24 Residential Building Products and Technology June 2014

RBP&T: What kinds of products arepopular with builders right now?

Jimmy Reed: People always aredrawn to high-quality beauty. Manytimes our clients are concerned withthe sustainability of the materials weare using. They are curious of how,why and where the products they likehave been manufactured. We thinkexactly the same way and are veryfamiliar with top-of-the-line greenproducts. Most of the glass mosaictiles we use are made with some recycled content, if not all.�RBP&T: What types do you like towork with?

JR: I’m more passionate aboutglass mosaic tile design and installa-tion than all others involved in agiven project. We go into each project knowing the glass mosaictile water feature we’re installing willbecome the center of the home forthe family — especially in SouthernCalifornia, where the weather al-lows families to enjoy or entertainyear round.

RBP&T: There are tile products from allover the world; do you see differencesin quality?

JR: There will always be those outthere who only care about the bot-tom line. How much is this going tocost? Because of that you'll find thereare plenty of options. We're fortunateenough to have established RockSolid Tile in the luxury home category.So we almost exclusively work withtop-of-the-line materials. Bisazza has abeautiful line of glass mosaics. Theyproduce nothing but quality tiles, and they have a range of blues thatwork really well in pools and spas. Wealso recommend Oceanside Glasstilewith regularity.

RBP&T: Installation is a big part oftiling. What are your favorite systems?

JR: We always use Laticrete when itcomes to installing pools and spas.We prefer to use them on all of ourprojects. Back when I first startedout we used them because of thewaterproofing membrane they pro-duced. Obviously, in submerged

FIVE QUESTIONS

Jimmy Reed is the president of Rock Solid Tile, a Los Angeles-basedglass mosaic, ceramic tile and natural stone installation contractor.The company is known for working with high-end luxury designers, architects and builders and has a reputation for quality and detail.He recently answered some questions for us.

Jimmy Reed

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rocksolidtile.com

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Mosaic Madness

installations waterproofing is a crucial step. We used the 9235 prod-uct, and never had a failure in prob-ably 20 years. Then they came outwith the Hydro Ban product andnow we have the same confidencein the integrity of the waterproofing,but it’s much easier and faster thananything we’ve ever come across.

RBP&T: What piece of advice wouldyou give architects and buildersspecifying tile?

JR: I would tell them they shouldspecify more of it. First I would letthem know about all the resources available to them. Theinformation they would need forthe tile or stone, and the specifi-cations for the installationprocess are very readily avail-able. There's nothing more beau-tiful than a perfectly executedglass tile pool or spa. �