Manufacturers are eager to put new products in the hands of installers. So those of us at the Ceramic Tile Education Foundation (CTEF) are the lucky recipients of these new items. It is a logical move, given the number of people passing through the facility for installation classes and product seminars. Something else unique about our facility: We get to play with products all the time. On occasion, we even do installations destined to fail just to substantiate what some consider non-important issues, like no thinset under backer board. (Yes, it does end up cracking.)