It is not strange to find the richness of terrazzo floors, walls, slabs, and other mosaic monuments while growing up. But suddenly, we didn’t see many of them anymore, until recently when it seems the old fashion has returned with new vigor and beauty. Similarly, the interior designers have found a unique taste with the collection of terrazzo tiles that have flooded the market. But, on the other hand, investors in the old mosaic are glad at the return or come-back of this design.
Meanwhile, Terrazzo contains marble, granite, quartz, and other exciting stones within the mixture. They are all cast into concrete or resin and then smoothened out and polished. As a result, the surface now becomes more welcoming with a sparkled look to fit interior designs. Moreover, this recent trend has taken a much more exciting turn. It may be due to more interior designers learning the beauty that the terrazzo tiles can add to their projects.
The Growth and Popularity of Terrazzo
Terrazzo is gradually gaining more reputation in modern interior design, and social media was the first to recognize that publicly. In 2018, Pinterest listed Terrazzo as part of its trend report, and the attention it has been drawing is not a few. Primarily, we can trace back the origin of Terrazzo to Venice in Italy. Still, terrazzo tiles in Australia and particularly Sydney have shown a lot of growth and improvement.
Since its first inception in the early 15th century, the Italian civilization imbibed it thoroughly. It became the patterned flooring design in the country. Terrazzo tiles that have also embellished the history of the Italian heritage are evidence that the product can last for several years. Some of these towers we still see today. The terrazzo floor or wall tiles built in the 70s and 80s are still around and fast rising in popularity.
Furthermore, one element of the terrazzo tiles design that we need to discuss is the embedded styles. These styles may also have diverse color themes that range from the minimalistic to the rightly explosive ones. Meanwhile, there is hardly any limit to the diversity of colors that a designer can show with the terrazzo tiles. The colors are also virtually unlimited in their variety and possible combinations to produce a stunning design. Meanwhile, the significant parts of the combinations may refer to chips, which are particles in the mixture and the substrate.
On the other hand, if you so desire, you can choose a customized combination that matches any color palette of your choice. By the way, many of the retail stores that display these terrazzo tiles can also give you a catalog of color palettes to choose from. It can become an extraordinary surface when made strong, hard-wearing, durable, waterproof, non-porous, and finally very beautiful.
Pros and Cons of Terrazzo tiles for Interior Designs
While choosing the kind of terrazzo tiles that you want to use, you need to first consider and weigh the pros (advantages) and cons (disadvantages) of using the material. In other words, without sound judgment, you may just have been believing what you have not seen. But, at the same time, you can finally decide if you want Terrazzo or consider some of the alternatives.
Pros
- Terrazzo tiles are highly cost-effective when you compare them with other flooring or walling options. Meanwhile, the cost that we refer to is about purchasing the materials and the design, installation, and maintenance. This item totally fits into your budget, however minimal. One square foot of a good quality terrazzo only cost about 0.18 AUD, far less than the average cost of natural stone. However, depending on the substrate and the included chips, Terrazzo can cost as high as 4.47 AUD per square foot
- Another fantastic benefit of Terrazzo is that you can customize it into the actual decoration you want. You may even have to pick any existing designs and tweak them into your own color or patterns.
- Another advantage of Terrazzo is that it can be cast in situ and molded into the actual profile that the designer is creating. In other words, instead of producing the terrazzo tiles elsewhere and later bring them to the site or buy ready-made tiles, you can make them right there on the site.
- Terrazzo tiles are made from highly durable materials that can be polished into lovely shapes, colors, and dimensions. Also, it gets intense and shinier with use, and it ages.
Cons
Below are some of the doubts that you may have about installing terrazzos in your home or office. Meanwhile, the primary purpose of including these cons is for you to consider them and prepare ahead with the accompanying solutions to prevent hazards.
- Polished Terrazzo can be very slippery and can pose some danger to children and much older people. In fact, the shinier and smoother the floor appears, the more care that should be taken in walking safely on it. On the other hand, water is an enemy of such soft and shiny surfaces. Therefore, any water spill on the floor should be quickly removed by mopping up to prevent any possibility of fall.
- This con actually refers to the quality of the Terrazzo. Depending on the fabricator of the materials, a poor-quality terrazzo can also get pitted over time. Thereby, it leads to a loss eventually because it causes spending extra to fix or redo it.
- Pouring of Terrazzo is not a step that you want to take if you are not an expert. Therefore, if you choose to produce terrazzo tiles or slabs in-situ, ensure professional craftspeople are on the ground. It takes experience to know how to do it correctly
- Finally, over some time, you may notice that the surface of the terrazzo tiles has begun to fade or look blurry. The indication is that it is time to refinish the surface or grind and re-polish it to restore the beauty. Depending on the level of fakeness, you may have to repeat some of these processes a couple of times.
Conclusion
Finally, many fanciful factors are responsible for the trendy terrazzo tiles. However, the most important thing is for the project owner to identify the need and decide to go for them. While considering the advantages (pros), don’t forget to also prepare and prevent the disadvantages (cons).