Terrazzo Epoxy? or Cement

Terrazzo Floors

Why have we stopped finishing Terrazzo Floors?

Terrazzo Floors need to breath. Applying Finish seals the floor and prevents them from releasing moisture and absorbing moisture as needed.

Last Week....

I have polished dozens of Marble Floors. In 20 years Jansan experience I have never experienced results like I did this week. The truth is that the floor that I polished was not a typical Marble Floor. It was a Terrazzo Floor. Every Terrazzo Floor seems to have it's own personality. This one is in a building about 60-70 years old. The St.Catharines City Hall. I have always had great results on Terrazzo Floors that were naturally bound. Using a Cement based binding agent. The older the floor the more content of natural aggregate. (Marble Chips) The result, is simply better. The Marble obviously is what gives the floor it's lustre. This floor looks like a million bucks if you will pardon the pun. These floors have been burnished weekly with high end floor finish and have always looked good. Now they look better!

Why do I mention my experience of late?

Recently, I polished a fairly new floor with very lively colours and a bright binding agent. After finishing with 800 grit Diamonds I realized that the floor was in very good shape and ready for Marble Polish Paste. Many processes will use a powder to create a slurry for the final stage or two of polishing. This particular job saw me using a paste by Stone Medic (Pinnacle). The last stage always shows the best success. Usually....

This floor was of course to be my exception. It to me was one of those jobs that I had wished I had not started. As many are aware I don't polish floors for a living I polish them to sell products. This is one that did not result in a sale. Early on in my training I was told that some floors do not turn out as well as others. The reason for this was partially the epoxy binding agent that takes place of the cement based binder. The greater reason was that the floor was less than 50% Marble Chips. Maybe even 30-40%. Enough to make me realize that this is something i need to check in a demonstrations that I do from now on. Epoxy began being used in the mid 70's + or - and is slowly decreasing in use to the point where it will be used nearly never in our area. Now the truth is that this has not solved our problem with shrinking quantities of aggregate, but it has solved one minor issue.

How can you tell if your Terrazzo Floor is Epoxy or Cement base?

Two indicators work well according to experts.
#1 A key The Cement based Terrazzo makes a clicking sound
The Epoxy base floor makes a dull tapping sound

#2 Temperature Cement Based floors always feel cooler than room temperature.

If all else fails ask the expert!