Hand-poured terrazzo · Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania

Terrazzo is a poured composite — aggregate stone (marble, glass, limestone, mother-of-pearl) suspended in an epoxy or cementitious matrix, then ground and sealed. Polished concrete is the slab itself: ground, densified, and sealed in place. The visual register is different (terrazzo is field-and-aggregate; polished concrete is the substrate showing through), the install is different (terrazzo is poured and finished as its own surface; polished concrete uses what is already there), and the maintenance is different (terrazzo is damp-mop forever; polished concrete needs reseal cycles).

Floors anywhere — kitchens, baths, mudrooms, foyers, basements, screened porches with proper drainage. Counters and shower walls in the right detail. Stair treads with brass nosing where the geometry asks. Site-poured terrazzo bonds to a clean, level, structurally-sound substrate; we evaluate the slab before bidding.

Substrate prep: two to four days. Divider-strip layout and pour: one to two days. Initial cure: forty-eight hours. Three-pass grind with densifier between passes: three to five days. Penetrating impregnator seal and cure: two days. Total: two to three weeks for a typical residential floor, weather and humidity permitting.

Damp mop with a neutral pH cleaner. That is the maintenance. There is no wax to strip, no sealer to refresh on a schedule, no pH-sensitive grout to baby. A penetrating impregnator does the protection, and the sealed surface does not absorb spills the way grout does. Spot-polish a scuff if one appears; otherwise, mop.

Standard sample range covers white and grey marble, limestone, common glass, and a small palette of mother-of-pearl. Specialty aggregates (rare stone, custom-color glass, brass and aluminum chips, oyster shell) are sourced to the design — priced at install. The aggregate is selected from a physical sample at the property walk, not from a screen.

Yes — within the bounds of the matrix and aggregate available. We pour test panels for any color critical to the design before committing to the install. Brass divider strips lay out the pattern on the substrate before the pour. The pattern in the finished floor matches the strip layout exactly; the color matches the test panel.

Two reasons. First, the trade is mostly commercial — institutional floors in airports, civic buildings, schools — and the equipment scales for those. Residential pours need a smaller crew willing to work to residential tolerances. Second, the perceived install cost. Terrazzo lifetime cost is favorable against engineered hardwood or stone tile; the install is what filters operators out. Hemma pours residential because the substrate is interesting and the finish lasts forever.

At install, terrazzo runs higher than tile or engineered hardwood. Over twenty years, terrazzo runs lower than either — no refinish cycles, no replacement of broken tile, no joint failure. The number depends on aggregate and area; the property walk produces a real specification.