BY T HE BOOK brought to you by Changes to the 2017 TCNA Handbook address a wide spectrum of issues Now in its 54th year of con- tinuous publication and slated for release this month, the TCNA Handbook for Ceramic, Glass, and Stone Tile Installation, a compilation of guidelines widely used in specifying, selling, and installing tile and related instal- lation materials, will include this year many noteworthy changes to existing language as well as wholly new sections. All are aimed at providing more guid- ance, and improving understand- ing and problem solving with regard to tile installations. Referring to the revisions: “They run the gamut,” said Stephanie Samulski, the Handbook techni- cal content manager and secre- tary of the Handbook Committee for Tile Council of North America (TCNA), which publishes the Handbook. “Anyone specify- ing, selling, designing, install- ing, superintending, or otherwise involved with tile should update their technical library with the new edition,” she said. “With the range of new content ratified by the Handbook Committee, there’s something relevant to essentially anyone and everyone working with tile.” TCNA executive director and Handbook Committee chairman Eric Astrachan gives as examples the new sections “Tile Layout Considerations” and “System Modularity,” which are geared more toward those involved in tile selection and design. As an example of the various revisions to Handbook existing language, he noted the further explana- tion this year of substrate flatness requirements, which Astrachan calls “essential but too-often ignored.” Astrachan explained that the Handbook is a vehicle for provid- ing industry consensus, but it’s not 74 TileLetter | May 2017