In February, TCNA’s Bill Griese and Crossville’s Noah Chitty trav- eled to Castellón, Spain, to lecture to the Congress of Qualicer 2018 on research and standardization of thin gauged porcelain tiles and tile panels (GPTP) in North America. Following are highlights of their white paper on this subject, which was presented at Qualicer 2018. The paper, in its entirety with works cited, is available online at https:// bit.ly/2GyzZlk. ANSI A 137.3 and ANSI A108.19 In 2017, the North American tile industry released two new stan- dards: ANSI A137.3, American National Standard Specifications for Gauged Porcelain Tiles and Gauged Porcelain Tile Panels/ Slabs, and its companion, ANSI A108.19, Interior Installation of Gauged PorcelainTiles and Gauged Porcelain Tile Panels/Slabs by the Thin-Bed Method bonded with Modified Dry-Set Cement Mortar or Improved Modified Dry-Set Cement Mortar. These standards, developed for the benefit of all tile consumers, are the result of a multi-year research and consensus process of the ANSI Accredited A108 Standards Committee, which includes participants from all industry sectors. These efforts aimed to estab- lish a framework for specifications of products that are intentionally “gauged” to a specific thickness. Currently two classes of gauged tile products are defined by the standards: • Those for wall applications from 3.5mm to 4.9mm and • Those for floor and wall applica- tions, from 5.0mm to 6.5mm. Other products, which either fall outside of these ranges or for which the manufacturer has not specifically provided a gauged- thickness designation, continue to be standardized under traditional tile specifications. Thin gauged porcelain tile – North American research, collaboration, and standardization By Bill Griese, Director of Standards Development, Tile Council of North America and Noah Chitty, Director of Technical Services, Crossville Inc. Sponsored by TECH TALK –––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Noah Chitty Bill Griese 58 TileLetter | April 2018