Josh Leavitt Unpacks THASIE 2024

Alice Dean, Owner, Top Floor Writer
So, I met up with Josh at a coffee shop, and he had to stay a day over because of some snow, but he’s about to head out for… what did you say, a 16-hour drive? 

Josh Leavitt, Owner, Leavitt Remodeling
It’s going to be about a 16-hour drive depending on the weather we run into. Adds about 5 1/2 to 6 hours to my drive instead of going over Donner’s Pass.

Dean
[Mentions Leavitt’s barefoot floating.]

Leavitt

I don’t know why I just float that one wall shoeless has turned into a large thing. “Oh, we know you. You’re the guy who floats shoeless.”

Dean 
So is it a thing you actually do now? You’ll pull your shoes off to make everybody happy?

Leavitt
Yes. Yeah, I did it last time we were out there floating. I had shoes and everything, and I was like, alright, I took my shoes and socks off, and why not? It was a thing. It was something that a lot of people talked about. It’s like, even if it makes me look like an idiot, I had fun with it. 

Dean
Tell me about how the CTI went for you. 

Leavitt
It went well. It’s all about focus, and making sure you’re not getting distracted. You’re making your moves count. 

I used the wet saw a little more than I would have liked to, which slowed me down. I did have to rush to get to a grade, but I did complete. I left a little bit of grout haze, a little bit of dirty silicone, but everything during the grading process otherwise seemed pretty sound. So I’m optimistic. 

Dean
[He passed.]

Leavitt
So Schluter Systems did their float with Matt Taylor. He floated the walls with mud and the floor with mud. They used the peel-and-stick heat mat, and they tied the Vario drain into it. The demonstration purpose was to show the ease of the Vario drain. 

Say a homeowner decides to potentially add a bench after your mud work is done and prepped. The ease of using the Vario drain to keep everything centered, since you can adjust how it sits in the shower — where it’s cut at. 

And they got to finish out their second module and complete their demonstrations with the point drain. 

Russo then used some of their thin panel tools to install a shower that they had prepped. So we saw both the use of their tools and them install. 

Then we had AKW that brought one of their shower systems out to demonstrate to us, as well. Having the shower pans dropped into the subfloor for the system that he sells. 

Hydro Block gave us a demonstration on the installation of their products with their sealant systems and how to achieve a watertight manufacturer warranty. 

We had Protecto Wrap demonstrate their exterior grade system. 

Well, I didn’t get to make it to most of the classes. It seemed like the people that were at the classes were very interested in the information that they were receiving. 

And then I taught my epoxy class so the class was to miter tile and epoxy the edge. It was teaching people how to make micro-adjustments in their colors to get closer to the color variations in the stone that they’re working with.

THASIE is its own animal. We’re trying to add another show out there that’s going to inform the installers. It was all installers almost. It almost felt like a family. The business associations that you get, people will see products they’ve never used before that are better for them than what they’re using or that may be more available or cost-effective. 

And then you go, OK, we have one event a year where we’re going to have all the installers get together. Why not have another?