Terrazzo Flooring

Source:www.stonediamondtool.com Date:2021/12/1 Read:165

This can be an excellent floor finish. It has its limitations but done correctly gives a very unique feel to a floor. THL has put in many floors in a wide range of terrazzo colours and shades and in the right place can look absolutely breathtaking. Terrazzo unlike many other floor finishes is actually like Niro is therefore actually made on site.

So what is it?

Terrazzo is a composite material, poured in place, which is used for floor and wall treatments. It consists of many small selected stones like marble, quartz, granite, glass or other suitable chips, sprinkled or unsprinkled, and poured with a binder that is cementitious, chemical, or a combination of both. Terrazzo is cured and then ground and polished to a smooth surface or otherwise finished to produce a uniformly textured surface.

At THL with our terrazzo fundis we can create walkways, floors and even flat roofs by exposing the stone or marble chips and other fine aggregates on the surface of a finished concrete type mix. Much of the preliminary work of our terrazzo fundis is similar to that of cement masons as the type we produce in Watamu is Cement Based Terrazzo floors.

Cement Based Terrazzo

Stone-chip, cementitious (or cement based) terrazzo requires three layers of materials. First our concrete masons lay a solid, BRC re-enforced, level concrete slab that is at least four inches deep. After the slab has had time to cure, our Masonry together with our Terrazzo fundis add a one to two inch layer of sandy floor screed. Before this layer sets, our terrazzo workers partially embed plastic expansion strips in the screed wherever there is to be a joint or change of color in the terrazzo. For the final layer, our terrazzo workers blend and place into each of the panels a fine marble chip mixture that may be color-pigmented. While the mixture is still wet, workers toss additional marble chips of various colors into each panel and roll a weighted roller (100-125 lbs.) over the entire surface.

Grey for airports and White for homes is our usual design guideline when it comes to base colours. White as it is made using white cement. The most popular colours we have produced in Watamu are White, Ivory, Off-white and Cream. Blue, Pink, Green and Grey are also colours that we can produce if required. Chips vrry considerably with white being the most popular so far but there are many marble chip colours to chose from. In addition to marble aggregate blends, other stone aggregates can be looked at if you so wish.

When the terrazzo is thoroughly dry, we grind it with a terrazzo grinder, which is somewhat like a floor polisher, only much heavier. Slight depressions left by the grinding are filled with a matching grout material and hand-troweled for a smooth, uniform surface; it is then cleaned, polished, and sealed.

This is a very messy process and in the case of renovations of existing houses then the place will have to be vacated for the entire duration of the terrazzo works. So quick is not the case with terrazzo but if you can afford the time then it is well worth the bother. Contact us directly if you are thinking of putting a terrazzo floor into your house in Watamu, we will be more than happy to help you get what you want.