Terrazzo florring?

[peppy]

Has anyone done a terrazzo floor?

I am thinking about it for a kitchen addition we are planing. It will not be on concrete, but I think the wood sub floor can be built to hold the weight.

[Mark Howard]

Wondering the same thing, sans the wood subfloor. I'm building a new home and considering putting terrazzo in my garage/shop. I've found several sites and videos online about the various types of terrazzo, traditional or epoxy, but I would like hear about real world experience with it. I see it often in high traffic / wear areas like malls and airports, and many older governmental buildings and it still looks serviceable.

[look 171]

One good thing about terrazzo is that it can be easily polished if it gets too dinged up. Down side is that it look too commercial. I have done a couple of them in the shower.

It really it isn't too heavy, not much more then a stone floated floor. How much bounce is on the existing floor? Since most floor have a bit of bounce to them, I normally suggest to sister another joist to the existing floor joist and block off in between them. Once everything is out during the remodeling, its cheap and easy to do.

[dyount]

Sorry to say but I'd have to say absolutely no way on a wooden sub floor system. Terrazzo is wicked hard and will not flex. The floors in your house are only designed typically for a 10lb dead load and 40lb live load per sq ft. Typical commercial is designed with a 100lb minimum live load. Unless you can get an engineer to figure it out of course. You could, however, use a Hambro floor system that uses steel girts w/3" of concrete. I've seen it used residentially and it does work and is quite solid

[peppy]

This would be a new sub floor built to hold the extra weight.

[look 171]

I really don't think its a big deal if the floor is beefed up. the question is how long of a span or how big is the kitchen? that would determent if that would work or not. 1" concrete and a piece of stone or slate floor should be about the same weight as terrazzo per sq'.

[dyount]

It's not just the ability of the floor to hold the weight (my rough calcs could put dead weight at maybe 20psf) but the flex of the floor based upon span and terrazzo's lack of flex other than at control joints. Malls many times have metal flex points at 3'6" ish apart.
I'd get with an engineer on it to save possible headaches later. Although the current residential code does cover flooring spans with a 20lb dead load check at least with the manf of the material regarding flex

[dyount]

I checked Fritztile who does make a flexible type......... bingo

[Bugsinrugs]

Unless you do radiant heat under the Terrazzo that is going to be a cold floor in the winter.

[JFairman]

Lots of old one story Florida houses built on concrete slabs have Terrazzo floors in the kitchens. Realtors like to say it helps keep the place cooler in summer... yeah right. Just makes it harder to find small things dropped on the floor.
Some people like it.

[Tobra]

Lobby of the building where my office is has terrazzo floors. It does always seem to be cool, almost like marble. Has the same floors on the mezzanine. It is 50 years old and still looks pretty good. They just buff it every so not very often, so it must be pretty low maintenance.

When it gets wet it is plenty slippery.

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by peppy

This would be a new sub floor built to hold the extra weight.

I've seen it done first hand and it worked.

The thing is finding a good "Terrazzo Man" is not easy. It's almost like a dying art locally. I'm not sure about the US but I would guess it's much the same.

[targa911S]

My home in Florida had terrazo. Cool to the touch, easy to maintain, hard as rock. Dropped a kitchen knife once and it broke. yes very slippery when wet.

[matt711]

I grew up in S Florida, every house I lived in until I moved away had damn Terrazo. It's slippery when wet and as hard a woodpecker lips. If you have bad knees or a bad back you will notice just how hard the surface is.

[creaturecat]

expensive to get done, no?
sort of a lost art up here, from what i can tell.

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by creaturecat

expensive to get done, no?
sort of a lost art up here, from what i can tell.

Definitely expensive. But I do like how bathroom floors are done incorporating a raised edge which is part of the floor. Easy mopping and there's no place for dust to get trapped.
Better than tiles (no grout) but it's not DIY and it can get stained with hair dye etc.