industry-recognized measure of validating tile setting skills. Buck, along with wife Dana, has a supe- rior reputation for performing high- end residential installations with unrivaled customer satisfaction. In addition, the company is involved in serving the industry and always learning more. Buck was the NTCA Region #2 director until last year, and was the first Northern Virginia NTCA Five Star Contractor. He also is a member of the NTCA Technical Committee. Chris Walker is vice president of the David Allen Company, NTCA vice president, and chairman of ANSI A-108 and the new A-108.19 gauged thin tile panel installation standard. And it turns out that both Collins Tile and Stone and the David Allen Company are inau- gural members of the Cosentino- Dekton family. The project got started when Collins Tile and Stone was contact- ed by Mazzola because of Collins’ regional reputation for high qual- ity installations and commitment to customer service. After evalu- ating the needs of the project, Buck decided to call on Chris and DAC for collaborating on the job. David Allen Company – one of the nation’s largest contractors – brought experience with install- ing several gauged thin porcelain tile and large panel projects to the table. Since these sintered ultra- compact Dekton Zenith materi- als on floors were 56” x 56” x 8 CASE STUDY –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– The Dekton panels were 56” x 56” x 8 mm thick. ETM Grip from European Tile Masters was used to move and handle the ultra-large format Dekton panels. LATICRETE 4-XLT mortar was used on the job. Dekton panels were back buttered with a large-format tile mortar. 60 TileLetter | April 2017