32 2017 | TECH REGIONAL SALES SNAPSHOTS (continued) Building Products’ RedGard and LATICRETE’s Hydro Ban. • LATICRETE PermaColor Grouts are growing in popularity as well. • For grout flouts, our customers pre- fer the True Blue Float with molded urethane body from BOE instead of the gum-bottomed floats of the past. • Since the economy has gotten stronger, sales on supplemental items such as roller kneepads and bucket dollies have been increas- ing. Contractors have a bit more money to buy things that make their work easier. The bestselling kneepads are the accordion style KN-1 from Barwalt, far out selling the skate pads and soft-shell knee pad versions. • Electronic tools such as grinders and drill sales have been negative- ly affected by the big box stores' offers of lower cost off-brands. • Square mixer paddles have always been popular as well as good heavy-duty buckets. • A drop in scrapers – from the small scrapers with 4” razor inserts to the larger 9” blade model and the more heavy-duty scrapers – has been noticed, possibly due to the newer multipurpose thinsets that don’t require the removal of old vinyl or ceramic floors as often. • Soft grip trowels are selling bet- ter than the old wooden handled trowels. • Linear drains have become very popular; together with Ebbe square drains they have become our best- selling shower accessories exclud- ing the shelf fixtures. • Bathroom niches are requested more and more to finish out acces- sorizing a bathroom. • DW24000 DeWalt wet saws are still selling at a good clip though the Rubi bridge saws have a strong market. • The 4’ x 8’ glass mat backer board from USG has been gaining popu- larity; cement board sales have stayed steady over the last few years. • The most popular cutter is the economy-priced 35” cutter from BOE, with the Rubi TX900 coming in second. • Tile contractors will forever appre- ciate the value of a good sponge supplier like BOE Sponga. • As far as the hottest accessories item, the low-cost, high-quality 4” and 4.5” Diteq grinder blades are our hottest selling single items with combined sales of 360 blades a month storewide. Tile and stone sellers for South Florida: • Larger formats continue to expand along with wood look plank tiles; Gain peace of mind... protect your investment. Industry leading 3/8” crack protection! Consultants, contractors and architects prefer the membrane that works best, ECB® ! ECB® membrane protects hard surface flooring from structural movement. The perfect solution for malls, airports, condominiums, hotels, high-rise office buildings and any commercial or residential installation requiring crack protection. For use over concrete or wood ECB Classic ® Crack Isolation Membrane 1 ( 8 0 0 ) 6 3 3 - 4 6 2 2 w w w . n a c p r o d u c t s . c o m