Going Green with Terrazzo
Nothing beats terrazzo in the realm of “green” flooring. The first terrazzo-like floors were created nearly 9,000 years ago in the middle east and they still exist today with a compressive strength of nearly 500 pounds per square inch! Cementitious terrazzo floors still stand in many buildings throughout ancient Venice, including at least one installed as early as 1309. These renaissance era floors utilized pre-consumer waste chips from marble slab processing operations, making them one of the original recycled products. This ancient terrazzo is remarkably similar to modern cementitious terrazzo, almost to the point of indistinguishability, and it still looks great after all these centuries! There is no clearer confirmation of terrazzo’s superior sustainability.
Modern technology and the advent of polymers has led to epoxy terrazzo flooring systems which are even more sustainable and durable than cement terrazzo floors. Additionally, with epoxy terrazzo we now have the option to incorporate post-consumer and pre-consumer recycled content such as glass, into timeless terrazzo floors
Terrazzo is a non-porous system with no grout joints. Terrazzo does not support microbial growth, does not allow accumulation of water, absorbing water at a rate 1/10th that of cementitious terrazzo, resulting in greatly increased stain resistance. Of course, this lack of water absorption and porosity results in a surface requiring only minimal cleaning processes, without the need for use of harsh cleaning chemicals. Since terrazzo is monolithic and does not contain grout joints, there is no need for energy-intensive vacuuming, grout cleaning and steam cleaning required with materials such as carpet and tile.
Advantages in sanitation result in an overall improvement of the indoor air quality of buildings such as hospitals and schools, and anywhere else indoor air quality is a factor. Master Terrazzo’s Morricite system meets the most stringent of environmental standards, including the State of California’s Special Environmental Requirements Section 01350 Standard Emissions testing for indoor air quality.
For more information, see the attached NTMA flyer on green terrazzo.