Terrazzo is a flooring finish made of marble, granite, glass, or other natural or synthetic aggregates and fillers, mixed with cement and/or resin binder, seamless poured on-site, grinded, grouted and polished to shine.
It descended directly from simplified forms of centuries-old styles of marble mosaics used in Venice by the mid-16th century.
Terrazzo was created when resourceful Venetian mosaic workers discovered a way to reuse marble remnants. With off-size chips, they began to build terraces around their living quarters.
The invention of the electric grinder in 1924, brought about a finer finish, greater speed and accuracy contributing to the spread of terrazzo, becoming a flooring of choice, overtaking and replacing the use of marble mosaics.
In more recent years, new matrix developments with epoxies, polyesters, latex and acrylics have continued to make terrazzo ever more cost-effective, durable, high functioning and versatile.
Today’s highly evolved terrazzo is an environmentally friendly material combining extraordinary design potential, highly traffic wear resistance and low maintenance for a life of the building time service expectancy.
Terrazzo is the lowest-cost flooring material available based on its life cycle.