b"Surface prepbe part of the installation. Leveling products are availablefor silica exposure. Advanced underlayments can help tile/in trowelable and self-leveling versions, covering an arraystone match luxury vinyls ability to be updated frequently of performance criteria and curing times. Bottom line: mostand efficiently while encapsulating the silica during demoli-slabs and concrete surfaces are not as flat as required fortion, reducing the risk of exposure. successfulinstallations,sotheuseoftheseproductsis increasing significantly. Tile installers are judged by the finalSean Gerolimatosinstallation so whats underneath counts as much as theDirector of Research and Developmentfinish layer. Schluter Systems L.P.One of the great advantages for installers when they use Dave deBear, CTC building panels is they can more easily build whatever they Director of Architectural & Commercial Sales want for their projects without using wood or other materi-NAC Products als that are sensitive to moisture. A trend we see in this cat-Thetileandstoneinstallationegory is the expansion in prefabricated components made materialscompanieshavebeenfrom these building panels. Items like benches, curbs and keepingupwithandcreatingnewniches can still be custom-made by the installer, but there technologiesforourindustryforis an array of items they can purchase and install exactly as manyyears.Asthedemandforthey come. Installers can also modify and customize these innovativematerialscontinues,aprefabricated items at the job site much more quickly than recent trend is in the moisture vaporbuilding them from scratch. For example, bench or curbs transmission(MVT)area.Thishascomponents can be cut or joined together to fit perfectly in Dave deBear become a highlight as large-formatvirtually any project.tile,moisture-sensitivestoneand unique adhesives have shown to be problematic where highBastian LohmannMVT is present. Seeking out the surface prep materials andVP Marketing and Sales/Technical Supportmethods for this is critical to a successful installation. Therewedi Corporationare many good solutions, so look to the industry leaders toThe foam core backer board industry is evolving from sup-find the perfect solution for your project. plying a niche market for high quality shower installation product. We meet increasing and broad interest from main-Tom DAgostino stream market builders, contractors, architects and other Technical Director industries, like modular or POD manufacturing.NUE TILE These new customers like the benefits our products offer, Someinternalforcesadvancinglike inherent waterproofness, the light weight, the clean technology in the tile underlaymentand fast installation. These markets have specific needs, category are better-informed clientswhich drives our development towards increasing variety and their demands for more versatil- in product mix and services. It drives our use of innovative ity. External forces like the progres- manufacturing equipment such as wedi-designed CAM and sion of vinyl tile/plank flooring andCNC platforms, BIM capability, specialized raw materials.new employee protection standardsThe absolute technological drive, however, is in constantly from OSHA are driving the advance- maximizing best possible design, manufacturing and perfor-Tom D'Agostino mentsinsafetyandrelevanceofmance of our core products with sustainability, environmen-tile provided by its underlayments.tal and health aspects given absolute priority. This includes Well-versed teams of property owners and managers pushnot only R&D efforts, but we are actively driving committees thetile/stoneindustrytolooktoitsunderlaymentsforand organizations with the goal of developing dedicated and improvements in handling moisture, cracked concrete andcompleteANSIstandardsforthefoamcorebackerboard environmental noise transmissions. industry. This establishes consistent quality and performance While tile leads in aesthetics, durability and real luxurylevels that can be transparently enforced. Not unusual in a materials,thegrowthofLVT/LVPshinesalightonsomegrowing market, they invite products that are quickly made of tile/stones more wasteful aspects of ownership like itsin China or other low cost countries, where there exist zero slow and expensive remodeling demolition with potentialchecks and balances as we know it.742020|TECH"