Terrazzo - The Italian art in stone
Terrazzo has been around for almost 500 years and is on the "A" list for luxury residential and commercial projects. Terrazzo is wildly popular among architects and designers, especially the Italian made terrazzo's. This unique stone makes a design statement that is hard to match.
It all started In Italy where Venetian workers used scrap metal fragments from high end projects. They put them together in a clay mortar base for their own homes. Archaeologists have even found Terrazzo in Turkey dated back 10,000 years ago.
Some architects and designers design their own terrazzo choosing the color, stone type, size and how far apart they want them laid. Terrazzo is so versatile. Companies like Marble Trend stock many styles of Italian terrazzo slabs and tiles. Marble Trend also caters to the custom design requests.
Let's get down to the technical part now. Terrazzo has a unique design like a concrete floor, where a mixture is blended with an aggregate like glass or rocks, then it’s polished to form a smooth and durable surface. It uses either a cement or epoxy matrix as a binder. Terrazzo is designed in for flooring, walls, stair treads, countertops, and other custom products. The material consists of chips of marble, granite, quartz, glass, shell or similar materials. The list is endless for terrazzo, it can be used in commercial and residential applications.
Epoxy terrazzo is less labor-intensive and doesn’t require many of the skills that a cementitious system does. Epoxy terrazzo is a mixture of a base color and a hardener. The parts are mixed with marble dust and the aggregate. Then the epoxy and aggregate mix is then poured on the floor and placed at the required height with hand trowels. It is then closed with a power trowel to tighten and flatten the aggregate. Epoxy installed in the proper ambient temperature can be ground within 24 hours.
Cementitious terrazzo is traditionally a mixture of 2:1 ratio of marble
aggregate and cement usually grey or white. For coloring, iron oxide is added to the mixture. The mix is blended with water and is then poured into the specified panels and troweled to the desired height. Aggregate is then sprinkled on the floor in a similar pattern. A roller is rolled across the floor in alternating directions which then embeds the marble chips in the floor. At the same time, the extra cement and water is pushed to the top which removed from the floor. The rolling process is then repeated a few times with different weighted rollers. What this does is remove excess water and cement from the floor, creating a tight fit of the marble aggregate. Once this process is finished, the floor is lightly troweled. The floor had to set and cure for several days before the grinding is started.
To summarize, terrazzo us a unique artistic form of stone material that beautifies homes and businesses with a touch of sophistication and fun.
Contact us for a quote for your project. We represent all luxury stones including Italian terrazzo, Italian marble, onyx and so much more!