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CTEF Blog Team
Recent Posts
If you're like most homeowners, you want a qualified tile installer and great installation for your bathroom, kitchen, or home remodel. How then to qualify your tile installation contractor?
In this article, Mark Heinlein CTI #1112 and National Tile Contractors Association Training Director and Technical Trainer / Presenter shares his simple formula for qualifying installation professionals. He explains,
"If a consumer knows to ask my 5 questions and if a contractor can respond appropriately, it’s the start of a success story for everyone."
We'll take you through Mark's five questions that homeowners should be asking to ensure they hire a qualified tile contractor.
What goes into evaluating a finished tile installation?
At times, this can be the most frustrating part of the project - for both the installer and the homeowner or project owner. Why? Because of finished tile expectations, naturally-occurring variations and other unexpected situations that fall within industry standards.
Were you aware that expert tile installers and contractors play a critical role in tile installation best practices and standards?
An example of this is the National Tile Contractors Association (NTCA) Technical Committee where qualified tile contractors actively participate.
Ceramic tile is infinitely versatile. It is also sustainable. And, in the case of the Spa Lobby created during Coverings16 Installation Design Showcase, it is also the stuff of healing environments that engage all five senses. That's thanks to inspired design from Healing Environments and expert tile installers.
In this article, we connect with Susan El-Naggar, ASID, NCIDQ, LEED Green Associate. co-founder with her husband Tarik El-Naggar, AIA, of architecture and interior design firm, Healing Environments to learn more about the experience of bringing together inspired design with expert tile installation.
Close collaboration between design and tile installation teams matters intensely as we are discovering from connecting with the Coverings Design Installation Showcase participants. In the case of Architecture is Fun's Boutique Hotel X Lobby, it also makes for a fun and playful environment given the bold use of wood plank tile in a herringbone pattern.
>> Synergy Between Ceramic Tile Installation and Design? Critical Says Alena Capra
>> When Expert Tile Installers and Designers Create a Retail Space at Coverings16
>> Thin Tile Installation Expertise Creates Clubhouse Bar & Lounge
Glass tile has truly captured the hearts of consumers in both the residential and commercial marketplaces, making it important for tile installers to understand how to avoid trowel ridges and marks that are visible through translucent glass tile.
Do you know the proper technique?
Thin porcelain tile in large-size panels enables beautiful installations. However, gauged porcelain tile panels or slabs - as thin porcelain tile is now known as - requires specialized knowledge and expertise as you will learn from this interview with Dan Welch, President, Welch Tile and Stone, a second-generation tile, stone, and terrazzo installation company based in Kent City, Michigan.
During Coverings, the largest tile & stone exhibition in North America, the best and most expert tile installers collaborate with the most talented architects and designers to demonstrate what's possible in a tile installation. Depending on the venue, that process unfolds over the few days of the show.
During Coverings 2016, Artcraft Granite, Marble & Tile Company, a third-generation family business, teamed up with Designer Alena Capra, principal of Alena Capra Designs and the Coverings Industry Ambassador, to create a magnificent retail space for the Installation Design Showcase (IDS).
Ceramic tile installation and design must work together.
In fact, as designer Alena Capra, principal of Alena Capra Designs and the Coverings Industry Ambassador, explains it's critical. There must be synergy between the two. She should know given her involvement in the Coverings Installation Design Showcase, how frequently she features tile in her designs, and her long association with Coverings.
