CTEF Blog - About Tile Education and Installer Certification

Have you considered that how you manage your tile tools affects how you manage your time? It's a similar thought process to how you go about cutting tile.

Those who are Qualified Labor constantly think about how to manage time. After all, time is money. How well you make use of that time affects how long it takes you to complete tile installations, the quality of your work, and how many client projects you can commit to.

This is true with how you manage your tools. 

When you cut tile for an installation project, do you spend much time thinking about how you manage time?

If you're a professional, chances are that you constantly think about how to manage your time - aka time management. After all, your time is money.

How well you use that time affects how long it takes you to complete tile installations, the quality of your work, and how many client projects you can commit to.

This is true even when you cut tile.

Have you looked at the photos in this article and noticed a real problem?  They all demonstrate low grout joints which do not meet the tile industry standards.  To meet these standards, the grout must adequately fill the space which obviously these examples do not. 

And yet, when the person who took these photos shared them with his builder on the job site, the builder did not believe that any standards existed or that there were any organizations that develop them.

Have you found yourself in a similar situation?

If yes, here's how to deal with low grout joints and understand tile installation standards.

Are you ready to take the CTI Hands-on Test at TISE24? If yes, you are in for a treat thanks to TEC!

Do You Know About the '100 in 100'?

It's a wonderful program that the Floor Covering Education Foundation recently announced. If you're new to tile installation, you can benefit from it.

You'll find details below, including CTEF training programs that are eligible.

If you've been installing tile for a while, you've certainly encountered situations where you were asked about tiling over an existing tile installation rather than taking up the tile and/or underlayment and starting from fresh. How did you respond? 

Here are two situations Mark Heinlein CTI #1112 and National Tile Contractors Association
Training Director to help explore possible responses.

Fred Hueston, President and Founder of Stone Forensics, recently published Why It Is Important to Hire a Certified Tile Installer, Including CTEF Certification. Have you read it?

The article is so powerful that - with Fred's permission - we are sharing highlights with you here.

Horrified about subpar tile installation? Become a Certified Tile Installer. That's according to John Trent CTI #277, a former tile installer, and former territory manager for Schluter Systems since 2012. He was one of those subpar installers who now encourages all installers he meets to become Qualified Labor.

John is next in the CTEF Blog series about Qualified Labor based on an article in TileLetter.com titled John Trent: Certification - fighting the good fight against sub-par installations.

Note that this article is part of the CTEF classics, capturing valuable insights from the first CTIs.

Tile is a natural for radiant heating.

However, installing tile with radiant heating can get overwhelming when you realize that the Tile Council of North America (TCNA) Handbook includes multiple methods that address this type of installation. The details vary somewhat depending on the structure you are working on and which type of heat source your radiant system uses - hydronic or electrical.

• On ground concrete
• Above ground concrete
• Wood subfloor/joist system

Fortunately, Mark Heinlein CTI #1112 and National Tile Contractors Association Training Director, Technical Trainer / Presenter shares his expertise in this article.

An NTCA Experience is genuinely priceless. That's why it's included in the CTEF Auction. It allows you to experience what makes the tile industry special.