Terrazzo flooring, with its mosaic style and pieces of marble or granite set in polished concrete or epoxy resin, is known for its flexibility and remarkable durability. So it’s no wonder the method has been around for centuries.

Terrazzo & Marble Supply Companies transformed the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in DC with poured-in-place epoxy terrazzo. [Photo: Courtesy of Terrazzo & Marble Supply Companies]

Terrazzo flooring, with its mosaic style of pieces of marble or granite set in polished concrete or epoxy resin, is known for its flexibility and remarkable durability. So it?s no wonder the method has been around for centuries.With proper care during installation and use, it?s also possible for terrazzo floors to last a number of decades. ?There are terrazzo floors that were installed in the early 1900s that are still nice looking jobs,? says James Bateman, terrazzo division manager of Terrazzo & Marble Supply Companies. Indeed, the style is known to some as ?forever floors,? a nod to its history and longevity.
[Photo: Courtesy of Terrazzo & Marble Supply Companies]

A Colorful HistoryReferences to terrazzo date all the way back to ancient times, but the origins of today?s terrazzo are modeled after 20th-century Italian work.Italian masonry workers used to quarry marble and granite using dynamite. After the explosions, many marble pieces would crumble and fall to the side of the quarry, where workers gathered them and...