Terrazzo is an era-appropriate material to use in a midcentury home — either as flooring or in the bathroom. These terrazzo shower bases by Fiat come in 30 shapes and sizes — a great find — great variety!!!! — to consider as part of a gut remodel of your bathroom or for a replacement shower pan. Pam says that if she had known about these when she renovated her bathrooms 10 years ago, they would have been very strong contenders indeed.
About Fiat’s terrazzo shower pans from their website:
- Monterey shower floors are designed for installations where tile walls and glass enclosures are used.
- Precast terrazzo one piece products are made of black and white marble chips cast in white portland cement to produce a compressive strength of not less than 3000 P.S.I., seven days after casting.
- The terrazzo surface is ground and polished with all air holes and/or pits grouted and the excess removed. Shower floors are available in custom sizes.
Pam spotted terrazzo shower pans at the new annex to the Red Lion Inn. Not sure of the maker. But, these terrazzo shower bases look SO NICE.
Terrazzo shower bases from Fiat are listed on their website as MSRPing rom $434 – $1033 depending on size and style. Of course: Shop around, you may get a better price.
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If by any chance, they don’t have the size you need, you need something that weighs a little less, or you need something with a particularly customized shape, Corian Silver Birch makes a decent stand-in for the typical shower pan appearance–just more dark grey rather than black particulate. The price differential looks like it wouldn’t be much, depending upon the fabricator.
Thanks, ineffable, for the tip — and for sending me photos. We will plan a story — the Corian looks great!
I love these. Wondering if the finish is slip resistant? I’ll check out the website! Pam, did you stay at the hotel and therefore able to actually use the shower?
Love terrazzo, in any form.
The terrazzo shower pans have a sort of mildly gritty feel. Not uncomfortable to bare feet but the surface doesn’t feel smooth. They are not nearly as “polished” as a terrazzo floor, which can be extremely slippery.
They can stain over time, they do need to be sealed as far as I know.
ineffablespace, thanks for the info!
“They are not nearly as “polished” as a terrazzo floor, which can be extremely slippery.”
Heh, you can say that again. Our entire house is poured terrazzo. From the front entryway path all the way through to the back patio. You really need to watch your step, especially in socks or if your feet are wet.We’ve lost count of the number of times we’ve slipped. They are beautiful, but yah, they can be dangerous.
As far as the porous nature of these shower pans, Terrazzo is just portland cement with aggregate. As long as they are sealed, I imagine they’re every bit as water tight as a traditional concrete shower pan/tile job.
PEOPLES reading this: Precautionary Pam reminds that: When it comes to assessing flooring and shower pans and tubs, etc, for safety, please consult with the manufacturers directly and/or get your own properly licensed professional.
I will leave these comments up, but with this guidance, in particular because they underscore some of the issues to consider when it comes to choosing bathroom flooring — including, very importantly, when it comes to SAFETY, slipperiness. Get your own Professionals to help you make informed decisions.
Are these bases less porous than a mudded pan with tile? Once I had an apartment with a tile pan that had become “saturated”and I ended up moving out because it smelled so bad and there was no way to stop the odor. When I remodeled mom’s shower, I used the plastic base like the one that was there, but this one looks more luxurious. I would never have a mosaic tile shower base.
I tend to think that the terrazzo preformed bases are not porous at all. That said: Best to check with the manufacturer.
They are made of marble chips in Portland cement. Any pits or air holes are filled in with grout and the surface is ground and polished to a matte finish (Unlike terrazzo floors which are ground and polished to a high shine)
So they will be porous to the extent that marble, Portland cement and grout are all porous.
Many terrazzo floors, or terrazzo tiles are now made of marble chips in a resin which is slightly flexible and not as porous (and they are slippery when wet. This is different from the classic cement shower base.
PEOPLES reading this: When it comes to assessing flooring and shower pans and tubs, etc, for safety, please consult with the manufacturers directly and/or get your own properly licensed professional.
I will leave these comments up, but with this guidance, in particular because they underscore some of the issues to consider when it comes to choosing bathroom flooring — including, very importantly, when it comes to SAFETY, slipperiness. Get your own Professionals to help you make informed decisions.
Ineffablespace, if lots of terrazzo tile today is made from marble chips in a resin (not portland cement) isn’t it essentially the same as quartz countertops – which are pieces of quartz set in resin?
I believe they are similar in nature. Silestone, a quartz countertop is 94% quartz, and 6% other, including the resins that bind all the quartz together.
Fritztile, a manufactured thin terrazzo tile, is stone chips set into a polyester resin that is meant to be slightly flexible to avoid cracking, and is also slightly resilient, meaning it can be indented with enough force.
The compressive strength of Silestone is 29,000 psi, while the compressive strength of Fritztile is 2900-5000 psi, which means to me that the Silestone is harder to break under compression.
The way to decide on the relative slip resistance of tile is to choose one that has a high enough dynamic coefficient of friction (DCOF) to be used in wet areas. This is the newer standard, the older one was the static coefficient of friction. They test this with sodium lauryl sulfate (essentially soap) on the surface. Most tile catalogs will give the number, and then say whether or not it is suitable for pool decking or shower flooring, etc.
But there is no standard for “slip proof”. You can still slip and fall on materials with a high dynamic coefficient of friction under certain conditions.
Never saw this before our remolded – but instead used the cast iron shower pan — the acrylic never had the bright white appearance I was looking for–
I, too, am concerned about the terrazzo’s reputation for “slippery when wet,” so I contacted the manufacturer. This is their reply:
“These bases are concrete like so there is not slip resistance feature on these bases.”
Clear as mud.
Hmmmm… Thanks, Pamela. I encourage anyone interested in these to talk to the manufacturer themselves. I am suspecting there is more to the story.
Hi Pam — a little late to the discussion but wanted to share another resource as I put a custom terrazzo pan in 8 years ago from Creative Industries Terrazzo in Chicago.
CIT was great to work with and the cost was reasonable compared to cast iron and Swanstone etc (~ 500 for a 500 lb base + about another 500 for shipping to the West Coast when gas was 4/gallon).
Disclaimer: I sealed per instructions but I do think minerals in our water have etched it around the drain — intend to have an expert out to see about a mild facelift — but love it and the vibe in our 1905 house (we did more of a 20s bath). IMO it’s a great product that spans the decades!
Just FYI, for those looking, Menards has many of the Fiat Terrazzo shower bases. We were looking everywhere for a local dealer and we’re surprised to find out they sold them in many sizes.