System · Epoxy terrazzo
Epoxy terrazzo, a floor measured in decades
Marble, glass or granite aggregate set in an epoxy matrix, then ground and polished dead flat. Divider strips let you run logos, borders and colour fields through it. It is the longest-lived floor we install, and the only one specified in decades rather than in recoat cycles.
Epoxy terrazzo at a glance
- Best for
- Lobbies, concourses, schools, hospitals
- Build
- 3/8" aggregate matrix, ground and polished
- Finish
- Polished, sealed
- Design
- Inlays, logos, divider strips
What it actually is
Aggregate is broadcast or seeded into an epoxy matrix at around 3/8 of an inch, allowed to cure hard, then ground through progressively finer diamond grits until the aggregate is cut flat and the matrix is polished between it. What you walk on is the cross-section of stone, not a coating over it.
Divider strips — zinc, brass or plastic — are set before the pour. They control cracking, separate colour fields, and are how a logo, a border or a wayfinding line becomes part of the floor rather than something painted onto it later and worn off within a year.
Where it belongs
Lobbies, concourses, schools, hospitals, civic buildings, transit and any large public floor where the lifetime cost matters more than the day-one cost. It is specified where a building expects to still be there in thirty years and does not want a flooring line item every five.
It also solves a problem no coating solves: the floor can carry design. Colour fields, inlays and institutional logos are built into the material, so they wear at exactly the same rate as everything around them.
Where it does not belong
It is the wrong answer for a working industrial floor. The cost per square foot is the highest of the six systems, the install is the longest, and the performance it buys — appearance and longevity — is not what a production plant or a distribution aisle is short of.
It is also not a thermal-shock or wash-down floor. The matrix is epoxy, with the same rigidity limits as any epoxy, and a polished surface is not where you want a hose and a floor scrubber running eight hours a day. That is urethane cement.
And it wants a stable, sound structural slab. Terrazzo is unforgiving of movement underneath it; if the deck is going to move, the floor has to be designed for that before anything is poured.
Thickness, cure and return to service
Around 3/8 of an inch of aggregate matrix is the standard build. Cure and grind sequencing is what sets the programme: the matrix has to reach full hardness before grinding starts, and the grind runs through several passes before the polish and seal.
This is a multi-week trade on a large floor, not a weekend. It is scheduled as part of the building programme rather than squeezed into a shutdown window, which is another reason it belongs in new build and major refurbishment rather than in a live plant.
The prep it demands
A sound, level, structurally stable slab, mechanically profiled to ICRI 310.2R, with cracks treated and any movement joints carried up through the terrazzo rather than covered by it. Moisture is verified to ASTM F2170 — the matrix is non-permeable, so vapor drive under it is as much a risk here as under any epoxy.
Divider strip layout is set out before a single batch is mixed, because the strips define the field sizes and the field sizes determine where the floor is allowed to crack.
What we bring to it
We manufacture our own resin and we own the grinders and polishers, which on a terrazzo floor is the whole trade — the material is half of it and the grind is the other half. Both stay in-house.
It is the least common of the six systems we place and the most demanding to get right, so it is quoted honestly: if a coating would serve the building better for the money, we will say so.
Who specifies it
Where epoxy terrazzo gets called for
Aviation & hangars
Terminal and concourse floors rather than the hangar deck: public space, heavy footfall, decades of service.
Dealerships & service shops
Showroom floors where the surface is part of the architecture and the customer is standing on it.
Day, night and weekend shifts. Estimates are free. Covering Midwest, East Coast and Southern states — out of Chicagoland, with finished floors in Gurnee, Kenosha, Milwaukee and Chicago.
The other five systems
Finished floors near you
Specifying epoxy terrazzo?
Tell us the square footage, the traffic and the downtime window. Estimates are free.