Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108 Page 109 Page 110 Page 111 Page 112 Page 113 Page 114 Page 115 Page 116 Page 117 Page 118 Page 119 Page 120 Page 121 Page 122 Page 123 Page 124 Page 125 Page 126 Page 127 Page 128Achieve FLAT subfloors for large-format tiles Phil Green, NTCA member, hands- on owner at P.G.C. Construction, Remodeling and Design in Gilberts, Ill., and inventor of the Back Butter Buddy and Edge Strip Kits, has an incisive per- spective on the challenges of installing large-format tile. He explained: “With the tile trends ever changing, the desire for large-format tiles with smaller, fewer grout lines have presented a new challenge for both experienced and new setters coming into the trade. I speak from my 43 years in this business as a tile setter. Large-format tiles were 8” x 8” and they had 3/8” grout lines. That trend has disappeared giving way to the modern large-format tiles. The official definition of large-format tiles is any tile measuring 15” or larger on any one side. This includes popular plank tiles as well. “The flatness tolerances for these tiles also went from 1/4” in 10’ to 1/8”in 10’,” he continued. “Floor prep is as impor- tant as the new medium-bed thinsets that are required with this size product. In some cases, even additional struc- tural strength must be added to the floor to achieve proper support as outlined in the TCNA Handbook for Ceramic, Glass and Stone Tile Installation. With large-format tiles many installers choose to use self-leveling underlayment (SLU) to achieve the required that flatness. I coined a phase a while back; ‘Level is LARGE F O R M A T T I L E Flat floors, lippage control and lighting placement make or break large-format installations By Lesley Goddin This month begins a slight departure from our long-running Thin Tile section. Though we've been giving Thin Tile a major focus in the past couple of years as this technology evolved and more contractors were engaging in thin tile/gauged porce- lain tile projects, we are aware that regular large-format tile provides its own set of challenges in terms of coverage, lighting, warpage, and other factors. To that end, we will present a Large-Format Tile section interspersed with our Thin Tile and Stone sections throughout 2017. If you have a challenging, prestigious, stun- ning or massive successful large-format tile installation you’d like to share, or have perspectives or concerns about the subject you’d like to air, contact me at lesley@ tile-assn.com. – Lesley Goddin LARGE-FORMAT TILE –––––––––––––––––––––––––––– sponsored by 52 TileLetter | January 2017