[00:00:00] Patrick Warren:

[00:00:05] Eric Goranson: It's Around the House! Every time I'm like, oh this, we're just doing a simple backsplash. And he puts his level on and he goes, we're gonna get this smooth before we start. Then I'm like, you're right. We're gonna get this dead on perfect. And then it goes perfectly. Otherwise Eric is always playing the fool.

[00:00:19] Eric Goranson: He's like, how do you do this

[00:00:20] Chip Wade: again? Yeah, I'm gonna just sit and watch you. I'll have

[00:00:22] Eric Goranson: sweet tea over here for

[00:00:24] Patrick Warren: you guys. Absolutely. No prep work. I don't do any prep work.

[00:00:26] Eric Goranson: Why don't you show me? My stomach doesn't feel great right now.

[00:00:29] Chip Wade: Yeah, come on over. I feel

[00:00:30] Eric Goranson: like a paper coming off. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

[00:00:32] Eric Goranson: Weaver for more

[00:00:33] Patrick Warren: cowbells.

[00:00:38] Eric Goranson: But seriously, you know, it's that prep work makes that job. And then it just makes everything so much easier because everything lays out flat. Everything lays in. You're not trying to, you know, there's a lot of pros out there. I'll just put a little bit more on the wall or a little bit more on the floor and level it out.

[00:00:52] Eric Goranson: No, you're going to fight it. When it comes to

[00:00:54] Chip Wade: remodeling and renovating your home,

[00:00:56] Eric Goranson: there is a lot to know, but we've got you covered. [00:01:00] This is around

[00:01:03] Chip Wade: the house. This is where we help

[00:01:07] Eric Goranson: you get the most out of your home through information and education. Thanks for joining us today. We are at design and construction week, 2024 and one of the most beautiful boosts here, Dow tile, and we're going to have a great show for you today.

[00:01:22] Eric Goranson: Let's go around the room here. Do some introductions. My friend, Chip Wade. Come on, show brother. It's

[00:01:27] Chip Wade: great to be here. I always love getting to chat with you. And this year's show is really remarkable. A lot of heavy, heavy attendance, but more than that, great products everywhere.

[00:01:36] Eric Goranson: Uh, it's a fun place to be.

[00:01:37] Eric Goranson: Man, what is there? 4 million square feet here and a hundred and something thousand people. I quit counting

[00:01:41] Chip Wade: here. Yeah, I know. But my knees did.

[00:01:44] Eric Goranson: Right. Patrick, welcome to the show, brother. Hey, we're

[00:01:47] Patrick Warren: glad to be here. Thanks a lot. My name is Patrick Warren, Vice President of Residential Sales here at Deltile. I focus specifically on the remodel business, which is why I get to work with my friend, Chip Wade here.

[00:01:55] Patrick Warren: We love to talk about the remodel business and everything that we've got going on at

[00:01:58] Eric Goranson: Deltile. Man, that is [00:02:00] awesome. And you guys have some sick Stunning stuff in here. You know, I brought my wife here to the show and I already see that we're doing some changes in the house, right? It's a

[00:02:08] Chip Wade: dangerous, it's a dangerous place to come a little bit.

[00:02:12] Chip Wade: It's very inspirational

[00:02:13] Eric Goranson: for sure. Absolutely. And the style in here, and let's talk about some of the color trends and stuff here real quick. Man, there's some beautiful stuff and being a child of the 70s the influence of that right now It's funny watching the 20 something year olds. Look at some of these walls and go Wow, and I'm like that is a new version of the cool stuff of the 70s 70s, right?

[00:02:35] Patrick Warren: 100%. 100%. We're seeing a lot of that. You're even seeing, you know, even Barbie brought out the pink came back and you're seeing the old, the old bathroom that had that pink vanity that started to come back. That's super popular right now. From a color point of view, we're seeing that, you know, whites are still very, very popular, but we're starting to see kind of moving away from that gray look to a little bit of that warmer hue that grazes light Browns.

[00:02:58] Patrick Warren: You can see the wood color tones [00:03:00] are coming through that, that old Oak look that kind of warms up. But there's also this This is the sparkle, the jazz, the, the jewelry that adds that pop to any room, whether that's color shape or

[00:03:11] Eric Goranson: sparkle on the product, man, no kidding. No kidding. You know what

[00:03:14] Chip Wade: I'm seeing is a lot, there's so much larger format stuff going on that actually changes the color story a little bit.

[00:03:19] Chip Wade: So even though, you know, Patrick's talking about, there's still a lot of like the lighter neutrals, the whites and the greens as a base, it's really the canvas for so much more higher contrast touches of some of those throwback nostalgic colors that are coming back that actually feel incredibly current.

[00:03:34] Chip Wade: But it's kind of that, you know, it's, it's, it's looking at it in a new light through the, through the, through the

[00:03:39] Eric Goranson: lens of scale, right? Yeah. I mean, like last year when we were here, you saw, you know, Kohler came out with all those different colored toilets that they had, it wasn't avocado green. It was the new version of that, right?

[00:03:49] Eric Goranson: It's inspiration from that time, but in a new look at a new lens, right. That's right. That's right. I think there's a

[00:03:55] Patrick Warren: nostalgia that everybody's going back to. I think part of that can be fueled from what we went through in 2020 [00:04:00] with COVID where people are bringing it home and they're starting to get reminiscent about what they remember as a child and the family, the colors they grew up with, and you're starting to see that come out in some of our designs.

[00:04:08] Patrick Warren: Yeah.

[00:04:09] Eric Goranson: And I noticed something and nothing against the people out there putting in the luxury vinyl planks and stuff like that. We're really seeing these beautiful tiles coming in where ceramic tile is back. People like, ah, that didn't hold up. As well as I thought, now you're seeing these large format would looks and things like that that are really, again, taking that to the next level.

[00:04:28] Patrick Warren: You know, that's exactly

[00:04:29] Chip Wade: what I was just going to say. I mean, I, as, as somebody that builds a lot of projects, I designed so many things, getting to try out all kinds of different parts. Like you were saying, I mean, the LVP market definitely has gained market share over the years, but your point, people are starting to really see.

[00:04:44] Chip Wade: See the longevity of what materials actually last. And tile is one of those things that people are also familiar with, but they don't necessarily remember that it kind of checks every single box of quality, longevity, [00:05:00] stain proofness. I mean, and it's just more of a lifelong material that has natural beauty as well.

[00:05:06] Chip Wade: I think that tile is something that's kind of always there, but I think it's becoming more popular because of what your point is. People are appreciating. That real longevity

[00:05:16] Eric Goranson: factor that exists. Yeah. People are like, I'm going to spend the money on this. Right. I'm going to spend the money. So it's just a little bit more to do a right and have a surface.

[00:05:24] Eric Goranson: That's going to last decades longer past. I get tired of it. Actually, you know, you'll be tile trend later going now it's time for that.

[00:05:33] Patrick Warren: Think about the value you're adding. I mean, you're putting in a product. You're not just putting in a floor. You're putting in something that's a chip point. It's going to have a design aesthetic.

[00:05:40] Patrick Warren: It's going to have a performance story, a color story. It's going to last as long as you're going to own your home or whatever that space is.

[00:05:46] Chip Wade: And one thing that's really cool that you're going to see, coming out with a lot of, uh, tile product is it's not just like the slick glossy, you know, kind of standard, you know, tile.

[00:05:58] Chip Wade: I mean, we have sculpted three [00:06:00] dimensional volumes. I mean, there, there is, there's real tactical warmth to some of this material and some of the porcelain product. It's absolutely monochrome through it, with even some of the features, micro band technology and things like that, can make it. Not just beautiful, but actually an elevated

[00:06:16] Eric Goranson: health story.

[00:06:17] Eric Goranson: Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's really cool too, because that would look, you go up and go,

[00:06:22] Patrick Warren: okay, what is that? Yeah. You

[00:06:24] Eric Goranson: don't know. You don't know. You have to, you have to go down and feel it and touch it and go, Oh, that's not. Wallet. That's something else.

[00:06:31] Patrick Warren: We have to remember that when somebody's designing a space, the first thing they're going to design with is that color and look that they're looking for.

[00:06:38] Patrick Warren: Sure. They're not necessarily saying, I want tile, or I want luxury vinyl, or I want a wood product. They want that color and that design. And that, whatever that performance story is that comes with that,

[00:06:47] Eric Goranson: that's where they get the win. And the cool thing is, is the products from other manufacturers have come so far.

[00:06:52] Eric Goranson: Look at the grouts and things like that. That was sometimes, oh, I don't have to clean the grout. I Well, look guys, those days are over. If you pick the right material to go with that, [00:07:00] you don't have to worry about that, like you did years ago. You know, there's so much more durability in the materials that are part of the installation process now that it's not what you saw in the eighties and nineties where it's like, Oh, I got that light coward.

[00:07:12] Eric Goranson: I'm going to be down there every week, cleaning it. That's right. And another

[00:07:15] Chip Wade: thing that people don't realize is the manufacturing process of a lot of tile has also improved in a way that we're getting much straighter edges, the rectified tiles, where that basically also. smaller grout joints, so grout technology is increasing, but the tile itself is actually allowing us to have smaller grout joints, fewer grout lines, which just helps

[00:07:36] Eric Goranson: that even more.

[00:07:37] Eric Goranson: Yeah, you get that texture without having this big 1988, you know, half inch grout line in there that you'd get, oh, horrible. That's right. That hid the, hid the, the manufacturing of that tile, where now you could, you're, you're going from that half inch to a credit card thickness. That's exactly right. You know, and that's where that makes a big difference.

[00:07:54] Eric Goranson: That makes a big difference. And style in here, I mean, some of the mosaics. Really beautiful. Some of [00:08:00] the, oh man. You can tell. You can basically take a house in here if you're doing that remodel and twist it any way you want to go.

[00:08:08] Patrick Warren: Absolutely. What we try to do here is we want to have in our showroom and then within our downtown showrooms, we want to make sure we have a portfolio that can complete any project.

[00:08:17] Patrick Warren: From the ground up, the walls out, or the outside. to make sure we've got the right product that goes with what that's, what that performance is going to be, whether that's luxury vinyl, whether that's flooring with our step wife product, that makes a product 50 percent more slip resistant so they can go from inside to outside.

[00:08:33] Patrick Warren: You don't feel it. You can't wipe it away, but it's. It's in a inert in the body of the, of the product. So we want to make sure that everything, every product that they want to have in their design, color, design, shape, flavor, whatever they need is represented

[00:08:46] Eric Goranson: in our portfolio. Yeah. That makes a lot of sense.

[00:08:49] Eric Goranson: And man, you guys have really expanded out that large format stuff as

[00:08:52] Patrick Warren: well. We really have. One of my favorite sizes right now is the 24 by 48, which in a room is spectacular because it allows the true [00:09:00] nature and the movement of the product to look like a natural stone better than anything. But flat. I mean, it's.

[00:09:05] Chip Wade: It's incredibly flat. You can have, you can have medium to large size spaces where it's in real life and almost seems surreal because it's such that you get that like uniform light glow across. You get, you get what you want your pictures to look like in real life, which is an amazing thing.

[00:09:22] Eric Goranson: And that comes down to the quality though, you know, there's a lot of other companies out there and we don't talk smack about everybody else, but that's what makes that installation look like you want it to is having the quality material that gets shipped out the door from you guys.

[00:09:35] Eric Goranson: Because

[00:09:36] Patrick Warren: it's dead flat. We spend a lot of time. Chip mentioned it before with our manufacturing plants. We have perfected how that product comes out, the strength of it, the consistency, the action, the flatness. So that one is going to look like the consumer wants that floor to look like, or the wall or whatever surface countertops, but it also.

[00:09:54] Patrick Warren: Allows the installer to not have to work it so much. So they can be quicker in what they do and have a perfect [00:10:00] install product.

[00:10:00] Chip Wade: Yeah. And I can speak firsthand to the, the manufacturing process specifically with Delta. I've visited the plants and I, of course, I mean, I love it. You know, I love the engineering background, just like just eats up like these, these massive high tech machines, but you're not walking into, you know, a makeshift operation.

[00:10:20] Chip Wade: That's just, you know, dusty. And you know that like what if you just ask the common person, like what would a tile plant look like? No, I don't know. It was like vats of powder and yeah, I don't know. It is, it is clean and it looks like you're in a rocket ship. I mean, and it's, and the tiles that come out, it's, it's just so perfect.

[00:10:37] Chip Wade: It gives you an appreciation, even though for logistics, for just material handling and everything else, it's a

[00:10:42] Eric Goranson: marvel. It's fascinating when you, when you, when you visit a tile manufacturing facility, because you'll see something go into an oven and you put that powder on it and it comes out the other side and you're like, that can't be the same piece because the color brain of my interior design background goes, how did that come in that color?

[00:10:59] Eric Goranson: And [00:11:00] after it got heated, come out.

[00:11:02] Patrick Warren: It's amazing. We have, we have fantastic designers, production people that can make all that happen. It's like, it's really, it's magic to be honest with you. And so when they come out of the other end and they do it consistently and they're pumping out a tremendous amount of volume because they have to fit all the orders we have.

[00:11:15] Patrick Warren: So it's, it's, we're, we're proud of those plants. This is

[00:11:18] Chip Wade: another thing where design leadership really comes into play. Cause it's not easy to make tile. You're not, you're not just. Like throwing up a tile manufacturing outfit, you know? No. Next year. Yeah. It's a, it's a commitment. And so when you go into manufacturing of tile, you have to make sure that what you're producing is gonna be worthy.

[00:11:35] Chip Wade: Yeah. And so Dow Tile is always focusing on what they're going to be producing and leading. Really the industry of tile. Everybody's looking to see what D Tile does. Um,

[00:11:44] Eric Goranson: and there's, and there's a lot of skills within those plants, but to me, those color people in there that do that. It's a town, alchemy, whatever they're doing in there.

[00:11:52] Eric Goranson: You just like magic

[00:11:53] Patrick Warren: scientists. It is. They want to design something that can be manufactured. So there's a, there's the, that's the hardest [00:12:00] piece to that, you know, something that looks the way they want it to look. We have to make sure that it can be processed through our plant and come out at the end, the way the consumer wants it to look like and do it

[00:12:07] Eric Goranson: time and time again, time again, exactly.

[00:12:11] Eric Goranson: It's. It's fun. And you know, this ship from doing stuff, it's, it's, you go, Oh, that turned out great, but then you have to be able to recreate that. So anybody else can do it. And that's where the magic is.

[00:12:20] Chip Wade: That's right. And I think that that's one of the exciting things in the industry for installers that are getting more proficient.

[00:12:26] Chip Wade: We touched a little bit on some of the larger format stuff. Yeah. You know, we're not, the mainstream is not just like a 12 by 12 tile anymore. I mean, we're, we're definitely still pushing into, you know, larger resolution mosaics, even with, with smaller pieces. Bye. Larger format tiles on the walls and even exteriors.

[00:12:44] Chip Wade: Yeah. I think that that's one thing I'm really excited to see is the design community starting to embrace some of the larger format exterior surfacing because porcelain and even some of the quartz product is really, you're going to see, you're going to start seeing it because it's so beautiful and it's starting to pick up on some of the themes of modern [00:13:00] architecture.

[00:13:00] Eric Goranson: Yeah. And the cool thing with that is that we now have the tile systems out there that go underneath the tile. To make that an installation where you can do it where there's freezing climates and things like that. So it's not just a Southern California, kind of along the lower half of the country, you can do this in many places in the U S and get away with it and have something that's going to be durable year in, year out.

[00:13:20] Eric Goranson: Yeah.

[00:13:20] Patrick Warren: We have a really robust program called exteriors, which has everything from your, your 2cm products, your pool products, all the coping, everything you need for those exterior products, because we know that those projects are going outdoors more and to, and to chip point, it's not just in the Southern part of the state.

[00:13:34] Patrick Warren: It's all over the country. We sell them in every state in the country right now. And again, we've got the performance, whether it's the pedestals, the direct bond is the sand, we have it all because that project, we want people to come to Dow tile one

[00:13:45] Eric Goranson: stop shop. Yeah. You guys have really pushed that, you know, that limit, especially with some of your click stuff that you came out with a few years ago.

[00:13:53] Eric Goranson: Revvo Tile. Revvo Tile. I mean, I was, when I first saw that, I saw that down at the Southeastern building [00:14:00] conference down in Florida when I was emceeing down there and helped with the demo at that. And I'm like. What not a perfect project piece for something you need a quick turn, whether or not, okay, I got a weekend to knock out this tile project, or I'm doing a restaurant and I want to be down for 24 hours or some kind of a commercial thing like

[00:14:19] Chip Wade: that.

[00:14:19] Chip Wade: Yeah. For anybody listening that's not familiar with that product. I mean, imagine getting a real tile floor and being able to literally stand on it while you're working on it and grout it same day and be done. If you've ever done something like that. You haven't

[00:14:32] Patrick Warren: done something like

[00:14:32] Chip Wade: that in the past. And this is a, that's a, it's truly

[00:14:35] Eric Goranson: revolutionary.

[00:14:36] Eric Goranson: I thought it was really cool. I was like, okay, these guys are really thinking outside the box because for those people that have to have it done, you know, in, in even more in commercial where it's like, you got to do a big project. Yeah. That's the reality

[00:14:47] Patrick Warren: sometimes. Yeah. You know, you're eliminating the floor prep.

[00:14:50] Patrick Warren: We have to do some floor prep, but you're eliminating the floor prep and the speed. Those are the two things that you've got to understand on that. And by the way, it's a great product and a lot of tools

[00:14:58] Chip Wade: that you can come to the [00:15:00] job site with, you know, four items and

[00:15:02] Patrick Warren: execute. That's exactly right. Yeah.

[00:15:04] Patrick Warren: Which is

[00:15:04] Eric Goranson: incredible. That's a good point. You know, you think about it just for the people out there that are going, okay, what's the big deal about that? You know, you go in there, maybe you spend a day prepping. This project, then you're like, okay, we're laying tile tomorrow. You lay tile and you're like, all right, 24 hours.

[00:15:18] Eric Goranson: If I got the right thin set or mast to put it down and then I gotta go grout it, and you're days before you can actually walk across that thing.

[00:15:25] Patrick Warren: Absolutely. Absolutely.

[00:15:26] Chip Wade: You know, I mean, just as a builder and somebody that does a lot of, uh, installation across the board, one of the biggest things that have increased my productivity is you just can't.

[00:15:36] Chip Wade: Skip over additional prep, you know, and that's with anything. I mean, if people are like, you know, there's a lot of different materials out there, you know, with tile, maybe I need to do more prep. It's actually not the case. In fact, there's been a lot of circumstances where people, you know, try to, you know, try to put like an LVP or something over a floor that really isn't prepped and you can't really, you can't really do that.

[00:15:57] Chip Wade: No. One of the biggest quality [00:16:00] infusers that you know, over the years that you learn as a pro is that you get that floor prepped correctly and the tile becomes as easy as ever. And it's really, uh, that's what gives you the best, the best

[00:16:10] Eric Goranson: final product. I learned that the hard way with my buddy, who's one of the best tile experts in the country, and he comes over to my house and helps my buddy William and he comes over and I tell you what, every time I'm like, Oh, this, we're doing a simple backsplash.

[00:16:22] Eric Goranson: And he puts his level on. He goes, we're gonna get this smooth before we start. Then I'm like, you're right. We're going to get this dead on. Perfect. And then it goes perfectly. Otherwise always playing the voice. Like, how do you

[00:16:33] Chip Wade: do this again? Yeah, I'm Sweet

[00:16:36] Eric Goranson: tea over here. Do I do it? No prep work. I don't need any prep work.

[00:16:40] Eric Goranson: Why don't you show me? My stomach doesn't feel great right now. I'll be back in a second. Yeah, come on over. I feel like a fever coming on. Yeah, exactly. Fever for more cowbells. And there's only one attic there. Exactly. But seriously, you know, it's, that prep work makes that job and then it just makes everything so much easier because everything lays out flat.

[00:16:58] Eric Goranson: Everything lays in. You're not trying to, [00:17:00] you know, there's a lot of pros out there. I'll just put a little bit more on the wall or a little bit more on the floor and level it out. No, you're going to fight it. But you know, you're seeing in

[00:17:08] Chip Wade: the industry, there's a lot of even other manufacturers that are really putting a lot of innovation into prep floor prep and underlayment type substrates.

[00:17:17] Chip Wade: Yeah. That tells you, that tells you a lot about the status of what the industry as a whole understands. Also about tile. Yeah. They know that, that it's the best. Yeah. And they know that it's going to continue to swing into that direction. That's why there's so many product offerings that are becoming available that are easier and easier.

[00:17:31] Chip Wade: A lot of Yeah. You know, even peel and stick under Le Breeze. Right. For Yeah. Which is crazy. Yeah, I know. Like, I mean real, like some new stuff that I'm seeing that I'm like, you know, all these things always you, you want to kind of breathe through 'cause this really gonna work. Yeah. You know, but that's one of the great things about being in this industry is get to try all this stuff and seeing what actually is worth it.

[00:17:50] Chip Wade: Solve.

[00:17:50] Eric Goranson: And that's the thing. And I gotta give this. for all you guys out there to do this for a living. There is over the last seven to 10 years, this new elevation of that craft, [00:18:00] right? Because you've got all these new systems. I mean, you used to see the guys in there putting up the green board and land tower over the top of the shower, right?

[00:18:06] Eric Goranson: You know, and now you've got all these other guys that are cringing and going, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. Slow down. We need a shower system in here. Yeah. What's your system? Yeah. What? You know, and so that's the cool part with that is that that also adds that longevity of the project. All that stuff.

[00:18:22] Eric Goranson: Because if you don't do that right, you guys get to sell twice as much tile because you have to go back and do it over again. I don't think the everyday consumer or

[00:18:29] Patrick Warren: project owner or contractor in that case maybe really realizes or appreciates the technology advancement over the last, to your point, 10 or 15 years.

[00:18:37] Patrick Warren: Yeah. The final product, again, we're trying to make it easier on the installer, but ultimately a longer lasting project or completed project when it's complete. So

[00:18:46] Eric Goranson: yeah, I did a steam shower at my house and we tile and stuff like that in there. And with that steam shower, I was like, okay, this doesn't have to be waterproof.

[00:18:54] Eric Goranson: This has to be vapor proof, which most of the products aren't vapor proof when it comes in [00:19:00] behind that. So it took a lot of research and stuff to go, okay, if I'm in a steam shower, it's one thing to push steam through that. Water is easy, comparative to steam, so there's a lot of stuff to help you with that project?

[00:19:10] Eric Goranson: Yeah, he did. You should probably go out of town. Yeah. This is gonna I'll need a whole week away. My fever's back. Exactly, you're a week. Let's put it this way. Him and I reconnected, funny story. I've known him since we were three. 13 and Boy Scouts together. So we go back, so we lost track of each other. And I actually met him at, I think it was your guys's opening in the Tualatin showroom over in Oregon.

[00:19:31] Eric Goranson: When you guys opened that up, I saw him and I go, I know you, but I don't know why. And then I looked at him. Culture shock. I looked over and I went, Billy, and he goes, someone hasn't called me that in 25 years. I'm like, huh? Speaking of which,

[00:19:44] that's

[00:19:44] Chip Wade: what happens all the time with these trade shows. You have to be like, I know you, but I have no idea.

[00:19:49] Chip Wade: Yeah. It's not been like three times already this morning, but it's good. It's a good

[00:19:52] Eric Goranson: family reunion. Exactly. So where do you see trends going? I mean, there is so much large format. There's so much detail, [00:20:00] mosaics and stuff gone. It's. It's all going big. I know that the 12 by 12 tile is now the four and a quarter square tile that we saw in the seventies, comparatively style wise, that bigger and smaller is better.

[00:20:11] Eric Goranson: Now. I think we're seeing a couple of

[00:20:12] Patrick Warren: things. We're seeing breadth of product. First of all, just the selection that we can offer in the industry, not only just a Dell tile,

[00:20:20] Eric Goranson: every shape, size, color,

[00:20:22] Patrick Warren: again, that they're looking for, but we're seeing elongated wall tiles, you know, three by four teams we're looking versus your traditional three by six wall tile.

[00:20:31] Patrick Warren: A lot more accents. You're seeing also kind of a throwback to your penny rounds. You're going back to the small penny rounds that are just black and white, that maybe looked like the grandmother's bathroom you grew up with. And by the way, I love it. I think it's fantastic. So you got a little bit of that nostalgia throwback, but you're seeing the shapes and sizes sprinkled in with some pretty amazing technology.

[00:20:49] Patrick Warren: Like chip, like chip mentioned defend with micro band, very important. It just adds a whole level of comfort and security, I guess you could say, and then defend or, um, stepwise round and stepwise, [00:21:00] which makes a product. Selected products, 50 percent more slip resistant. So there's some technologies built in that during that selection process of shape, size, color, and attributes that really make us a one stop

[00:21:11] Eric Goranson: shop.

[00:21:12] Eric Goranson: You think about healthy homes, right? You think about in a, in a bathroom, right? It is. You're probably, you're one of your biggest offenders next to the kitchen because you've got humidity, you've got everything to feed mold and stuff in there and putting in stuff. stuff like that. And of course you've got germs and everything else that are obviously in this room.

[00:21:30] Eric Goranson: Having that surface is a really a game changer for that because one, it's just going to give that more life in there and less cleaning too, because any of those mildews and stuff, that little orange scum that comes in the shower, if you

[00:21:42] Chip Wade: don't manage it, it's the not having to do as much, but knowing that you don't have to do as much, I think is as powerful as the not doing.

[00:21:53] Chip Wade: It's the not having to do it in your mind. Again, I mean all of us get so busy and so just [00:22:00] consumed with our daily routines Yeah, even just one space that you could say, you know what? I still have to do anything. It's

[00:22:06] Patrick Warren: like a

[00:22:07] Eric Goranson: concept. Yeah, exactly Right. Yeah, and you know, I think it's also important like kitchen surfaces and things like that too, right?

[00:22:13] Eric Goranson: You know that that kitchen floor Splash, that kind of stuff where you just have to go. All right. This is taking care of itself right now. I can clean that up tomorrow, right?

[00:22:23] Patrick Warren: Exactly. You know, one of the

[00:22:24] Chip Wade: trends that I've been seeing here specifically, you know, when we talk about large format, I don't want, you know, to put out the insinuation of everything is going big.

[00:22:33] Chip Wade: I mean, there's scale of rooms. There's all this. But the technology that exists that makes it great for design, as I almost envision a lot of these larger format pieces, almost kind of like, you know, in layman's terms, almost like a piece of plywood. Yeah. You know, what can you do with a piece of plywood?

[00:22:48] Chip Wade: You can cut it down into any shape that you want raw material. And there's actually options for different, you know, common curated sizes. Size that are cut out of these larger format pieces. But what that does is it [00:23:00] gives you the exact same look, feel, texture, and piece to be able to cascade with scale and size and resolution for whatever you want.

[00:23:09] Chip Wade: So in fact, what it does for the more creative designers out there is gives them an unlimited palette to play with, which that's really what I'm excited about when it comes to large format. I mean, I love the option of doing

[00:23:20] Eric Goranson: a whole shower

[00:23:21] Chip Wade: wall and a whole big focus piece or a big backsplash seamless, but it's also being able to take that big.

[00:23:26] Chip Wade: You know, 10 foot piece and then having a two foot by four foot or a one foot by six inch piece to pair together where it all matches. And

[00:23:35] Eric Goranson: you can even use these in small spaces, that powder room. It almost looks like you put a slab floor in, right? And that's, what's cool with that. If you can get it in the room and get it twisted around and down, that starts to look really cool in there because now all of a sudden you maybe have.

[00:23:48] Eric Goranson: One grout line in the bathroom floor.

[00:23:50] Chip Wade: You know, one thing that I would tell anybody that's listening that I'm a big tool guy, too, is some of these new types of suction cups, tools that are out there. Thank you. Grabo. Yeah. [00:24:00] Actually, if you're familiar, I've got several of those. It is. It's a game changer for not just tiling, but a lot of different things.

[00:24:08] Chip Wade: But if anybody that's, Oh, I don't have the specialty tools to be able to handle large slabs. Honestly, you get a couple of those bad boys, you'll surprise yourself. You can, you can do a lot yourself safely, ergonomically, comfortably, and, and surprise yourself with the results that you can get with larger format with just one tool.

[00:24:25] Eric Goranson: And that tool is also great. We're going to get off subject slightly here is also great for other stuff. It's carrying in the sheets of a tile backer board. Taking glass, moving it around. I mean,

[00:24:36] Chip Wade: pick up rocks, which is kind of crazy, but you know what? I'm going to call in your friend. I'm going to be sick that day, at least in

[00:24:42] Patrick Warren: William.

[00:24:43] Eric Goranson: But you know, it's one of those things and it's, and that's what I love about this industry too, is, is, you know, I haven't installed a ton of tile, but you bring in that person that's got every certification known to mankind, that's an educator out there and you go, Oh, there's better ways to do it. And I think that's the thing.

[00:24:58] Eric Goranson: That's one of the things that's cool with all these [00:25:00] installers out there that are making these beautiful, like what you guys did in here in this booth. Yes. You know, that attention to detail when you have the right product makes for a seamless installation that gives you that really high refined look because you can look on that Plane and whether it's a mosaic or a large format slab, it looks perfect.

[00:25:21] Chip Wade: That's right. And you guys do such a great job here. All of these trade shows, but this one reason why I love to come to trade shows is it truly is inspirational even for professionals. Oh yeah. I'm walking around here looking stuff for my personal projects. But getting inspired, you know, to say, Hey, you know what?

[00:25:37] Chip Wade: I'm not prideful about it. I'm going to do exactly that because I can see it in full scale. It looks perfect and coming here and seeing it. And obviously I'll be grabbing all over the country. Delta has designer showrooms that are kind of the microcosm of what we're in right now with all the stuff that's available.

[00:25:53] Chip Wade: I'm definitely going to be, uh, taking some pointers. I think

[00:25:56] Patrick Warren: it also tells you like, Hey, I couldn't do

[00:25:57] Eric Goranson: that. I didn't realize I

[00:25:59] Patrick Warren: could, wow. They [00:26:00] did that. Look what they did on that wall. I can actually put those two colors together. It makes sense. I could. But those two shapes together, those structures together, I think that's the inspiration.

[00:26:07] I

[00:26:07] Eric Goranson: agree with you on that. Yeah, I feel bad now that we're talking about William so much because Monday, I'll show you the phone afterwards. He's, Hey, can you come over and help me? I went over to Dell and picked up my slabs for the fireplace. Can you help me on Monday? And I'm like, I'm in Las Vegas. Sorry, man.

[00:26:20] Eric Goranson: And I'm like, Oh. I'm He's helped me so many times. We'll get, we'll, we'll

[00:26:23] Patrick Warren: get him a downtown shirt. There we go.

[00:26:25] Eric Goranson: I was thinking about you, bro. Exactly. Sorry, William. But I walked in this booth, I'm four feet in the booth and I go, my wife's with me and she's, this is our new entryway. And I'm like, yeah, it is.

[00:26:38] Eric Goranson: And I'm like, great. Hardwood's coming up in the entryway. This is what's going down. Cause it's stunning. It's

[00:26:42] Patrick Warren: amazing. Hey, let's let us know. We're ready for you. Oh yeah. You might need to leave your wife in

[00:26:46] Chip Wade: the hotel room. I can't.

[00:26:48] Patrick Warren: It's going to cost you some money. Oh no, it's

[00:26:49] Eric Goranson: content, right? It's content.

[00:26:51] Eric Goranson: What's Talk about this for a minute of what that is, because that is stunning. And I think that's something that people should jump on your website and take a look. So I think when you look

[00:26:58] Patrick Warren: at that, that, that [00:27:00] almost looks like an onyx product and it almost like it could be one of those underlit onyx products.

[00:27:04] Patrick Warren: No question. That's a, that's a marble based product. It really has a nice aesthetic look to it. It has the arches. It gives you a little bit of that, that little art deco you're talking about. It

[00:27:15] Eric Goranson: is a wow product. Total

[00:27:16] Patrick Warren: pops. Look at everybody. Everybody's standing out all the time. That's one of those where they look down and say, exactly.

[00:27:21] Patrick Warren: Like your wife said, I want that for our entryway. It's

[00:27:23] Chip Wade: kind of a, it's kind of an odd dynamic of there's still high contrast, but it still kind of looks monolithic. So it's like almost, it's, it's possible to get classier than a slab of Onyx. Somehow we've accomplished

[00:27:34] Eric Goranson: that. Cause you've got the arches and the kind of overlaying arches to, to paint the picture here.

[00:27:39] Eric Goranson: You've got the grays, but then you get that kind of orangish gold rust color that comes through Subtle, and it gives you that just style throughout, but it's not so even, it looks like it's hand laid natural stone, you know, so you get that feel and it's, it's gorgeous. We're really proud of that one. That

[00:27:56] Patrick Warren: one's going to be an award winner for sure.

[00:27:57] Patrick Warren: Yeah, no question. That's one of the

[00:27:58] Chip Wade: things about tile as well [00:28:00] as you can do, get the benefits of doing entire expansive spaces and get the longevity, but you can also do a small bit and set the stage for quality. Like you throw that in your foyer, all of a sudden, like the, the essence of the feel of quality for everybody.

[00:28:15] Chip Wade: Walks through your front door, almost has a higher expectation or even perception of your house than it actually is. Changes the whole feel. We're kind of, that's what we're all kind of after, but that's kind of a good tangible and kind of bite sized place where you could put something like tile to really elevate the luxury of your

[00:28:31] Eric Goranson: house.

[00:28:32] Eric Goranson: And the stuff you can do now with the heated floor systems and stuff. Stuff that people come in, Oh, this is a nice warm floor. And if you're in an area that is wet or frozen, or you get the snow coming in, it's almost a self drying surface in itself.

[00:28:45] Patrick Warren: That's exactly right. You know, one of the areas that we're seeing a little bit of expansion is these little accents that people can do, whether that's, that's not an accent, but under subfloor heating, very important.

[00:28:54] Patrick Warren: Like people, is it really expensive? You know what, actually per square foot, when you lay it all out, the benefit you're getting, it's not that bad. [00:29:00] We also see a lot of niche lighting, accent lightings within the bathroom, in your shower area. Just adds a little bit of that extra feel for the room. You know, you get that one little bead of light in that, in that shower niche, changes the whole feel in that shower.

[00:29:12] Patrick Warren: So that's, I see more technology going that direction, lighting, how the room feels and the whole mood that it provides. One little,

[00:29:19] Chip Wade: one little thing in the shower. That's also a game changer. Talk about I'm more selective when I do floor heating now because you can kind of get away with just maybe doing more than you have to do a hundred percent like in the shower.

[00:29:29] Chip Wade: And it's the back. It's, it's, so if you think about kind of brace yourself, sometimes like if you're, if you're fortunate enough to have a seat in the shower, first of all, then you sit down and you're like, kind of catches your breath and you kind of have to spray the back and try to get it warm and kind of touch it slightly.

[00:29:44] Chip Wade: But imagine that just being like a warm blanket and allows you to really fall into it. It doesn't take much square footage, but that little bit of forethought in a bathroom or in a bathroom remodel or shower is absolutely a must have. Yeah,

[00:29:55] Eric Goranson: that's a great point. One of the things that I've been doing to add in showers is.

[00:29:59] Eric Goranson: It's [00:30:00] the new shower drying systems now, the air drying shower systems. I'm sure you guys have seen that. The guys over like Aramata and those guys that have that systems. You know, if you have hard, you're not, no squeegee needed in the shower now. And which makes that tile look so much better because it's dry in 10 minutes, you hit the button, walk away and there's less maintenance with that as well.

[00:30:17] Eric Goranson: A little

[00:30:17] Chip Wade: better than leaving the vent on for two hours, right? Yeah.

[00:30:20] Patrick Warren: And nobody, nobody wants to squeegee their shower

[00:30:21] Eric Goranson: after a nice shower. No, you're relaxed. Kills the moment. Kills the moment. Kills the moment. Good. So let's. Let's talk about more of the products you guys have in here because I tell you what, I mean, there's every style in here.

[00:30:31] Eric Goranson: I don't care if you've got a 1920s classic home or you got something that's like super modern. There's a flavor for everybody, which shows up in your showrooms across the country. You know, one

[00:30:39] Patrick Warren: of the things that we also provide here is we're, we

[00:30:42] Eric Goranson: have

[00:30:43] Patrick Warren: floor tile, we have wall tile, we have mosaics. We have countertops.

[00:30:48] Patrick Warren: We manufacture, we have two facilities in Dixon, Tennessee, that makes it one ports products, jumbo slabs, which makes it much larger, largest one in the industry. And then we also have our panel panoramic [00:31:00] porcelain products, which allows a whole different level of expertise. The idea is we want to make sure we have a surface and a tile product that we bring it all together.

[00:31:09] Patrick Warren: Countertops are very important. And we know that if you're going to buy a countertop 95 percent of the time you're buying a wall tile or you're buying a mosaics. We want to make sure. We have something that coordinates with that. So that's where our line really expands. That's

[00:31:20] Chip Wade: what we're showing here today.

[00:31:21] Chip Wade: Yeah, I can speak from experience with the one course. I've installed a lot of it. Sure. Absolutely love it. So my favorite with some of the darker tones, they're so rich, but to Patrick's point, the confidence from a design standpoint is knowing that you have coordinated color. It just makes the finishing the room.

[00:31:35] Chip Wade: Very, very simple. Yeah. You know, a lot of folks like, like the idea of hiring, you know, a professional designer to go and select everything. But the reality, even with a lot of my clients is. A lot of people pull back a little bit and still want to take a little bit of that ownership, but really kind of don't want to have to, you know, deal with the insecurity of full decision

[00:31:57] Eric Goranson: making.

[00:31:57] Eric Goranson: I'm making the right choice. This is my idea.

[00:31:59] Chip Wade: That's [00:32:00] right. So the ecosystem of Dell Tile gives you that confidence. You're like, Oh, that's going to, they, they, they're all from the same mastermind. Yeah. They've, they've, they've curated these selections together so that I just know I can just order that and I'm going to install it and it's going to look the way I hope anything would work.

[00:32:16] Chip Wade: But the. It never works out that way unless you go

[00:32:18] Patrick Warren: this other route. That's a really important point. There's two things that downtown does. Number one, we have over a hundred showrooms throughout the country. We have a design team specifically set to help that consumer make that selection, right? Now we don't sell direct, we'll sell through a dealer, but we want to make sure that they can have that selection because what'll happen is to chip point, someone will come in and say I want to redo my kitchen and they walk in and there's a lot of product.

[00:32:41] Patrick Warren: Where

[00:32:41] Eric Goranson: do I start? What do I do? Eyes are glazing over. Oh, this is harder than I thought.

[00:32:45] Patrick Warren: We have an amazing team that can help with that. The other thing that we do and we're showcasing to here today is we have a merchandise system for whatever kind of dealer, for example,

[00:32:52] Eric Goranson: that offers, we

[00:32:53] Patrick Warren: took our 10, let's take a kitchen, for example, kitchen and bathroom.

[00:32:56] Patrick Warren: We took our 10 best one ports products, and then we [00:33:00] paired each one of those 10 with a wall or a mosaic. So when, cause when they come in, they think, where do I start? Well, you know what? Pick one of these, start your process and they can walk around. They have that one ports, they have the wall, they're almost there.

[00:33:11] Patrick Warren: And it, it's, The, you know, look, the mannequin sells the most in the department store, right? But in Nordstrom, the mannequin sells the most. That's what we're trying to do because it is, we have a tremendous amount of products in the industry and we need to help that consumer. We do that. So the third piece that we do is we do it all the, the whole selection process begins online.

[00:33:28] Patrick Warren: Yeah. Everything does everything we do. We have through DialTile, we have a DialTile stylizer that allows someone to see what that product's going to look like in their actual showroom, in their home. Yeah. And we know that they're five times more likely to purchase if they use that. So we're. We're trying to, we're trying to touch all parts of it because that consumer journey is, is, is difficult and we want to make it as frictionless as possible as they go through that process.

[00:33:52] Eric Goranson: As you, you and I both know, cause we've both talked about technology and design. It is one of those things that has really changed that because. Most [00:34:00] consumers can't visualize this and that's a great tool for people to go Oh, that's what that's gonna look like because many times they'll see that tile or even that slab and they just can't they don't do this Every day.

[00:34:12] Eric Goranson: It's the

[00:34:12] Chip Wade: same thing with the cleanliness story. It's about peace of mind It's knowing what you're gonna is having confidence that you're gonna get what you think you're gonna get Yeah, once you get over that hurdle, it makes the process what you hope it was from the beginning which is enjoyable fun simple not full of uncertainty and second guessing.

[00:34:30] Chip Wade: So the more that we know what we're getting before it gets installed, it just smooths that process down.

[00:34:36] Eric Goranson: And your slab warehouses in your locations that have that are absolutely amazing out there. That's like. A candy store. It's

[00:34:43] Patrick Warren: amazing. I'll give you a funny story. So we just put some quartzite in our house about two years ago.

[00:34:47] Patrick Warren: And my wife called me and she was, she was shopping. She was going through, looking at all these beautiful slabs. And she found one. She calls me, she's whispering. She goes, I found one. I'm like, okay, why are we whispering? Yeah,

[00:34:58] Eric Goranson: because I'm going to buy it. So yeah, [00:35:00]

[00:35:01] Patrick Warren: I walked by and said, Hey, I want that. If she doesn't want it.

[00:35:03] Patrick Warren: And I thought she got game, she got game to that. So that's how

[00:35:08] Eric Goranson: people make that selection. Let me get the manager. Those slab

[00:35:16] Patrick Warren: yards are pretty impressive. You have to be able to see the whole visual of what the, what the veining does to actually know what it's going to feel like in your

[00:35:23] Eric Goranson: kitchen. And that, that's one thing is, as a kitchen designer myself of 30 years and certified kitchen designer, seeing that and going, Oh wow, this vein dodges around the sink in the island.

[00:35:35] Eric Goranson: And it's really going to be, you really got to go out and think. Feel it, look at it, touch it, see it, and then compare that to your design to go, okay, this is going to work perfectly because those are those little details. It's like the jewelry, right? On that whole project when you can get that stuff lining up and looking perfect and tell the story in the place.

[00:35:54] Eric Goranson: It's that piece that everybody walks into that space and goes, wow, look at that

[00:35:59] Chip Wade: island. But that's what [00:36:00] you get when you go to the stone yards and the showrooms, you can pick it all out and then it can all just show up at the same time. Yeah. And you got one contact to

[00:36:10] Patrick Warren: call. That's half the battle, right?

[00:36:11] Patrick Warren: That is half the battle.

[00:36:12] Chip Wade: When people don't realize the logistics and complexity of a remodel or build is immense. So the more you can consolidate, you're just helping yourself out exponentially. Exactly.

[00:36:24] Eric Goranson: And that's, what's cool about it with, with, it doesn't matter if you're a homeowner or designer walking into that showroom, you've got the people in there to help and go, because many times you go, Hey, this is what I want to go with.

[00:36:34] Eric Goranson: Have you seen this? And they'll go over and grab that other piece. And now that's the rest of it. That's right.

[00:36:40] Chip Wade: The visual language is more powerful than

[00:36:41] Eric Goranson: anything. Yeah, absolutely. Cause maybe it's that little pencil line detail that you're putting through that just adds that extra, maybe it's the. Depth, maybe it's texture, you know, whatever it is.

[00:36:52] Eric Goranson: And that's the cool thing in here is you can put so many different things together to make it okay. That looks like stone, that looks like wood. Maybe it [00:37:00] is stone. But it's one of those things that really can give you those textures and layers that really make that place just not look like it's a boring black and white kitchen.

[00:37:08] Eric Goranson: That's right. And

[00:37:08] Chip Wade: one of the award winners here, just kgo, very new this year. Is that to a t? I mean, it's that texture. It's probably truthfully probably my favorite that I've seen. In's a good one. It has almost like. to it, but kind of still has that real earthy gray. That's just, it could go anywhere. Uh, I'm, I'm really excited to get that one installed somewhere.

[00:37:27] Chip Wade: Just to

[00:37:27] Eric Goranson: see it. You're like, it's going someplace. I don't know where it's

[00:37:30] Patrick Warren: a checklist for chips. That's probably, it's a long one.

[00:37:33] Eric Goranson: Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, it's. I want to say this before we go. It's one of those things that things as technology gets better and better every year, things look more real, you know, when you're getting into the porcelains and stuff like that, you know, a decade ago, you could kind of tell that maybe that's.

[00:37:52] Eric Goranson: It's porcelain maybe it's now it's who knows what you're looking at with these materials. You know, I think

[00:37:57] Chip Wade: as technology grows in so many different industries, I feel like [00:38:00] it almost makes things more replaceable. It's like cheaper, faster, but not necessarily really better. In the tile category, technology plays into actually making it better because the material at core.

[00:38:13] Chip Wade: Self is undeniable. It's now the visuals and the textures that are, that's where the technology plays into the tile industry and what dial tiles doing. So again, I think that that's one of the more authentic types of things that we want to have happen. It just doesn't happen in every industry. Love authenticity.

[00:38:29] Eric Goranson: That's awesome. Good work. It is because you know, so many, especially in American public marbles, gorgeous, but the typical American consumer doesn't want to put that on a countertop because that first time they. It's done. It's not here. No, we're not a patina country. Well, our houses aren't made

[00:38:50] Chip Wade: of stone.

[00:38:50] Eric Goranson: That's right. Yeah, that's right. No patina here. Vintage. [00:39:00] Yeah, exactly right. Exactly right. That's right. And easier to maintain. And quite frankly, in our culture are going to last a lot longer and they're being made out of materials that are less precious as well.

[00:39:17] Chip Wade: A towel is going to get us there faster and it's going to

[00:39:20] Patrick Warren: stay longer.

[00:39:20] Patrick Warren: It's really of all the, of all the categories in the industry, this has the most design potential and fun to have with that space that you're designing. You're

[00:39:30] Chip Wade: really, and the payoff is bigger. Unbelievable. Yeah. You're going to be happier with the final product. You're like, wow, this is really what I was going for.

[00:39:36] Chip Wade: Yeah. And if you're not, just come back to DowlTile and we'll show you something new. I'm

[00:39:39] Eric Goranson: sure you will. Exactly. That's how it goes. So, Patrick, how do people find you guys?

[00:39:45] Patrick Warren: I mean, you're everywhere. So, they can find us. We are, we are, are, just a little plug for DowlTile, our 77th year. We have 100 plus showrooms around the country.

[00:39:53] Patrick Warren: They can go to DowlTile. com and look at our locator and find one near

[00:39:56] Eric Goranson: them. All right. And Doug, we gotta plug you too, Chip. Come on.

[00:39:59] Chip Wade: [00:40:00] You know what? If you're looking for inspiration, what I try to do is to create spaces that are aspirational for the everyday life. Also to architects, designers, specifiers, and developers.

[00:40:12] Chip Wade: That's what I strive to do is to put in the effort to create new looks, new processes, and really installations that are aspirational. I got a lot of new product projects coming up this year. You can find me at Wade works creative or you can find me and see what I'm up

[00:40:26] Eric Goranson: to. You got it guys. Thanks for taking the time today.

[00:40:29] Eric Goranson: This was an absolute blast

[00:40:31] Patrick Warren: as expected.

[00:40:31] Chip Wade: Thanks Eric. Awesome. Thanks, Eric. Appreciate

[00:40:33] Eric Goranson: the time. Thanks guys. I'm Eric G.

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