Expert Answers in Standards

ANSWER – Industry standards don’t say that the slab stone for a countertop needs to be made from the same piece because usually one slab isn’t enough. Normally they will use slabs that come…

ANSWER – Labor costs, exchange rates, quality of product, and business practices of your supplier of tile are all functions of what price it will sell for. First, determine quality by requesting data sheets…

ANSWER – Ceramic tile typically varies in color to some degree. Some ceramic tile offerings intentionally give you a wide range of color variation. Others are intended to give more of a monochromatic (solid)…

ANSWER – There is a lot more to a proper configuration of a subfloor for tile than just the thickness of the subfloor. It is normally recommended to have at least 23/32″ thick tongue and…

ANSWER – The reference standards for thin-set contact can be found as follows:

2013.1 ANSI A108.5-3.3.3 states …coverage with the corners and edges fully supported.

2014 TCNA Handbook – substrate requirements – Mortar and Mortar…

ANSWER – The breaking strength minimum industry requirement for ceramic tile is a laboratory test of what is mostly an unsupported tile and isn’t directly meaningful in terms of determining what kind of dead and…

ANSWER – There are no specific standards for lippage for glass tile, although I think it could be reasonable to apply the ANSI A108 standards for ceramic tile to glass tile.
The standard says…

ANSWER – There are no standards that say that the tile or grout should be sealed. Although some manufacturers or suppliers of products recommend sealing depending on the type of tile or the nature of…

ANSWER – I assume you are referring to a rectangle tile. These tiles tend to be installed in a off-set pattern so the tiles are stagger from each other.

ANSI A108.02-4.3 does state that tiles that…

ANSWER – With a large format tile like that you can adhere it to the ceiling without a mechanical attachment unless your local codes require a mechanical attachment. The International Building Code (IBC) allows for…