Terrazzo’s Back! 7 Things You Need to Know About Terrazzo Flooring

It takes a lot to stop and notice the floor beneath your feet. Most flooring is simple and utilitarian.

Some flooring has such a simple and powerful design that you don’t even notice its effect on you.

Terrazzo flooring is one such design. Simple, elegant, and everywhere.

This design has hit its stride again. Interested in learning about it? We have what you need below.

A Trend in Resurgence

Terrazzo flooring is a resin flooring that has a simple but effective design. The basics of it involve various pieces of marble or granite embedded into a concrete or epoxy surface. You then polish the surface to a shine.

The pieces of marble and granite make up a variety of designs. Sometimes they form packed clustered, leaving a speckled design. Other times they may scatter out in a variety of swirls and bizarre patterns.

The Terrazzo flooring trend hit a stride in the 1970s specifically in retail but disappeared. These days are seeing a resurgence of the design.

Curious to know more? Let’s look at the details.

The Little Details on Terrazzo Flooring

Terrazzo flooring has a unique history and influence. Here are some of the big takeaways from the simple design.

1. The History of Terrazzo Flooring

Terrazzo is Italian for terrace, which was also used to mean a “place of encounter.” In essence, it was a place for people to gather and socialize, a place of high society.

The original Terrazzo flooring came from a discovery in 15th century Italy. The idea that marble chips and debris, when ground into the floor over time, created both an interesting design and durable flooring.

These days, instead of grinding marble into the floor, Terrazzo sets down an exacting number and style of granite or marble. You then coat it with a strong epoxy resin or concrete, giving it a polished shine.

2. The High Talk of Fashion

When the high fashion industry leader, Valentino, used the Terrazzo design for its new West End store, heads turned.

The decorative design had started to make impacts here and there, but this puts all eyes on the Terrazzo flooring once again.

Many other big, fancy restaurants and resorts have started to add the Terrazzo design to their flooring. In 2017, the Leicester Square Kitchen in London created an interesting new mix for their Terrazzo flooring.

The race to dabble and wow with Terrazzo has started.

3. What Makes It Unique

The big secret to the appeal of Terrazzo is how it makes a bizarre, almost erratic design seem soothing and smooth.

The potential of designs is near limitless. The range between elegant curves and perfect design ratios and erratic marble splatters and lengths of random speckles make Terrazzo both recognizable and different.

4. Cement vs. Epoxy: What is the Difference

During its reign in the 1970s, the main ingredient in a Terrazzo floor was concrete. These days, technology has allowed a new competitor to the style: epoxy resin.

Both of these materials can offer a durable finish to the flooring. They do have a bit of difference.

The epoxy resin forms a thin but solid core to the Terrazzo piece. The thinness gives it a small rise, allowing it to fit in more tight design spaces. The epoxy gives powerful durability, even to chemical damage.

Cement is a more thick and rough mixture. Its layers make it a heavier mixture. The natural mixture of cement and the Terrazzo aggregates make for very earthy tones. While beautiful, this limits the colour design of cement Terrazzo.

Cement Terrazzo has a few advantages over the Epoxy’s otherwise clear dominance. In outdoor areas, Cement has more durability. As well, for dealing with moisture, cement is more potent.

5. Built to Last

Between outright physical durability and the general timelessness of the potential designs, Terrazzo flooring has a structure to last.

There are thousands of placing that use Terrazzo flooring in an almost exclusive manner that you may have missed. Airports, many malls, and shopping areas, government and public buildings, all have Terrazzo flooring.

The speckled pattern of a public school, the fancy swirls of a shopping mall, these are all Terrazzo flooring. For many, those designs tie themselves into our idea of that place.

6. Limitless Shapes and Colors

For both types of Terrazzo, there is a very little limit on what you can do. The process allows for the potential brushstrokes similar to a painting. The detail you can infuse into a Terrazzo floor is intense.

While the epoxy resin may have the range of colour over the cement version, both offer vibrant colours in a wide range of designs and combinations.

Painting vast murals on the floor is an easy and common application of Terrazzo. Entire scenes of whatever an artist can imagine can be cast along an entire room floor or drawn throughout long stretches of the hallway.

7. Breaking New Ground

The rise again of Terrazzo has brought with it new desires to experiment and test and with new technology.

Terrazzo has taken well to the newer technology of epoxy resin. As well, a new system called Mondeco Rapide has made for a fast drying and robust finish using methyl methacrylate.

This new Mondeco Rapide has a curing time that is a fraction of the time of other Terrazzo setups, allowing for a quick finish that keeps the durability and luxurious finish of other Terrazzo setups.

As flooring technology increases, so too will faster and more dynamic designs thrive with the Terrazzo finish.

The Future of Terrazzo

Terrazzo, like all trends, may fade with time and be a forgotten relic or to resurface at a later time.

No matter where the popularity of the trend goes, the floors will remain. The durability and large range of design make Terrazzo flooring an investment that will last long into the future.

Putting on a Clean Finish

Now that you have a better understanding of what Terrazzo flooring is, you can move forward with your own flooring projects.

Interested in seeing where you can apply Terrazzo flooring in your own business? Contact us here at Ultrasyntec can help you find and apply the best floor you’ll ever notice.