.
entire face qualified as a roughened
surface in these tests (Ref. 1).
Du ra b i l i t y. The location of con-
struction joints also is affected by
whether or not water and salts can
easily enter the joint. Although con-
crete has low permeability to water
and salts, construction joints don’t.
Water and salt leaking through
joints may cause rusting of rebar,
p re s t ressing tendons, and anchor-
age hardware in parking structures.
Locate construction joints at high
points in the floor away from drains.
Where durability is critical, use few-
er joints by allowing larger floor
pours. Consider using waterstop at
some or all joint locations.
ACI requirements for
construction joint design
Because construction joints are
most likely to reduce shear strength,
they should be located where shear
forces are low. Under uniformly dis-
tributed gravity loads, shear forces
are low in the middle of a flexural
member span. Thus, the American
Concrete Institute (ACI) Building
Code (Ref. 2, Section 6.4.4) requires
that:
“Construction joints in floors
shall be located within the middle
third of spans of slabs, beams, and
girders. Joints in girders shall be off-
set a minimum distance of two
times the width of intersecting
beams” (Figure 1).
There may be high shear forces
even at midspan, for instance,
where a beam intersects a girder.
That’s why the code requires joints
to be located at least two beam
widths away from a beam-girder in-
tersection. It’s a good idea to keep
construction joints away from point
loads (such as heavy equipment) for
the same reason.
Locate construction joints in
walls and columns on the underside
of floor slabs, beams, or girders, and
at the tops of footings or floor slabs.
Figure 3. Keys are sometimes formed
in bulkheads to increase joint shear
resistance. This joint design also
includes a waterstop. Note that the
plywood bulkheads aren’t notched.
Plywood pieces are cut, positioned
under rebars, and nailed to 2x4
vertical supports.
Plan View
Figure 4. Detail shows how to form
an inconspicuous horizontal construction
joint without a rustication strip (Ref. 4).
To avoid cracking from settlement,
pour concrete in columns and walls
at least 2 hours before placing con-
crete in slabs or beams framing into
them (Ref. 3).
Designing concrete members for
lateral forces may require special
design treatment of construction
joints. Shear keys, diagonal dowels,
or the shear transfer method (ACI
Code, Section 11.7) may be used.
How to form construction
joints
Deciding where to put construc-
tion joints is only half the job. The
other half is forming them correctly
and cleaning the joint surface be-
fore the next concrete placement.
Bulkheads for construction joints
are normally formed with wood, al-
though expanded metal mesh has
also been used (See Concrete Con-
struction, July 1983, page 552; No-
vember 1986, page 966; Fe b ru a ry
1988, page 214). Forming costs are
high because rebar has to pass
through the bulkhead. Wood mem-
bers are notched or a gap is left in
the plane of the rebar. Leaving a gap
allows each bulkhead board to be
positioned and removed without
putting pressure on the bar. Exces-
sive pressure might cause green
concrete to spall or crack. Because
they are cut to fit and usually dam-
aged when stripped, bulkheads
a re n’t reusable.
Construction joints in floor slabs
usually are made of 2-by materials
or plywood (Figure 2). Wall or beam
bulkheads are usually made of ply-
wood. Shear keys, if required, can be
made by beveling 2x4 or 2x6 lumber
(Figure 3).
Ho ri zontal construction joints in
walls and columns are generally
spaced one story apart. Use chalk
lines or nails driven on the inside of
wall forms to mark the joint loca-
tion. Or use a wood strip nailed to
the forms.
For architectural concrete, more
care is needed to get straight and
level horizontal joints (Ref. 4). Nail a
1-inch wood strip to the inside face
of the forms near the top (Figure 4).
Put tie rods about 4 inches below
the joint to support forms for the
next lift. Place concrete to a level
slightly above the bottom of the
s t ri p. Remove the strip after con-
crete has set enough to hold its posi-
tion. When forms are set for the next
lift, locate another row of ties just
above the joint. Ties above and be-
low the joint hold the form tightly
against concrete in the lower lift.
Don’t overlap sheathing more than
an inch over the lower lift. This also
helps prevent leakage.
Grooves or rustications are a good
way to hide horizontal joints (Figure
5). Rustication strips are best at-
tached with double-headed nails
d ri ven from the outside. After nails
are pulled, the strips will pull loose
from forms during stripping and
can be left in the concrete longer to
protect edges from spalling. Make
sure that rebars behind the rustica-
tion strip have adequate cover.
Construction joint surface
preparation
After placing and curing the con-
crete and removing the bulkhead,
the hardened concrete joint surface
must be prepared. ACI 318-83 re-
quires that:
“Surface of concrete construction
joints shall be cleaned and laitance
removed. Immediately before new
concrete is placed, all construction
joints shall be wetted and standing
water removed.”
Use stiff wire brushes, scabblers,
waterblasters, or sandblasters to
clean surfaces and remove laitance.
Expanded metal mesh bulkheads
left in place also provide a good
rough bonding surface (Ref. 5).
The 1977 ACI Code required ap-
plication of a neat cement paste to
vertical construction joint surfaces.
This procedure was not always
practical and is no longer required.
Team effort
Understanding the why, where,
and how of construction joints for
multistory structures involves a
team approach. The architect wants
joints that are consistent with the

Figure 5. Rustication strips at
construction joints hide joint lines and
add to the architectural effect (Ref. 4).
architectural design. The engineer
wants joints that do not reduce the
strength or durability of the struc-
ture. The contractor is looking for
joints that enhance his productivi-
ty. A good construction joint plan
involves all three parties.
References
1. Monks, W. L., and B. M. Sadgrove,
“The Effect of Construction Joints on
the Performance of Reinforced Con-
crete Beams,” Technical Report, Ce-
ment and Concrete Association (Lon-
don), 1973.
2. Building Code Requirements for Re-
inforced Concrete, ACI 318-83, (Re-
vised 1986), American Concrete Insti-
SHEAR WALLS NEED CONSTRUCTION JOINTS TOO
Earthquakes have shown engi-
neers and contractors that con-
struction joints in shear walls can
form the weakest link in the load-
resisting mechanism of a struc-
ture. During the 1964 Alaska and
1971 San Fernando earthquakes,
h o ri zontal construction joints in
both medium and low-rise build-
ings were damaged, some beyond
repair. Especially troublesome
were lightweight concrete floor
slabs connected to normalweight
concrete shear walls through two
construction joints (one at the
bottom of the slab and one at the
top of the slab).
An adequate construction joint
for beams and columns may not
be satisfactory for walls that need
to resist large shears generated
during earthquakes. Earthquakes
generate many cycles of high-in-
tensity shears that can deteriorate
tute, Box 19150, Detroit, Michigan,
48219, 1987.
3. Specifications for Structural Con-
crete for Buildings, ACI 301-84, (Re-
vised 1985), American Concrete Insti-
tute, 1986.
4. Formwork for Concrete, Publication
SP-4, Fourth Edition, (Revised second
printing), American Concrete Institute,
1981.
joints. This repeated loading re-
duces the joint interface rough-
ness, thus reducing the frictional
resistance.
Don’t rely on joint roughness to
resist seismic shears. Use shear
keys or extra vertical re i n f o rc i n g
bars placed at the joint interface.
Minimize the number of hori zo n-
tal construction joints by slip-
forming the shear wall tower or by
making each concrete pour two or
three stories high. Consider de-
signing the construction joint us-
ing the shear friction concepts
from the ACI Building Code. The
shear wall is an important load-re-
sisting mechanism and the de-
signer spends many hours analyz-
ing the forces and stresses in the
wall. The weakest link, the con-
struction joint, needs some design
time too.
5. Building Movements and Joints,
Portland Cement Association, 5420
Old Orchard Road, Skokie, Illinois,
60077, 1982.
PUBLICATION#C880577
Copyright © 1988, The Aberdeen Group
All rights reserved