Affordable Terrazzo Floor Cleaning

Hard flooring comes in many forms, ranging from concrete, through cleaved and polished stone, and on to specialist materials such as attractive terrazzo composite. Terrazzo stone consists of small chips of marble, quartz, granite, glass, or other suitable hard material, poured together with a cementitious binder that sets to form a highly decorative, hard material that is suitable for solid flooring. Once set, the material can be polished to a high sheen using progressively finer grinding materials, until a final diamond polish creates a very smooth, reflective surface.

The terrazzo of today is partly derived from the 18th century pavimento alla Veneziana, that was prominent throughout Italian high society, but the mechanised polishing of this impressive and colourful material has become easier than the hand-driven operation that it used to be. Once the solid material has been polished, the resulting surface is akin to mosaic, but with increased randomness. In fact, being able to put chips of material into the matrix in different sizes, and polishing off the top surface makes for a delightfully haphazard and attractive flooring.  

Terrazzo finds itself in all sorts of places – the eponymous walk of fame stones in Los Angeles are made from terrazzo with black chips and a person’s name and star sunk into them – and many of the hardwearing application in construction. But these punishing environments can lead to damage and there are occasions when terrazzo can become chipped or damaged by chemicals. If exposed to strong acids or alkalis, the matrix material can start to dissolve, causing significant damage.

If this happens to your terrazzo flooring, the only real option is to get a specialist team in to re-polish the surface to remove the marks. With something as hard and resistant as stone, that usually means diamond polishing, to replace the lost lustre.

But that can be an expensive option unless you do your homework and find a company that can carry out affordable diamond polishing services in your area. That is pretty easy to do in this connected age, and by running a search string such as vibro tiling UK, or floor cleaning services, to select companies close to you. A simple phone call will be sufficient to engage a cleaning professional who has the experience to refurbish your terrazzo flooring and remove any imperfections.

In most cases, you can maintain your stone flooring with either a wipe down with a detergent-covered cloth, or by using any of the mild cleaning products that are on the market. But sometimes, you need to do a bit more to get rid of deeper scuffs and marks and that is where diamond polishing comes into its own. Of course, it does need driving by a professional to get the best results.