Poured stone, ground flat

The floor is made of what was left over.

ZulTerrazzo is a terrazzo studio. We set marble, glass, and stone chips into a binder, cure it, then grind and polish it flat — floors, counters, and tile, poured to order.

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What it is

Terrazzo is a composite floor: chips of marble, granite, or glass, cast into a cement or resin binder, then ground and polished until flat. Cut once, a slab is a cross-section of everything mixed into it — no two pours read exactly alike.

The technique is Venetian. Workers in the 15th and 16th centuries mixed leftover marble fragments from other jobs into mortar for their own terraces — terrazze — then ground the surface smooth by hand. What started as a way to use up scrap became a floor that outlasts almost anything laid over it.

It's still made the same way today, just with better grinders: a mix of aggregate and binder, poured once, and never repeated.

Process
Five stages, one pour
01

Substrate & strips

The base is leveled and thin divider strips — metal or plastic — are set on edge to mark out the pattern. These strips also control cracking as the floor cures and expands.

02

Pour

Aggregate is mixed into the binder — cement for most interiors, epoxy where a thinner or faster-curing surface is needed — and poured across the divided sections.

03

Cure

The surface hardens undisturbed for several days. Rushing this step is the most common way a good pour turns into a floor that pits later.

04

Grind

Coarse grinding levels the surface and exposes the chips beneath. Progressively finer grit follows, the same way you'd sand wood from rough to smooth.

05

Polish & seal

A final polish brings the chip color forward. A sealer goes on last, protecting the surface — from here, it's ready to walk on.

Materials

Marble chips

6–20mm · white / black / colored

The classic aggregate. Soft enough to grind evenly, available in almost any stone color.

Glass chips

Recycled · UV-stable

Bright, consistent color that won't fade outdoors — a common choice for pool decks and patios.

Granite chips

Harder · high traffic

More abrasion-resistant than marble, so it holds up in lobbies, kitchens, and other heavy-use floors.

Divider strips

Brass / zinc · 1–3mm

Set on edge between pours, thin metal strips define the pattern and give expanding cement somewhere to move.

Applications
Poured in place / precast

Flooring

Lobbies, kitchens, bathrooms — poured directly on-site or set as precast tile where a poured floor isn't practical.

Cast slab

Countertops & vanities

Cast to size, ground flat, and sealed for daily contact with water, heat, and knives.

Molded, then set

Custom tile

Precast in a mold, cured off-site, and installed like any other tile — useful when a full pour isn't an option.

Small-batch

Furniture & inlay

Tabletops, benches, and small inlaid panels — the same process, scaled down to a single piece.