| Our Employees Clyde Martin - General Manager Mark Lovisa - Project Manager - Terrazzo Frank Lovisa - Project Manager - Terrazzo Ed Falk - Project Manager - Tile David Desantis - Accounting Brianne Landry - Administration |
| Our Profile |
| American Tile and Terrazzo Company, Incorporated was established in 1957 by
Guiseppe (Joe) Lovisa and three other Northern Italian immigrants.
Originally located in New Orleans, the company was later moved to Metairie. In the late 1980s the company was reconstructed to include second generation family and employees. Since then, it has become the premier supplier of terrazzo, tile, brick and stone pavers in the area. American Tile and Terrazzo is licensed in both Louisiana and Mississippi for commercial construction. With a newly expanded tile and terrazzo showroom, we are able to assist in product selection and specifications and are also available to constult with designers and owners for maintanance and restoration projects. We also have professional architectural product representatives for all of the lines we carry. American Tile and Terrazzo is a proud member of the National Terrazzo and Mosaic Association (NTMA), The National Tile Contractors Association (NTCA), Associated General Contractors, New Orleans District (AGC), Jefferson Chamber of Commerce, Better Business Bureau of New Orleans (BBB), The Construction Specification Institute (CSI), and The Southwest Terrazzo Association (SWTA).The guidelines set forth by these associations lead American Tile and Terrazzo to strive for the highest standards in each and every project completed and to achieve customer satisfaction and loyalty through obtaining these standards. |
| A Little Info About Terrazzo all information from Wikipedia.org |
| Production Terrazzo workers create attractive walkways, floors, patios, and panels by exposing marble chips and other fine aggregates on the surface of finished concrete or epoxy-resin. Much of the preliminary work of terrazzo workers is similar to that of cement masons. Attractive, marble-chip cementitious terrazzo requires three layers of materials. First, cement masons or terrazzo workers build a solid, level concrete foundation that is 3 to 4 inches deep. After the forms are removed from the foundation, workers add a 1-inch layer of sandy concrete. Before this layer sets, terrazzo workers partially embed metal divider strips in the concrete wherever there is to be a joint or change of color in the terrazzo. For the final layer, terrazzo workers blend and place into each of the panels a fine marble chip mixture that may be color-pigmented. While the mixture is still wet, workers toss additional marble chips of various colors into each panel and roll a lightweight roller over the entire surface. In the 1970's polymer based terrazzo was introduced and is called thin-set terrazzo. Initially polyester and vinyl ester resins were used as the binder resin. Today most of the terrazzo installed is epoxy terrazzo. The advantages of this material over cementitious terrazzo include: wider selection of colors, 1/4 inch to 3/8 inch installation thickness, lighter weight, faster installation, impermiable finish, higher strength, and less suseptable to cracking. In addition to marble aggregate blends, other aggregates have been used such as recycled glass, metal shapes and medalions. When the terrazzo is thoroughly dry (or cured in the case of thin-set terrazzo), helpers grind it with a terrazzo grinder, which is somewhat like a floor polisher, only much heavier. Slight depressions left by the grinding are filled with a matching grout material and hand-troweled for a smooth, uniform surface. Terrazzo workers then clean, polish, and seal the dry surface for a lustrous finish. Historical Originally created by Venetian construction workers as a low cost flooring material, the workers used marble chips from upscale jobs to create Terrazzo. The workers would usually set them in clay to surface the patios around their living quarters. Consisting originally of marble chips, clay, goat milk (as the sealer), production of Terrazzo became much easier after the 1920s and the introduction of electric industrial grinders and other power equipment. Newly-set Terrazzo will not look like marble unless it is wet. That's where the goat's milk comes in, acting as a sealer and preserving the wet and marble-like look. The central, common pavillion in the cadet area at the United States Air Force Academy is made of terrazzo tiles, among a checkerboard of marble strips. The entire area is referred to as "The Terrazzo". Archaeological Archaeologists use the word terrazzo to describe the floors of early neolithic buildings (PPN A and B, ca. 9.000-8.000 BC) in Western Asia, that are constructed of burnt lime and clay, colored red with ochre and polished. The embedded crushed limestone gives it a slightly mottled appearance. The use of fire to produce burnt lime, which was also used for the hafting of implements thus predates the use of pottery by almost a thousand years. In the early Neolithic settlement of Cayönü in eastern Turkey ca. 90 m² of terrazzo floors have been uncovered. The floors of the PPN B settlement of Nevali Cori measure about 80 m². They are 15 cm thick, and contain about 10-15 % lime. These floors are almost impenetrable to moisture and very durable, but their construction involved a high input of energy. Gourdin and Kingery (1975) estimate that about 5 times the amount of wood is needed to produce the required amount of lime, but recent experiments by Affonso and Pernicka have shown that only the double amount is needed. But that would still amount to 4.5 metric tons of dry wood for the floors in Cayönü, in what is an only sparsely wooded environment today. Other sites with terrazzo floors include Nevali Cori, Göbekli Tepe, Jericho, and Kastros (Cyprus). |
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