Total Solutions Plus Underway in New Orleans; TCNA Handbook Preview

New Orleans, LA, October 23, 2023-The 14th edition of Total Solutions Plus starts today, welcoming members of four industry organizations to the Hilton Riverside in New Orleans.

Kicking off the conference for the Ceramic Tile Distributors Association, the National Tile Contractors Association, the Tile Council of North America and Tile Contractor’s Association of America is Adam Markel, an author and speaker who focuses on resilience.

"Resilience today is probably the most important skill," he said, alluding to the current challenges and uncertainty in the market. "You can't fight the current. If you do, you'll get worn out. High performance is not about exhaustion. It's about recovery--and that is something we can control."

As a whole, the group is largely resilient already, Markel reported, based on self-assessments offered before the conference. The group scored four points higher than the mean across the existing data set, ranking particularly high in the emotional resilience category.

"Resilient companies leverage uncertainty for growth," said Markel, who's been featured in Forbes and The Wall Street Journal.

Next year's Total Solutions Plus will be held in Boston October 27 to 29.

As part of the event, the Tile Council of North America (TCNA) previewed its 2024 TCNA Handbook.

TCNA, tile manufacturers, installation material manufacturers, and various labor associations recently met to discuss additions and updates to ceramic, glass, and stone tile installation methods for incorporation in the 2024 TCNA Handbook. Meeting sponsors included Laticrete, Daltile, Portobello America, Schluter Systems, Crossville Inc., Custom Building Products, Ironrock, Tile and Stone Council of Northern California, and Barnes and Thornburg. Additionally, tile industry leaders went to Capitol Hill to meet with congressional and senatorial staff members.

The TCNA Handbook for ceramic, glass, and stone tile installation, now in its 61st year of continuous publication, features guidelines widely used in specifying, selling, and installing tile and related installation materials.

TCNA Handbook additions and changes approved by the Handbook Committee at the recent meeting include:

* Updates to installation details for epoxy spot bonding and tile in steam showers

* Revisions based on recent changes to ANSI A108 standards

* Revisions to the “Green Building Standards and Green Product Selection Guide”

* Additional details on TCNA’s Material Ingredient Guide

A new section - “Choosing Products with the Lowest Cradle-to-Grave Embodied Carbon”

A new “Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) Selection Guide”

TCNA staff and committee leaders will provide a detailed TCNA Handbook update at Total Solutions Plus, October 22 to 24, 2023.

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