28 2018 | TECH CASE STUDY (continued) porcelain panels.” These are extremely large tile slabs, produced with fine porcelain clay, manufactured to minimal tile thickness without compromising many per- formance properties found in more traditional porcelain tile. Visionary architects are specifying this material for a myriad of applications, including installation directly over existing tile (which means the arduous, messy, time- consuming and disruptive process of removing ceramic tile can be eliminated), as monolithic-appearing wall applications, and even as exterior cladding. Relative to vertical installations, one of the few disadvantages of traditional porcelain tile is weight. Gauged porce- lain panels have become the ideal alter- native, because when installed correct- ly, their much lighter weight means various structural components can be reduced, saving a great deal of installa- tion time and out-of-pocket money. Crossville’s Laminam specified for USI project A good example of this took place recently at the University of Southern Indiana’s (USI) Health & Professions Building. Crossville’s Laminam gauged porce- lain panels were specified for this inte- rior project, which consisted of 2,500 sq. ft. of wall space for a commercial kitchen classroom. “Originally, we bid the job to be tiled using a traditional mortar system,” said Danny Fulton, Vice President of Evansville, Ind.-based Fulton Tile & Stone. “Adam Abell, our Bostik representative, came in and asked if we would consider an alternative installation system that offered a host of benefits,” stated Danny Fulton. “We were ready to begin the project, but because of our strong rapport with Adam, we granted him some presentation time that included having our Crossville representative, Tony Davis, The project consisted of 2,500 sq. ft. of wall space for a commercial kitchen classroom. Because of its lighter weight, GPTP can be directly installed on vertical surfaces as a viable alternative.