Owners Ryan & Matt Kriser

About Us

With 49 years of combined construction and business experience, the Kriser brothers enjoy the creative, innovative process, and service Trugard brings to the contractors, customers and do-it-yourselfers in the Tile industry.

Everything we do at Trugarddirect.com is based around the question, "How can we provide a true service, make a difference, and be a blessing to our fellow man?" Also,” How can we partner with others who want to make a positive difference in the world?" Bringing innovative, better quality products that will last, at affordable prices. That is how we, as a company, have chosen to serve, contribute, and make a difference.

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Our Mission

To make the latest, state-of-the-art, innovations in Tile and Stone installation systems available through affordability even for starter homes, as well as high-end homes and commercial projects. We believe every home deserves to be protected with the best Tile and Stone installation products and systems.

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Trugard Story

Commitment to Quality

With 49 years of combined construction and business experience, the Kriser brothers, Ryan and Matt gained some invaluable knowledge and wisdom. First, water is the number one enemy in construction. Over time, several tile showers they had built, began to leak, and in the process of having their tile sub-contractor repair those leaks, he suggested that they look into the Schluter Kerdi tile shower waterproof system. They did extensive research on the Kerdi and other shower waterproof systems, and came to the clear conclusion that the Schluter Kerdi system, by far, had the best long-term track record with very little to almost no leaking problems. The couple of leaking problems they did see, were because of incorrect installation.

They started using the Schluter Kerdi system on every home they built, and they loved everything about the Schluter Kerdi shower waterproof system, that is... everything except for the price. The superior shower waterproof system was quite expensive compared to what they had previously been spending, so they had to raise prices on their homes, which made them less competitive with other builders who were using the older, less expensive, shower installation system. So they decided to look to see if there were other companies that were making the same similar system, but at a more affordable price. They did find several companies that produced a similar system, but they were not priced much lower than the Schluter Kerdi prices.

That's when Ryan suggested that Matt look into creating an affordable similar tile shower waterproof system because, one of Matt's proven strengths in business was efficiency. Ryan also knew that Matt's commitment to extremely high quality was important. After an extensive study, Matt and Ryan found that the venture appeared to be feasible to bring the superior state-of-the-art polyethylene shower waterproof system to the marketplace so that even smaller affordable homes could be protected from leaking showers and water damage.


The results of the extensive feasibility study proved to the brothers that the innovative state-of-the-art polyethylene shower waterproof system was indeed the best waterproofing system available on the market, with an impeccable track record as the proof. Another finding in their study showed that the Schluter Kerdi system was primarily being installed in the high-end luxury homes and commercial building projects. It showed that there were a lot of tile contractors that were still using the old inferior rubber shower pans and cement backer board system because the better Schluter Kerdi system would raise the price of their bids to the builders. For the same reason, many of the remodeling contractors, were simply tearing out a leaking rubber shower pan and replacing them with same old problematic system, because they did not want to raise their prices and lose work because the bid price was too high. They also found however, that there were many tile companies that, because of their high integrity, would explain to the customers that a large part of their business was ripping out the old rubber shower pans and cement backerboard and replacing them with the new and improved system, but because of the problems they see with the old system on a regular basis, they will not install the old system any longer, but will only install the bonded polyethylene shower waterproof system. Some of the remodeling contractors explained to them that in over 15+ years they had not even had one failed or leaking shower since using the new polyethylene system.

With a lot of work, the Kriser brothers were able to put together a high quality product line that has been received extremely well by tile stores, tile contractors, home builders, remodeling contractors, and the do-it-yourself community. Today the Trugard Direct Team continues to add additional high quality products at affordable prices so they can even better serve the tile industry.

Yes, Trugard Direct is absolutely committed to delivering quality products and services to our customers, but our vision however is bigger than that. We truly want to make a difference in individuals’ lives.

We strive to give peace of mind by providing a leak-proof and low maintenance shower and other high quality tile and stone systems, while making these quality products affordable to everyone, not just to the high-end homes. It’s an offering of service and gives us an incredible sense of satisfaction and purpose in our work.

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Innovation and Efficiency

The airplane aviation industry is required to implement redundancy engineering in all life-critical systems. In other words, they are required to have a backup, fail-safe for these life-critical systems on airplanes as well as the control centers.

Here at Trugard Direct, we believe that when mixing water constricted structures we have heard many sad stories of people having to replace faulty, leaking shower systems. In every situation it was very costly and painful to go through the repair or replacement process of a tile shower or tub surround. It was apparent to us, that to these people, it felt life-critical, because the life of their treasured homes or buildings were often violated by hazardous mold and structural decay.

So yes, here at Trugard we passionately believe that two layers of protection is always better than one, in the critical areas that may leak, especially if the home ever settled or was shaken from an earthquake. So in all of our installation processes, we incorporate redundancy engineering when and wherever possible.

A successful business requires Happy Customers. Happy Customers require Value. Value requires getting More or Better for Less. More for Less requires Efficiency. Efficiency requires Innovation. Innovation requires Improved Products and Systems.

Here at TrugardDirect.com we understand that it all starts with innovation and efficiency! The Kriser brothers formed Trugard Systems as a company that would fulfill their innovative and inventive passions to simplify, create, and implement better and more efficient products, systems and practices in the construction and tile industry. The End Result: better homes, better places to work, and a better life!