The Overview of Terrazzo Floor

2021-10-26

Terrazzo floors date back to the 1700s, when they were first found in Italian homes, offices, schools, and stores. Terrazzo is made of marble chips. It also contains glass and other aggregates embedded in tinted cement. Once installed, terrazzo is leveled and polished to a pleasantly appealing sheen. Terrazzo made its entry into North America in the late 1880s. However, it would often crack after installation, so developers lost interest in terrazzo and it went out of style. By the 1920s, new installation techniques helped minimize cracking. Terrazzo then became a trendy floor from the 1930s until the 1970s. It regained popularity again in the 1990s and is no longer considered the poor man’ s flooring, as it can be very costly to install.

The Value of Terrazzo Today

Installing terrazzo requires mixing it and then pouring it over a specially prepared surface. While the process to install this type of flooring may have been inexpensive a century ago, that has changed today due to high labor costs in today’ s market. Learning about the different types of terrazzo flooring and how to best install, clean, maintain and restore them is important. Having this knowledge will help future maintenance and restoration services.

Similar to natural stone, terrazzo floors benefit from regular diamond grinding, polishing and burnishing. To achieve natural shine and clarity of terrazzo floor, a series of progressively finer diamond grits are used to hone and polish the surface, until the desired level of gloss is achieved. Spills should be cleaned up immediately to avoid long-term exposure to moisture and to prevent staining. Additionally, if the floor is improperly sealed, more cracks will appear. Some cracks may be structural issues, but others will stem from hydrostatic pressure buildup caused by a sealer not allowing the floor to breathe. A quality terrazzo floor sealer will also result in an adequate slip coefficient.

With the understanding and some of related knowledge of terrazzo floor in mind, there are a lot of best practices we can apply related to terrazzo floor maintenance and restoration. Here are some of the most important:

1.Daily terrazzo floor care includes dust mopping and cleaning stubborn stains with a neutral cleaner diluted in warm water.

2. Once a week, a damp mop can be used on lightly soiled floors. Heavily soiled terrazzo should be cleaned with a buffing machine and buffing pads.

3. As needed, old sealer and finish coats will strip away, and then reseal the terrazzo to restore function and appearance.

4. Maintenance products developed specifically for terrazzo will have a neutral pH and be free of harsh chemicals.

While the process of caring for terrazzo floors may sound a bit involved, it moves along very quickly. From terrazzo floor cleaning, to maintenance, to restoration, DTS diamond tools can help you through every stage of the process. We provide a wide of terrazzo floor diamond tooling for floor maintenance and restoration. Contact us to learn more about maintaining the safety and appearance of the terrazzo floors in your facility.