2022 Coverings Las Vegas Takeaways

Jason McDaniel (right) of Stoneman Construction in Portland Oregon is interviewed by Oakley Corbin on his podcast *In the Van*

2022 Coverings gets a thumbs up

Overall, I think most that attended the 2022 Coverings Show in Las Vegas Nevada would agree that the attendance was a little low compared to pre-pandemic shows.

But the slightly low numbers had zero effect on the quality of the program. Coverings was really interesting this year.

In addition to the factors that I mention below, it seemed like every booth and every vendor had new products or innovations that people weren’t familiar with.

No doubt a contributing factor was the lack of face time in recent months with vendors because of the pandemic.

Here are a few things that stood out about 2022 Coverings Las Vegas:

In regards to the show itself:

The ACT tests were a nice addition. People were always gathered in that area to watch the different tests. Most notably, the mud walls and mud floor tests.
The podcast booth was another winner. This also was regularly attended no matter which podcaster was broadcasting. This is a smart addition and one that will be a regular fixture in years to come, I’m sure.
The layout of the show was a bit awkward. Some of the foreign tile manufacturers were in another building that was separate from the main show. I can’t imagine they were happy about things and no doubt it lessened the already low traffic for that building.

And some more general observations about the 2022 show:

EVERYONE has a foam board now. In addition to the companies that you are used to seeing (Wedi, Schluter, GoBoard, Laticrete) Mapei has added foam panels to their lineup which I’m suspicious are the old USG panels.
- USG has its own board now along with an uncoupling membrane
- Permabase has added a foam panel system to their lineup
- Ardex, in addition to their majority ownership stake in Wedi, has a foam shower system that incorporates their 8+9 on the facing
- and don’t forget smaller players like Cornel Seicean’s RSS board
ANSI: This didn’t strike me as the most productive meeting but it does appear that the uncoupling membrane committee is really close to putting something together in MMSA (Materials and Methods Standards Association). This would be a huge step in getting uncoupling membranes in the ANSI book.
Two notable Coverings absentees:
- Daltile/Marazzi/AO
- Custom Building Products
I didn’t catch who won the raffle for the beautiful American Flag mosaic created by Angie Halford Re’ of Unique Mosaics and donated by Ron Nash of Laticrete but it was a very successful fundraiser for the Ceramic Tile Education Foundation.