Tile ANSI Standards

The Tile Council of America publishes The Handbook for Ceramic Tile Installation which is an excellent guide for both ceramic and quarry tile. It is an ANSI standard. 

ANSI standards cover a variety of prodncts, materials, and equipment that is used both in highly specialized fields and in nearly all other areas of modern life. ANSI publishes standards on ceramic tiles, chemical process equipment, home appliances, electronics equipment, motion picture film and equipment, acids, refractory materials, oil burners, office machines and supplies, hospital supplies, and combustion engines. 

Well defined test methods are available in North America and Europe for evaluating ceramic tile adhesives. Test methods used in Germany for emulsion-based mastics are described in DIN EN 1324 (adhesive shear strength) and DIN EN 1346 (correction or adjustment time). Cementbased CTA are tested by DIN EN 1348 (puU of strength) and again DIN EN 1346 (op>en time). Classification is determined for both types of adhesives by prDIN EN 12004. North American test methods and specifications for tile adhesives are described in the following American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards ... 

Standard ceramic tQe adhesives of good quality need approximately 1.5 to 3 % of redispersible powder on total dry mix. They meet the new European Norm for tile adhesives (mostly only Cl level) and pass also the ANSI specification 118.4and 118.11. Larger formatted tiles can be apphed with these materials over porous or less porous, dimensionally stable substrates. They are suitable for interior as well as exterior application. For standard apphcations these modified mortars provide higher quality security and a certain long-term stabihty, very much depending on the factors like climate conditions, weight traffic etc. 

The adhesion of tiles to the substrate is certainly as important for a ceramic tile adhesive as the flexibihty. The European Norm uses a pull off test to determine the adhesion, where as the US standard ANSI 118.1 - 1999 prefers the shear bond test. A simple ceramic tile mortar with no polymer modification will fail in the adhesion test especially after heat aging or over wood (ANSI 118.11 - 1999). The same mortar modified with only 2 % of redispersible powder will pass both tests. With the puD-off... 

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