b'TECHNICAL Understand the crucial difference between setting tile and building a tile assemblyBy Joseph Mattice, On The Level LLCWhenyoubidajob,whataredoyouunderstandthedifference you selling? Are you simply settingbetweeninstallingtileandbuild-tile or are you building a customing an assembly?tile assembly that you can set tile on that will last? What is a tile assembly?WhenyouwalkontoasiteforAs yet, there is no official defi-a consult with a client, you deter- nitionofthisterm,butgenerally minehowthebuildingiscon- speaking,atileassemblycanbe structed.Youmayfeelthefloorthought of as a collection of com-roll underneath your feet or in theponentsfromstructuretofinish bathroom, you may smell musty airthatdirectlyrelatetotheperfor-and see swelling wood. The clientmance of the tile. Not every com-asks how much will it be to layponent is necessarily done by the some new tile here? tilecontractor,buttheywillall Weve all heard that question. Itshave an impact on the success of asimplequestion,butforskilledthe installation.installers, it is not a simple answer. Lets take method TCNA B422 in Inthosequickmoments,athe TCNA Handbook for Ceramic, skilledtradespersonmighthaveGlassandStoneTileInstallation determined that they will need toas an example. This is a common demo the entire bathroom to studs,installationinashower.While replacerottedjoists,installnewaclientmightassumethattiling subflooring, flatten the floor, flattenashowerconsistsofjustsetting the walls, cover them, waterproof,thefinishproductandgrouting, andinstallunderlayment. Allthatadiagramlikethisrevealsthe before you can lay tile. Are youtrue complexity of an assembly in abletoexplainandpresentthatacommonsituation. Therearea to your client so that you can sellminimum of seven components in yourvalue?Moreimportantstill,this diagram that are part of the tile 80TileLetter | October 2020'