Flooring Tile - Tell me about Terrazzo

We bought a 1964 block house 6 years ago that has a terrazzo floor. This is still the floor in the bedrooms and the main bathroom.

The living room, hallway to the bedrooms, and "den" where there is a brick fireplace are carpeted. The kitchen, laundry room and in front of the front door have what seems to be vinyl tile. The kitchen's is about 2-3 layers deep from what we saw when we had the dishwasher replaced. It has black goo coming up between. The stuff in front of the door and in the laundry area seems to be more like "Flair Squares" because a couple are loose, so I looked underneath.

We talked to a guy who refinishes and repairs terrazzo at a home show in Tampa, but would like to know more about it from someone not trying to sell us something. ;)

I would like to return to the original floor. The carpeting is probably around 20 years old and needs to go (shredding at some corners since we had it stretched, so I know it's carpet tacked). I would like some info on how involved it would be to reclaim the terrazzo. We don't have any experience in this area, but are willing to take it on as a project. Obviously it would save us considerable money if we could at least get it started before calling this guy, he is supposed to be very accomplished in clipping and buffing down the nails as well as filling in chips, camouflaging them and removing stains.

Of course the worst that can happen is there is too much staining and we put something back down over it.

Thanks for any help!
Val

So what do you seek for info. I know a little bit about it and I'm sure others will knwo more. What would you like to know??

Simply put, terrazo is a concrete floor with marble or some other types of aggregate mixed in. It is poured, leveled and then ground with a large heavy grinder and grind stone. It goes through progressively finer stones until the desired smoothness is obtained. (I do not know the final grit)

It is then waxed and burnished to bring out a luster.

You really cannot tell how much work is needed to repair until it is exposed. Be careful to not gouge the terrazo if you scrape the gunk off. Although it is essentially concrete and presumably will be reground, you need to have adequate thickness to be able to grind and any gouges will cause more grinding to be neccessary. There may also be larger cracks in the stuff. These will be harder to repair and disguise and may not be too permanent if the foundation is moving at all.

Before you commit to the guy refinishing the stuff, be sure to see examples of his work. Depending on the matrix used and where the damage repair is needed, it can be difficult to hide patches. You will definatley want to see examples of his repair work.

I would also "google" "terrazzo" and "terrazzo repair" and do some independant research there.

I don't know a lot about terrazzo but from what I've seen it is almost indestructable. I have painted [when I lived in fla] quite a few rental and realty homes where worn carpet was removed to expose terrazzo that with the exception of carpet strip nails really only needed cleaning and waxing.

Obviously there is no way to tell acroos the internet what lies beneath your carpet and others have more expierence than me when it comes to floors. Hope it all works out well for you.

There is a national terrazzo association at www.ntma.com They may have some additional info.

Thanks!

I will check out that site, and try googling (duh!, I didn't do that first, haven't really looked into this in about 4 years.) for more info. That should get me started and I'll be back with more questions, I'm sure!
:)
Val

Good luck.
Terrazzo is some of the nicest flooring I have seen when it is a good job. It is also a dieing craft, probably because of the expense. But for durability it cannot be beat.

Good luck.
Terrazzo is some of the nicest flooring I have seen when it is a good job. It is also a dieing craft, probably because of the expense. But for durability it cannot be beat.
That's nice to know. From what I hear, older homes with it have become quite sought after around here. I love my house and don't have any plans on selling it anytime soon, but uncovering it may be a good selling point one day.