CTEF Blog - About Tile Education and Installer Certification

What does it take to ensure that you have a quality tile installation? Based on our experience, knowledge, and work with the Tile Council of North America (TCNA) Handbook, we have identified ten requirements. 

Note that these aren't all industry requirements. However, they all contribute to a quality tile installation.

Here they are.

Wondering how to best protect your marble tile? Consider a sealer and more specifically a penetrating sealer to keep your stone flooring looking beautiful.

To illustrate why here's a tile installation situation Mark Heinlein CTI #1112 and National Tile Contractors Association Training Director and Technical Trainer / Presenter recently addressed with the help of Scott Carothers.

Happy New Year! Are you ready to make tile installation resolutions for 2023?

If you're already in the know, think of these resolutions as a refresher. And, if you're new to the Ceramic Tile Education Foundation and the Certified Tile Installer Program, then consider this your introduction to a bold, new standards-based, methodical approach to installing ceramic tile.

If you're asking how to trowel mortar when installing tile, realize that you are asking a fundamentally critical question. It's so critical that readers like you have made this CTEF Blog article the one with the highest readership since we originally published it on June 7, 2016.

You see, when thin-set mortar is incorrectly applied, the installation will many times fail. More likely than not, the tile will break - as you see in the image below.

Not a good situation for the customer and a terrible one for everyone involved in installing tile correctly.

Let's focus then on how to properly apply the mortar.

How familiar are you with the ANSI Standards for the Installation of Ceramic Tile? (ANSI stands for the American National Standards Institute.) If you aren't, and you're in the tile installation business, it's time you pay attention. ANSI Standards are a tile installer's best friend! 

If you're in the tile business, you're surely aware of how important it is to obtain the required mortar coverage.

And, you've probably noticed that achieving that coverage has become more challenging as tile sizes and the diversity in tile types increases.

Diversity is wonderful for enabling stunning tile installations. However, each of these products has different requirements in order to achieve the required mortar coverage, and that's where selecting the right trowel notch comes into play.

How concerned are you with protecting your tile installations from the horrors of bond breakers? If you're serious about it, you will spend time inspecting and preparing your substrate so as to prevent any situations from developing. Yes, substrate preparation includes determining whether the floor or wall surface will be bondable, and, most importantly, this needs to be completed prior to installing tile.

I hope you don't use spot bonding or "five spotting" when installing ceramic tile. It's a problem that's high on the list of failure questions received by the CTEF offices when things go wrong. 

It’s also one we featured at Coverings 2018 in the Installation Experience Hall of Failures.

In case you didn't read How to Correctly Trowel Mortar When Installing Tile? or you still think it's okay, let's review in detail why you need to eliminate even the thought of using spot bonding for your ceramic tile installation projects.

Do you spend time ensuring that your tile layout is centered and balanced, with no small cuts? I hope so since this is the most effective way to ensure that a tile installation has a professionally installed appearance.

If you're wondering whether it's better to install tile under cabinets or not, the answer is... it depends. It depends on the structure of your home as well as your kitchen and its subfloor, the materials selected, and your own preference.