Changes to 2011 TCNA Tile Handbook Summary

I'm trying something new today - I am adding a complete summary article I've written about the changes to the 2011 TCNA Tile Handbook. If you are involved in the tile business this will be of interest, if not you may not want to spend the time reading the following 4 pages of information.

Changes to the 2011 TCNA Handbook
The 2011 TCNA Handbook will be over triple the size of the current 2010 handbook with the addition of many new methods and huge improvements in usability over the current book. Below I will outline some of the changes and what they mean to USG and our customers.

• Addition of stone installation methods
o Clarify and make it obvious that stone tile is different from ceramic tile
o Highlight selection and installation considerations and precautions for marble and stone tiles.
o Substrate preparation, or flattening, is required if substrate doesn’t meet level tolerances. Self-leveling methods may be a good choice.
o Limitations on stone tile including post-tensioned concrete, L/720 deflection requirements, maximum substrate variation 1/8” in 10’, epoxy setting materials required for some stone installations.
o New backer board requirements for stone installations – two layer structural wood substrate floors required under backer board installation
o ONLY CBU backer boards are recommended under stone installations
o There will be some duplication of methods but with different requirements for stone versus ceramic tile installations.
• New concrete substrate installation methods with different recommendations for tiling on-ground versus above-ground concrete slabs.
• New optional Membranes sections added into almost all tile installation methods
o Discussion of better setting materials requirements for membrane use
o Discussion of reduced service ratings on installations with membranes
o Discussion of differences of variability of suitability with membranes
• Editorial Overhaul of entire handbook
o Bullets and language standardized
o Need for cross references eliminated by adding more info into methods
o Membrane options called out to add clarity to methods
• Floor Assembly Weights section added to allow design professionals to better calculate the dead load ratings. Mortar beds and all types of backer board unit’s weights given.
• New Improved Ceramic Tile Selection Guide
o Summary of ANSI A137.1 requirements for tile
o Defines the 5 different types of ceramic tile and the minimum performance each must meet
o Discusses breaking strength and bond strength requirements.
• New Glass Tile selection and installation guide
o Only CBU Backer boards recommended under glass tile installations
o Setting materials take better mortars and longer to cure
o Critical need for flat substrate – self-leveling beds may be needed
o Glass tile bonding issues to membranes discussions
o 70 new glass tile installation methods
o Discussion of critical movement joint requirements for the entire assembly with glass tile being used.
• New Environmental Classifications applied to all methods. Guidance provided on both residential and commercial differences in Dry, Limited water, Wet, Steam, High Temperature, and Exterior assemblies.
o Interior walls now rated dry or limited moisture exposure.
o If materials used in Wed areas then details show wall-to-floor transition
o Clarifies what type of a membrane is needed for each application.
• New Wet area Guidelines includes differences between intermittent-wet versus saturated wet areas and how to incorporate waterproofing to contain and evacuate water and protect the building materials behind and below installation.
o Spells out important requirements for:
o Drain and waterproofing sloped to that drain
o Have open/protected weep holes
o Use of a vapor retarder behind the backer board
o Wrapping curb assembly completely with membrane
o Keeping the backer board out of the mortar bed
• New substrate flatness requirements for ceramic tile due to larger sized tiles
o Tiles with all edges shorter than 15” maximum allowable variation is ¼” in ‘ from the required plane and no more than 1/16” variation in 12” from any high points in the surface.
o Tiles with at least one edge 15” or longer in length maximum allowable variation is 1/8” in 10’ with no more than 1/16” in 24” from the high points.
• New ISO references for Grout and Mortar Specifications.
o Explanatory section for determining minimum performance.
o Explanatory section for key to ISO nomenclature and relationships to ANSI and ASTM requirements. Both ISO and ANSI specifications are provided.
o ISO testing/performance requirements listing. Different properties are measured and different tests are used to measure the properties.
• New options for membranes, mortars, grouts, and other materials with multiple options MUST BE CLEARLY SPECIFIED IN WRITING by the design professional or if not specifically indicated optional materials ARE NOT INCLUDED and choice defaults to minimum performance specification.
• Updated Tile is the Natural Choice section
o The Green side of tile
o LEED and other Green Building Rating Systems explanations
o Floor covering cost comparison
o Life Cycle cost data comparisons
o New Why Select Ceramic Tile section
• New “Dry” Wall method listing tub surrounds without a shower head
o Allows different backer board units including Glass Mat Water Resistant backer board units and standard drywall products.
• New Pool installation method
• New “soft materials” caution for ceramic tile and stone products subjected to lower breaking strengths
• New Expansion joint explanations and drawings including joints at vertical surfaces.
• New Grout guide discussing color consistency of cementitious grouts as well as epoxy emulsion grouts, and premixed Polymer Resin Grouts.
• New Steam Shower assembly revisions including CBU backings use.

As you can see this will be quite an extensive amount of change for the tile installers to absorb so please be prepared when the book is released to update your flash drive with the new information and have new printed copies to show your distributors and installers. This will require a huge educational effort on everyone in the supply side of the tile industry to insure that the message of these new changes get out into daily use to cut down on the failure rate of installed products that are not being done properly and leading to premature failures.

Thinking "outside" the box? Why not try inside?

I love life. If you know me at all you know that for certain. I get passionate about things and sometimes very impatient because of my passion to accomplish something. This week a friend of mine saw me working on a problem and said something to me that absolutely stopped me in my tracks - stunned me, if you will. He asked me why I was struggling so much with this and I, in my own "knowing" way started to explain to him (the unlearned, or so I thought) how all my books and acquired knowledge leads me to progressive thinking - mostly "outside" of the box. My friend listened politely to me and smiled all the time.

Now allow me to explain here that I became a convert to thinking outside the box many years ago and that skill, which I found difficult to acquire and master, has served me well for a very long time and helped me solve many issues. When I was finished talking my friend, still smiling, reminded me that looking inside the box is the best starting position and usually leads to a better, faster answer. But, as they say, here is the rest of the story. I am so very familiar and comfortable with looking outside the box for my solutions I sometimes fail to examine what is right in front of me, INSIDE the box which solves the situation easily AND better than spending all that time trying to reinvent my wheel.

I've had that same issue with the Ipad computer. I see that as a tool to looking outside my box and make huge progress, but will it actually do that for me? When I look inside my box I notice that what the Ipad does very well, I do very little of - and what I really want a small computer tool like that to do the Ipad doesn't do that so well. In fact, due to some of our company computer security issues the Ipad won't work at all as I need it to do. When I backtracked my steps and looked around inside my box I discovered that the real issues I wanted and needed to have this tool for were best served by a Netbook Windows based smaller (size wise not power wise)computer. Once I got my "head trash" cleared out then the Acer Computer seemed the answer.

But wait, was I now rushing to a decision without considering other options? I did some research and asked several users opinions and discovered that for the same size, money, and efforts I could get a MSI (unheard of brand to me) and not only EXCEED my needs but do it faster, better, cheaper, and easier than any of the other choices. So now I have a Netbook, small size, computer that for exceeds what I really need to do but costs much less (to my budget) than the Apple Ipad. I'm still struggling that I'm not "cool" and don't have that "out of the box" tool that everyone else is raving about - the Ipad, but it's ok, see this blog is actually typed on the full sized keyboard of the MSI Netbook and I can see the full width of the page, neither of which would have happened if I solved my situation outside of the box.

Now I'm wondering how many other things I've messed up due to my thinking outside the box instead of taking the tried and true route to examine all situations unemotionally and clearly by starting INSIDE the situation and working towards the outside as the need arises.

What is your take on this?

Giving or Receiving?

I spent the last entire week at Total Solutions Plus meetings which is a first time concept for the ceramic tile and stone world - 3 different industry associations, Tile Council of North America, National Tile Contractors Association and Ceramic Tile Distributors Association, all meeting together at the same time in the same location.

What became clear during this week were several items on this first time adventure: (A) We all liked the concept of getting everyone together in one group, (B) schedule overlaps need to be looked at and re-evaluated, (C) we needed more "social networking" time so everyone can visit and get maximum benefits of being together.

What I gained from that entire week of meetings cannot be explained in the small space of this blog, but I did make a very specific effort to gain information from every single group meeting or conversation that I had during that time. In evaluating the experience I started to reflect on how much information I "normally" miss by wanting to "give" my knowledge to folks I talk with as opposed to staying quiet and "receiving" information from them. I just finished a book about that subject and made a very difficult decision for me by attempting to listen at least twice as much as I spoke, and by "Fully listening" as opposed to my usual attitude of listening just to develop my answer or come back to the statement. Man that was hard for me.

I now wonder, as I evaluate this experiment just how much valuable information I've missed during my lifetime by not listening fully but rather just giving information and preparing to give more information while I had to endure what the other person had to say.

Life is funny isn't it? By the time you gain this valuable skill many of us are almost past our prime to utilize it fully. That being said, it is never too late to change old habits and learn new skills and this listening fully stuff has some merit to it.

The next time we have an opportunity for a telephone conversation, or a face-to-face talk, please call me on this shortcoming, if I start to backslide, so that I can continue to grow as I did last week. As a great friend of mine used to say: "The only difference between a rut and a grave is the length and depth." Listen your way to life today and let me know your thoughts on this subject.
Steve