CTEF Blog - About Tile Education and Installer Certification

If you spend time with anyone involved in the proper installation of ceramic tile, the TCNA Handbook for Ceramic, Glass, and Stone Tile Installation will be the focal point of the conversation.  Why? Because this useful guide assists in clarifying and standardizing installation specifications for tile.

In addition to providing a selection of numbered installation "methods" for differentiating and easy reference, the Handbook includes various product selection guides for ceramic, glass, and stone tiles; guidelines for wet areas; field and installation requirements, and more.

Have you heard? CTEF's “Fundamentals of Thin-Bed Knowledge” - otherwise known as the FTBK Guide - is now available at no cost to anyone associated with the tile industry. That's right no cost.

Furthermore, if you'd like to use your newly-found tile industry knowledge from this guide to complete an online test, you can earn a Certificate of Completion as a Fundamentals of Thin-Bed Knowledge industry professional for a $99 fee.

When it comes to successfully completing kitchen and bath installations, Qualified Labor matters. It helps ensure that the tile installation will perform as expected and look as designed for years to come in spaces that demand a great deal from proper performance. 

Given how demanding these spaces are, there's tremendous benefit to ensuring that designers and installers collaborate as Dan Hecox showed us in Dan Hecox Inspires Designers, Tile Installers to Aspire to Higher Standards. The more designers understand the requirements of tile installations that perform and the better tile installers communicate with designers, the more likely success is all around.

In a nutshell, tile installation certification programs transform the tile trade and industry for the better. Those programs include the Certified Tile Installer (CTI) program as well as the Advanced Certifications for Tile Installers (ACT) program.  #TransformTheTrade   

What are your top tips for becoming a CTI? 

The CTEF Certified Tile Installer program is regularly described as the toughest 25 square feet you'll ever have to tile. It's intense, but not impossible if you're prepared.

To that end, here are our 15 top tips for success, including advice from Mark Heinlein CTI #1112. We invite you to share yours and we'll add them to the list.

Are you familiar with the Global Monumental Hand-Print Tile Industry Mural Project?

It's a massively big project, conceived by the Tile Heritage Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to research and the preservation of ceramic surfaces. The mural honors all who participate in and contribute to the tile industry; it also supports Tile Heritage's vital tile industry archiving work. 

Will you participate? 

Are you familiar with Total Solutions Plus (TSP)? It's a yearly event that brings together the ceramic tile industry to network and learn from one another. It's also a testament to the high level of collaboration that exists within the entire industry.

No wonder you see "Partners in Progress" prominently highlighted!

Are you involved in apprenticeship programs, vocational and/or trade schools for tile installation help? If your answer is no, why not?

Let's discuss the present and future of tile and the need for Qualified Labor.