If you have a historic building with a terrazzo floor, you might be thinking that it’s looking a little worn. Terrazzo has been a popular floor for residential and commercial applications for centuries, but it’s not a maintenance free surface. Over time, floors can develop cracks and chip, stain, and lose their luster while still remaining effective and desirable for their long term wear. Consulting with a professional can help you to decide if you need a whole new floor, or if a professional grade refinishing will bring a faded floor back to life.
A professional refinishing job is not the same as polishing or applying a topcoat, a full refinishing job is going to take a lot longer, but the results are more durable. Terrazzo floor refinishing is a multistage process that does the following:
- Cleaning and then grinding down the surface layer with a special wet grinding machine.
- Treating stains, filling in chips and cracks with a combination of resins, concrete, coloring agents and materials for a perfect match.
- Regrinding with successively finer grits until the floor is smooth and polished. Don’t worry, it’s not slippery, even when it has a finish like an ice rink after the Zamboni goes through.
- Applying sealant to protect the terrazzo from abrasions and stains.
Before you tear out that floor, talk with a professional and have them assess your floor’s condition and offer an estimate. They’ll tell you what they can and can’t do with what you have in place, and what it will take to make your floor its best. Terrazzo is an amazing material, and tough, but even the Hollywood Walk of Fame still needs some tender loving care once in a while. Even if your case isn’t as drastic, there’s a lot that a terrazzo specialist can do for you.
