Terrazzo flooring is composed of composite material. It contains any variety of mixture of aggregate chips like stone or marble and either epoxy resin or concrete. It can be used both indoors and outdoors and can be poured as concrete or laid in tiles. Initially used primarily in commercial buildings, it has become more popular in homes, not just as flooring, but also as a material for kitchen surfaces like countertops and backsplashes. The colors and flecks are customizable, allowing for a wide range of design possibilities. Floors done with terrazzo are comparatively light and durable as they come.
Advantages of terrazzo flooring
- Terrazzo floors are among the easiest to clean: There’s no scouring, polishing or scrubbing.
- The customization option is limitless for terrazzo floors.
- The speckled texture and strong base material make them difficult to stain.
- When terrazzo flooring is properly sealed, it is non-porous and resistant to mold
- Because it is made up of sturdy materials like cement, terrazzo is highly durable, which is why it is used so often in institutional and commercial buildings.
- Elegant and timeless, with endless design possibilities,
- Low maintenance and lifecycle costs
- Terrazzo is V.O.C compliant
- Excellent chemical resistance and the lowest maintenance cost of any hard surface flooring.
- Better colour consistency and performance.
- A quick cure, faster turn-around enables high productivity.
- In-situ applications ensure a monolithic surface and saves space, time, freight cost etc.
- Terrazzo floors can virtually last the life of the building and thus contributes to the essence of green building
- Terrazzo floors are known to offer better anti-slip characteristics
Terrazzo flooring types
With a new trend we see new technologies, and today resin systems are revolutionizing the design, installation and use of terrazzo surfaces. With these two main options to consider, epoxy-based terrazzo and cementitious terrazzo.
Epoxy terrazzo – The advantage of this flooring type is faster application. Using an epoxy matrix to bind aggregates allows for an incredibly thin-set system that creates a smooth and luxurious floor finish. This system can cure overnight and be ready to polish the next day, permitting a faster project turnaround. This speed of application is ideal for busy shopping centres.
Cementitious Terrazzo – This flooring type uses a cement matrix and describes multiple terrazzo systems, including sand cushion, bonded, rustic, monolithic and polyacrylate systems. This is most suited for exterior and renovation projects. This system is often thicker and heavier.
Terrazzo flooring application
Terrazzo installation includes both bonded and unbonded methods. Bonded systems include bonded under the bed, monolithic, chemically bonded, and the most recent, thin-set method (epoxy resin). Bonded terrazzo is applied over a sand-cement mortar under the bed which sits on top of a concrete slab. The sand-cement layer allows for variations in the finished concrete slab that it sits on. Monolithic terrazzo is applied directly over an extremely flat and high-quality concrete sub-floor. Thin-set terrazzo does not require a concrete sub-floor. Instead, a flexible membrane can be installed so that cracks do not appear on the surface. Unbonded includes the sand cushion method which uses wire reinforcing, an isolation sheet, and sand dusting that absorbs any movement from the concrete slab.
The thickness of layers, curing time varies depending on whether you are applying Epoxy or Cementitious Terrazzo.
Conclusion
Terrazzo ranks as one of the most economical and environmentally-friendly flooring types available. It is often regarded as the first “green” flooring since its creation in the 15th century. Terrazzo resists against water damage, fire damage, chemical spillage, and other stain risks. You need expert supervision for installing this type of floors, go for the ones that serve your project purpose.
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