Thanks to Mark Arbogast, our senior account executive, for sharing a training session that leads to the certification of the installation of Durabella vegetable oil based biopolymer terrazzo from Duracryl Global Flooring! Training begins in the classroom to provide installers an overview of the correct installation technique and a review of the benefits of this amazing product. Jeroen van den Berg, the hands-on owner of Duracryl, relied on his 30+ years of working with concrete and screeds to pass on his knowledge to the team of 15 hand-picked seasoned installers representing 5 companies from across the country!
A properly smooth, flat, and level concrete substrate or screed is an absolute necessity for a perfect installation. Upon the screed, is a layer of self-level, upon which a scratch coat made up of biopolymer and sand is applied as a base layer. This provides the impending terrazzo installation the rough texture it needs to grab on to.
Duracryl Durabella is a biopolymer made with vegetable oils and standard aggregate. It uses a hybrid system of material application both by mixing aggregate with matrix and then broadcasting aggregate over the entire surface of the matrix (biopolymer liquid) until it is “broadcast to rejection,” filling in all of the areas of the mix.
The temperature of the mix, the floor surface, and the air cannot be below 60°F or above 90°F.
Durabella is easy to repair because of the turgidity of the biopolymer!
A power trower is used to push the terrazzo compound together into a compressed consistency. The edges are then addressed and finer work is done with a hand grinder to pressure the composition into a solid surface. After a couple days of curing, the terrazzo is diamond ground to its final aesthetic finish and coated with two coats of Protectshield. The resulting Durabella floor is a seamless, natural, wear-resistant, and flexible terrazzo with 40% better sound absorption compared to traditional epoxy terrazzo.
Watch the process from the workshop in a short video below: