Mosaic concrete for flooring – main characteristics and laying technology

An inventive and visually beautiful flooring choice for homes and businesses is mosaic concrete. This kind of flooring offers a special fusion of functionality and aesthetic appeal by combining the toughness and longevity of concrete with the elegance of mosaic designs. Mosaic concrete floors come in a variety of colors, patterns, and textures, so they can be tailored to fit any interior design aesthetic.

The remarkable durability of mosaic concrete is one of its primary features. The resilience of the surface is increased by the addition of decorative aggregates like granite, marble chips, or colored glass. Because of this, it’s perfect for high-traffic areas where normal wear and tear occurs. Furthermore, mosaic concrete’s polished, smooth surface is not only eye-catching but also low maintenance, requiring little effort to maintain its best appearance.

The installation of mosaic concrete flooring requires a few crucial steps in order to produce a perfect finish. The subfloor must be level, clean, and free of contaminants, so preparation is essential. After that, the prepared surface is evenly covered with the concrete mix that has been enhanced with the selected aggregates. To create the desired pattern or design, skilled artisans work to embed the mosaic pieces into the wet concrete.

To achieve a smooth, reflective finish, the surface needs to be carefully polished after the mosaic is laid. To attain the desired sheen, this requires several rounds of grinding and polishing using progressively finer grits. The last step is sealing the completed floor, which adds more stain resistance and brings out the color of the mosaic pattern. As a result, any room can benefit from this gorgeous, long-lasting, and low-maintenance flooring option that exudes elegance.

Main Characteristics	Laying Technology
Durable and long-lasting	Prepare the surface by cleaning and leveling it
Visually appealing with customizable designs	Mix the mosaic concrete according to manufacturer instructions
Slip-resistant surface	Pour and spread the mixture evenly on the surface
Low maintenance and easy to clean	Use a trowel to smooth and level the concrete
Suitable for high-traffic areas	Allow the concrete to set and cure properly before use

Main characteristics

Although this type of concrete isn’t used for interior living areas, it can be a suitable material for open terrace designs in suburban areas or for kitchen and bathroom floors.

Crushed marble chips made from multicolored minerals are a part of the concrete mixture. Because of these characteristics, the floor forms a decorative finishing coating and levels the base at the same time.

Such a floor can take the shape of drawings and patterns because of the different decorative fillers that are used in its construction.

"Terrazzo" refers to a decorative floor made of concrete mortar mixed with marble chips.

The following are some advantages of this type of floor covering:

1. High strength and the ability to withstand significant loads, which allows this material to be used for flooring in warehouses and industrial premises. It can withstand the load from heavy equipment, transport and the weight of stored products;

1. A decorative coating made of such material has a high degree of wear resistance and abrasion resistance, which allows it to be used in commercial, office, medical, educational and exhibition spaces with a high level of traffic;

1. The material is resistant to environmental impacts, therefore it is used for the construction of porches of public buildings;

1. High decorativeness of this material allows it to be used for flooring in hotel lobbies and exhibition halls;

1. Such decorative coating does not accumulate static electricity on its surface;
2. The price of such a coating is affordable, considering the fact that it is often necessary to carry out work on fairly large areas;

The "Terrazzo" coating is impervious to moisture and temperature fluctuations, as well as mechanical harm. Its composition, which includes marble chips, gives the flooring a noble appearance.

The fact that sparks cannot mechanically impact the floor in question is one of its key characteristics. As a result, industrial buildings with a high level of fire safety use this kind of coating.

The color of the filler that makes up the majority of the coating’s composition determines both its shade and performance attributes. Granite, quartz chips, or polymer materials can be used for this.

Properties

The required coloring pigments can be added to the concrete solution during the manufacturing stage, depending on the desired color of the coating. This gives the mosaic the desired shade. The mixture gains the required decorative effect when combined with the color of the internal filler, which can be marble, granite, dolomite chips, river stone, or colored quartz sand.

The Terrazzo concrete floor is extremely robust and long-lasting at the same time. Portland cement, either white or gray, is used to create the solution. White cement is used to achieve a "clean" color; gray material can be used in other circumstances.

Counseling! An improvement in the elasticity and other technical properties of concrete floor solutions is guaranteed by the use of special additives. As an illustration:

1. It is possible to increase the strength characteristics of concrete when working under compression;
2. Increase the impact resistance of the material;
3. It is possible to increase the speed of gaining strength qualities of the solution and put it into operation a week after the installation of the floor;
4. Allow the use of a thinner decorative coating (up to 6 mm), which in fact can correspond to the size of the internal fractional filler.
5. Depending on what material is used as a binder, decorative mosaic floors can be divided into three types.

Concrete mosaic floor based on cement

Cement serves as the composition’s binder, and the technology used to install it is comparable to that of applying the material "standardly." The cement-based floor is 50 mm thick and thicker; it can be reinforced if needed to improve its strength properties. The filler inside is larger than 20 mm.

The cement floor should be impregnated with a polyurethane-based material after grinding. This helps with:

1. The manifestation of the pattern on the surface of the concrete floor;
2. Maximum dust removal;
3. Protection from the effects of chemically aggressive substances;
4. Ease of maintenance.

These characteristics of the concrete surface can also be obtained through polishing, a more costly processing technique.

Polymer cement-based mosaic floor

• In this case, the binder is Portland cement with special polymer additives. The installation technology can be compared with the device of a thin-layer concrete screed, the thickness of which is from 15 mm and above.
• The size of the internal filler fractions is limited by the height of the coating, therefore it has a size of up to 10 mm. Polymer cement concrete is manufactured at the construction site using inertial or forced mixers.
• The solution is applied to a dust-free dry base, pre-treated with a primer solution. At the final stage, the decorative floor based on Portland cement is polished or treated with polymer impregnation.

Polymer-based floors (polymer concrete mosaic floors)

• Epoxy or polyurethane compound is used as a binder in such a coating. The installation technology is similar to self-leveling or quartz-filled polymer coatings. Such a floor can have a thickness of 2 mm and above.
• Quartz sand or mixing sands of different shades can be used as an internal filler. Filler fractions have a size of 0.5 mm and above.
• The decorativeness of such a floor covering can be ensured by the presence of chips, flocks, glitters, all sorts of objects in its composition – for example: coins. A transparent polymer compound is used as a finishing layer.

Fascinating information Yingzi Yang and Victor Li, two University of Michigan scientists, created self-healing concrete that is highly resistant to bending loads.

When scientists added substances to the concrete that alter shell growth, a startling result was obtained. The resulting new-generation material can withstand significant bending loads, in the event of an earthquake, for example.

Its surface is covered in tiny cracks but is otherwise unbroken. However, this material’s second remarkable quality is that, when the load is removed, the material’s cracks heal on their own thanks to moisture and interactions with carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and special additives.

Because calcium carbonate binds the cracks, "scars" are created as a result. The restored and damaged fragments’ strengths essentially match the original markers.

Mosaic concrete flooring is a popular option for both residential and commercial spaces because it blends the artistic flair of mosaic patterns with the durability of concrete. This kind of flooring is renowned for its long-lasting durability, adaptable designs, and visual appeal. To lay mosaic concrete, the base must be carefully prepared, the concrete must be mixed and poured precisely, and the mosaic pieces must be placed precisely to create the desired effect. An attractive and useful surface is guaranteed for many years to come with well-executed sealing and finishing techniques.

Laying

The base must be adequately prepared before the coating is applied; doing so will guarantee the coating’s performance and longevity.

Preparation

It may take a week to a month to complete preparatory work, but it is important to remember that, as was previously mentioned, the quality of the preparations will determine the floor’s performance characteristics and service life. Slabs, a cement-based screed, or a concrete coating can be used as the base.

Crucial! You should never attempt to use wooden floors as a foundation.

The following tasks must be completed in order to prepare the base before pouring the concrete mosaic composition:

1. If any communications are supposed to be laid, then this must be done at the stage of preparing the base. After installing a mosaic-type floor, such work will be impossible without damaging the coating;
2. Remove debris and dust from the surface of the base. Then carefully prime it;
3. It is necessary to carry out work to eliminate all irregularities and cracks. Seal the holes near the pipes. For this, use a cement-sand mortar screed;
4. Then the surface is treated with a hard metal brush to increase the level of adhesion between the bulk material and the base;
5. Markings are applied to the base;
6. Special dividers are installed to create a pattern on the floor.

• To create a uniform surface, install rack guides with a step of 1 m. They are necessary for high-quality and timely leveling of the mixture.
• To create a colored fill, a special guide structure is used, separating all the elements of the pattern. It can be made using multi-colored veins of glass, metal or plastic.
• This structure is fixed using a cement mixture, and the height of the structure must correspond to the pouring level.

Counseling! By using prefabricated concrete-marble slabs, the process of creating a pattern can be made simpler. By using diamond wheels for cutting, they are given the desired size and shape.

It is necessary to leave separators fixed with cement-sand mortar for a week in order for the mixture to fully dry.

Manufacturing

Handcrafted concrete mosaics are possible.

Special tools and equipment will be needed for this:

1. Buckets;
2. Mixer;
3. Shovel;
4. Components for the solution.

The following are the guidelines for getting ready for the composition:

1. In the mixer tank stone flour (2 buckets), cement (2 buckets) and water (1 bucket);

1. Add dye to the resulting mixture (1 bucket). When mixing the components, you should get a smooth mass of uniform color;

1. Then marble chips of different fractions should be added to the mixer (1 bucket).

Chromium oxide, ocher, or ultramarine marble flour can be used as the dye. After combining the water and dry ingredients, divide the mixture into the necessary number of pieces and paint each one separately to create a variety of colors.

Counseling! The marble chips must first be cleaned in cold water in order to give the concrete-mosaic mixture a vibrant, saturated shade.

It is necessary to use the prepared mixture within 1.5 hours because the solution sets quickly. Never combine more composition than what can be processed in the allotted time.

Pouring the floor

The following order is followed when performing the work:

1. The resulting solution is poured into the holes formed by the dividers. If it is supposed to use several colors of solution, then the bordering multi-colored sections should not be poured at once;
2. When the solution begins to set, it is compacted to the upper level of the slats. For this, use a trowel, vibrating screed, platform vibrator or hand rammers;
3. The appearance of cement milk on the surface of the fill will be a signal that compaction is complete and the required density of mosaic concrete has been achieved;
4. Before the floor begins to set, the compacted mixture is processed using metal trowels;
5. Using the remains of the mixture, at the junction of the walls and the floor, using special stencils, install the baseboard;
6. After two days, the floor must be covered with sawdust, which should be moistened with water every day for a week;
7. At the final stage, the peeps and grinding of the surface are performed. At the same time, a layer of about 0.5 cm in thickness is removed from it, which allows the “open” part of the fill with the greatest concentration of the internal decorative filler.

There are multiple steps in the grinding process. First of all, it is created by peeling, which is a coarse abrasive tool.

Subsequently, the tool’s grain is reduced in multiple steps during the final processing procedure. Subsequently, a transparent polyurethane or epoxy varnish is applied to the surface.

The mosaic surface must be polished using specialized equipment and instruments. This procedure requires more money and time.

Mosaic concrete is a popular option for flooring because it provides a distinctive combination of durability and aesthetic appeal. This kind of concrete creates eye-catching patterns by incorporating tiny bits of glass and colorful stones into the cement. Its adaptability to different hues and patterns makes it appropriate for both home and business environments, bringing a sense of style and uniqueness to any environment.

Mosaic concrete installation is a meticulously planned and executed process. Making sure the substrate is clean and level is the first step in the process. After pouring and leveling a layer of base concrete, the mosaic pieces are arranged in the desired pattern. To firmly embed the mosaic pieces, another layer of concrete is applied after the design is finalized. Ultimately, the surface is polished to bring out the fine details and produce a glossy, smooth surface.

The enduring appeal of mosaic concrete floors is partly attributed to their relatively simple maintenance. The surface can be kept looking flawless and shielded from wear and tear with regular cleaning with mild detergents and periodic resealing. Mosaic concrete is a great material to use in high-traffic areas because of its durability and ability to withstand stains.

When mosaic concrete is used in flooring projects, the floor’s structural integrity is increased in addition to its aesthetic appeal. It is an appealing and sensible option for anyone wishing to improve the look and feel of their flooring because of its adaptability and durability. Mosaic concrete floors can offer beauty and durability for many years to come with proper installation and maintenance.

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