How to Clean Your Own Terrazzo Floors

When you walk into most buildings, the last thing you notice is probably the flooring. This is usually because it’s not really in your line of sight. But the right flooring can make you take a peek down at your feet, and marvel at its creative patterns.

One of the most popular types of flooring in commercial buildings in the last century has been terrazzo floor tiles. These tiles are composed of a variety of materials, including granite, quartz, glass and marble, and then mixed a with binding substance that ultimately creates a cementitious base. Because these floors last up to 75 years, they can be ideal for areas of high foot traffic.

You can also install terrazzo floors in your own home. They are fairly durable, but if they do need some work, and you want to know how to restore terrazzo floors, here are a few do-it-yourself tips.

1. One of the first things to do is to remove anything on the floors. You have to take furniture, books, decorations, and all extra items out of the room, and then place waterproofing coverings along any walls that touch the terrazzo floors. Once you have done this, fill the entire floor with roughly an inch of water.
2. You should have rented a surface grinder at this point as well. You can turn this on start moving it across the floor. You will find that the floor will start to get muddy, but this is normal. You should first use a harder grit setting to get most of blemishes out, then change the setting to finer ones as you get closer to finishing.
3. The last part of the process will be polishing the floor so that it looks brand new again, and you can do this by buying grit polishing powder, preferably the 800 kind. After you vacuum up the water, you can use a buffer to massage the powder into the floors. The first coat will be the 800, then you will want to move on to the 1500 grit, and then finally, the 2000 grit to restore it completely. Then, you can dry the area and use the sealer.

It’s not hard to learn how to restore terrazzo floors on your own. It will take a little extra work, but it will be worth the savings.