What Sustainable Construction Means For Your Flooring Project
Sustainable construction and renovation are becoming important goals for builders who want to save money and energy. Today, it’s become easier than ever to achieve as materials manufacturers and installers gear themselves to delivering on demand.
This applies especially to flooring since it's usually the most heavily-used part of a building's design. Interestingly, one of the most robust materials for sustainable flooring is inspired by the ancient art of terrazzo flooring.
Why is Terrazzo Sustainable?
Modern terrazzo floor tile installation takes sustainability to its max through a combination of sheer durability and numerous opportunities for using recycled materials. It also happens to have enormous aesthetic versatility.
Durability
First, durability-wise, terrazzo floors can last for decades or longer without needing to be replaced. The materials that make up these tiles are a combination of crushed, closely packed aggregate materials that can come in many colors and shapes. Their manufacturer then molds these together with an ultra-strong resin binding matrix.
Terrazzo is offered in smooth tile size options that can be nearly seamlessly joined together without the need for grouting that wears down over time. This combination means extremely low chances of cracking. Terrazzo tiles also deliver both enormous compression strength and tremendous tensile endurance.
What's more, because the aggregates themselves provide the color and design patterns right through a terrazzo floor, they can't fall victim to discoloration or wear. Instead, tiles that are easily kept clean will maintain the same vibrant colors even decades down the road.
This overall durability means that your Terrazzio floors won't need to be replaced at all unless you want to change their design, and will require minimal to no repair work over the years.
Recycling
The materials that go into terrazzo's resin matrix can be made up of nearly any hard material. Options for these include numerous crushed stone options, recycled materials such as concrete and porcelain, or even reused commercial materials such as buttons and certain plastics or resins.
This major use of recycled and repurposed aggregates in long-lasting terrazzo tiles means that instead of requiring further material and energy inputs from the wider environment, your floor installation can help reduce them.
Certifiable Sustainability
The above combination of durability and numerous options for using recycled materials makes terrazzo flooring essentially ideal for any builder or designer who wants their floors to be environmentally sustainable.
This level of sustainability can also help contribute to a building's formal certification as a sustainable structure. By incorporating terrazzo into your own commercial and other flooring needs, you can help benefit your building with formal certification points under the US Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED Rating System.
LEED Rating is particularly important for any builder who wants to earn credit for sustainable construction. Its points system is used to gauge how well a building has been designed based on several factors that include:
Carbon use
Energy use
Water use
Waste transportation
Materials sustainability
Health
Indoor environmental quality
For almost every one of these categories in sustainable construction, Terrazzio provides an option that's superior to almost any alternative. This makes it ideal not just as an extremely durable and versatile aesthetic option, but also as an environmentally friendly floor choice.
For your next commercial flooring needs, obtain a precise quote for the kinds of floor you'd like to have by contacting Terrazzio now. We offer numerous terrazzo floor customization options for size and design.