A lot of people have negative perceptions about tile. They think that tile cracks, that grout discolors and falls out, that tiles can fall off walls in showers, and that caulking frequently fails. While these observations are certainly true in many homes, they simply shouldn't be.
Preparation (Prep) work is the reason that all of these negative perceptions are common place. Many installers (even on 'high end' finish work) cut corners on the important stages of prep work before the tile is installed. They skip proper underlayment, don't tape seams, use incorrect mortars, don't level properly, and so much more...
Why does this happen? Is it because installers want to make a quick buck? Sometimes it is! Is it because they don't know what the proper technique is? Far more often this is the case.
Generally most construction workers are trained entirely on the job. They work their way from an apprentice to a 'master' over a period of a couple years. This apprenticeship can produce great installers, but only if the teacher is a great installer that actually studied the art of tile and the nuances that it deserves. It is deplorable how many projects we come across (to tear out and repair or replace) that just don't have the proper techniques and materials behind the scenes that led to failure and an undesired cost for the homeowner.
I have a favorite analogy about construction training. Around the Christmas holiday, a little girl and her mother were cooking a ham. They preheated the oven, seasoned the meat, mashed the potatoes, seasoned the green beans, and then cut the ends of the ham off before placing it in the pan. The little girl asked her mother why she cut the ends of the ham off. The mother says that she was taught that way by her mother. The question peaks the mother’s curiosity, and so she calls her mother (the grandmother of the little girl). The grandmother repeats the answer given by the mother, and she decides to call the great-grandmother, who is quite old at this point. The great-grandmother laughs in a way that only one holding proprietary knowledge can laugh, and answers this "Oh dear daughter; your dad and I were extremely poor during the Great Depression, and our home was small and so were our kitchen and our oven. We had to cut the ends off of the ham so that it would fit into the oven."
This is the fundamental problem with construction. While the general population of workers intend to do good work, they lack the proper knowledge. This knowledge does exist, but it is not proactively sought out by most contractors. They simple 'know they are doing it right' because that’s the way their mentor taught them. They get paid, they move on, and lack the incentive to become better.
We don't take this approach at Custom Expressions. The tile world continually evolves and changes. Doing installations the way we used to do them doesn't always work. There are many technical obstacles and changes we come across with evolving materials, and we have the responsibility to know the right answer, and so we search it out before we have any issue.
This is what gives us the ability to install the proper prep materials correctly. We have put the time and effort into studying and mastering the nuances of prep work. Maybe our clients will never know, but WE know! We believe whole heartedly that tile is a material that should last longer than the rest of your home, or at least your taste.
Proper prep is the foundation that makes that possible. And that starts with knowledge.