Tile Council of North America (TCNA) and its glass tile manufacturing members are leading the way in the creation of a glass tile standard.

As glass tile has grown in popularity, more and more companies are marketing glass tile from around the world. However, with no standard criteria for the manufacture and performance of glass tile in place, quality problems and installation failures have occurred.

The drafting of the proposed glass standard, ANSI A137.2, is well underway. Some of the key issues it will cover include:

• Methods of manufacture: cast, fused, and low temperature-coatedCategorization by size – large format, mosaic, and miniature mosaic
• What constitutes a defect
• Mounting criteria for mounted glass mosaics
• Measurement and definition of translucence
• Strength criteria
• Thermal shock resistance using real life temperature ranges
• Levels of recycled content

With the wide array of quality glass products on the market, developing a consensus glass standard is critical to our industry. TCNA and its glass tile producing members are committed to continue working to bring this standard to fruition.