Terrazzo Floor

The next time you're at an airport, hospital, convention center, school, large resort, government building or large office building, look down. More than likely what you'll see underfoot is terrazzo.

In indoor applications, terrazzo has a ground and polished surface that lends itself to creative design. The use of divider strips allows the material to be mixed in different colors and applied in a process similar to paint-by-number, so you can incorporate designs, logos, borders and just about anything.

Terrazzo is not used much in outdoor applications, but, when it is, unpolished "rustic" terrazzo is common.

"Traditional" cementitious terrazzo has been used for centuries because of its durability and easy maintenance, but installing it is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process. Generally, traditional terrazzo is only used in large-scale applications.

There are other limiting factors to using traditional terrazzo, as well. Its thickness — often as much as three inches — means other issues come into play. The substrate slab usually needs to be recessed. The thickness of the terrazzo increases the weight load. And it may be hard to find someone with the expertise to install traditional terrazzo properly.