What seal/finish gives best gloss to terrazzo?

[FloorCareChris]

And I would put the sealer down without an aggressive scrub using possibly a stripper or peroxide type cleaner. I would never just lay sealer or finish over a dirty floor. That's ghetto shit and ruins things for all of us

 

[FloorCareChris]

I wouldn't *** seal it without cleaning it. Just depends what type of cleaning he want..diamond cleaning or "scrub" cleaning. I wish he cared more about the appearance of that foyer.

 

[FloorCareChris]

I know to most people - not floor care contractors- "buffing" is all that is ever needed, lol.

 

[Pinosan]

I didn't think it would, but you damage some stone with chemicals so was just curious if stripper had any side effects.

no

 

[Reflections138]

First off you can treat terrazo like vct if you have the right sealer. Is using a stone protector a better option...yes but a lot of people don't want to spend the money. I have several accounts that will only go the sealer route. They get stripped once a year and look fantastic. Terra glaze buffs really well with a gorilla pad.

 

[Reflections138]

I'll send pics of some terrazo tomorrow that is just sealed

 

[FloorCareChris]

You put multiple coats of the terra glaze until you get your desired glow?

 

[Mike Krall]

A black, brown or green pad can damage the finish of polishes terrazzo, marble, travertine and limestone.

To be blunt, if you want to do this type of work correctly, waxing it isn't an option. If you give a proposal to diamond refinish and polish and they decline, I wouldn't "fall back" on putting a sealer on the floor. Unless that's what you want to do, but if you want to step up and provide premium services, this isn't the way to do it. people won't take you seriously and you won't be doing yourself any favors.

depending on the condition of the floor, you can use DIP type pads, but I would follow up with a polishing compound. MB-22 works great for Terrazzo.

Terrazzo isn't VCT and shouldn't be treated like it.

I'm not a purist, but there are certain things that should and shouldn't be done. People find terrazzo under their carpet and tile all the time and they think anyone can come in and buff it up. There is more to it. It's a respectable trade that can generate a lot of revenue for you, but not if you go around slopping plastic all over it.

Isn't the sealer/finish meant to add some wear protection for the stone?

I've only done one Terrazzo floor. The contractor on the job did the polishing and then informed the owner it needed to have a sealer on it after that and they didn't do that type of work. So I don't know what the deal was, but even after the honing it didn't look that brilliant. After we came in and applied the sealer it was like looking at the sun. The owner called the next day ecstatic at how it looked.

I'm not saying that process is/was right, just trying to learn what happened in that scenario. Around here there's very few terrazzo floors so haven't gotten into honing, but very curious about it.

 

[Reflections138]

Honing a floor makes it smoother and smoother. The finer the Diamonds the shinier the floor will be even without finish. This will give the floor reflective properties thus making a brilliant mirror like shine. A stone protector is better. It is hard as concrete and I believe there are some that densifies the floor your putting it on. Once you go this route you never strip agan. You just use a diamond pad and quickly hone the stone protector and apply another coat. If you don't know this process learn it. They make a diamond pad you can buff it with as well (at least in the applications/brand that I'm familiar with). This way you can still service the floor. But adding a stone protector is a lot more expensive than sealing.

 

[waxman]

Nothing's better then a polished floor.
This floor we honed 5 years ago and now we just scrub and burnish with diamond pads.

 

[Cameron DeMille]

Isn't the sealer/finish meant to add some wear protection for the stone?

I've only done one Terrazzo floor. The contractor on the job did the polishing and then informed the owner it needed to have a sealer on it after that and they didn't do that type of work. So I don't know what the deal was, but even after the honing it didn't look that brilliant. After we came in and applied the sealer it was like looking at the sun. The owner called the next day ecstatic at how it looked.

I'm not saying that process is/was right, just trying to learn what happened in that scenario. Around here there's very few terrazzo floors so haven't gotten into honing, but very curious about it.

When terrazzo is refinished properly, it has a higher surface tension than the sealer you put on it. The sealer is a sacrificial layer that scuffs and marks easier than the terrazzo itself. What's the point of doing all this if you never get to enjoy the look of the terrazzo the way it should be? You can maintain the finish on terrazzo with regular maintenance. IMO, over the long run, repeatedly stripping and resealing will be more expensive.

I have never heard of a "Stone Protector", you might be thinking of a concrete polish guard. These typically going super thin and get burnished to harden them. These are typically non-slip and do well with foot traffic.

We use Prosoco LS Guard. It's a concrete polish guard that you burnish with a propane burnisher to a certain temperature to set it in. It's not slippery, even when wet and when the traffic wear shows up, you can clean and re-burnish. We have had really good luck with it in our showroom and other jobs. It's not cheap, but it's worth it.

This is polished concrete with the Prosoco LS Guard:

This is from our front door to the shop entrance, daily commercial traffic, about 7 months of traffic

Quick mop with neutral cleaner, then burnish

 

[Reflections138]

When terrazzo is refinished properly, it has a higher surface tension than the sealer you put on it. The sealer is a sacrificial layer that scuffs and marks easier than the terrazzo itself. What's the point of doing all this if you never get to enjoy the look of the terrazzo the way it should be? You can maintain the finish on terrazzo with regular maintenance. IMO, over the long run, repeatedly stripping and resealing will be more expensive.

I have never heard of a "Stone Protector", you might be thinking of a concrete polish guard. These typically going super thin and get burnished to harden them. These are typically non-slip and do well with foot traffic.

We use Prosoco LS Guard. It's a concrete polish guard that you burnish with a propane burnisher to a certain temperature to set it in. It's not slippery, even when wet and when the traffic wear shows up, you can clean and re-burnish. We have had really good luck with it in our showroom and other jobs. It's not cheap, but it's worth it.

This is polished concrete with the Prosoco LS Guard:

This is from our front door to the shop entrance, daily commercial traffic, about 7 months of traffic

Quick mop with neutral cleaner, then burnish

Stone protector or guard. Same thing different names. But I wasn't disagreeing with you about this being the best method. I was just saying you can seal it when a client doesn't want to spend the money. More money up front is what people have a hard time swallowing. I try to sell the guard on stained concrete and terrazo every time. 99% of the time I'm asked about other options and they tend to go with sealing it instead.

 

[Reflections138]

When terrazzo is refinished properly, it has a higher surface tension than the sealer you put on it. The sealer is a sacrificial layer that scuffs and marks easier than the terrazzo itself. What's the point of doing all this if you never get to enjoy the look of the terrazzo the way it should be? You can maintain the finish on terrazzo with regular maintenance. IMO, over the long run, repeatedly stripping and resealing will be more expensive.

I have never heard of a "Stone Protector", you might be thinking of a concrete polish guard. These typically going super thin and get burnished to harden them. These are typically non-slip and do well with foot traffic.

We use Prosoco LS Guard. It's a concrete polish guard that you burnish with a propane burnisher to a certain temperature to set it in. It's not slippery, even when wet and when the traffic wear shows up, you can clean and re-burnish. We have had really good luck with it in our showroom and other jobs. It's not cheap, but it's worth it.

This is polished concrete with the Prosoco LS Guard:

This is from our front door to the shop entrance, daily commercial traffic, about 7 months of traffic

Quick mop with neutral cleaner, then burnish

BTW nice work!

 

[Cameron DeMille]

Stone protector or guard. Same thing different names. But I wasn't disagreeing with you about this being the best method. I was just saying you can seal it when a client doesn't want to spend the money. More money up front is what people have a hard time swallowing. I try to sell the guard on stained concrete and terrazo every time. 99% of the time I'm asked about other options and they tend to go with sealing it instead.

Yeah sometimes we just smooth it out, to like 400 and put a guard on it, but we always cut it and smooth it out to some extent. I would recommend this over just cleaning and doing a topical finish. Technically they are both topical finishes, but the guards are not meant to give the finish, they are meant to be a protective layer for the finished surface. They are much thinner and can be burnished to a more durable surface tension.

I have also used Stone Pro's SmartKrete Guard. It's a great option if you don't have a propane burnisher. You can burnish it quickly with a 1500 RPM machine, but it doesn't last nearly as long as the Prosoco LS Guard. We did a section in our showroom and we burnished the SmartKrete every 4-6 weeks vs every 6 months for the Prosoco. BUT, the SmartKrete burnishes faster.

So you either go longer between services, but each service is longer, or you service more frequently, but each service is quicker.

There are MANY products on the market, these are just a couple of examples of the ones I like.

 

[rico]

When terrazzo is refinished properly, it has a higher surface tension than the sealer you put on it. The sealer is a sacrificial layer that scuffs and marks easier than the terrazzo itself. What's the point of doing all this if you never get to enjoy the look of the terrazzo the way it should be? You can maintain the finish on terrazzo with regular maintenance. IMO, over the long run, repeatedly stripping and resealing will be more expensive.

I have never heard of a "Stone Protector", you might be thinking of a concrete polish guard. These typically going super thin and get burnished to harden them. These are typically non-slip and do well with foot traffic.

We use Prosoco LS Guard. It's a concrete polish guard that you burnish with a propane burnisher to a certain temperature to set it in. It's not slippery, even when wet and when the traffic wear shows up, you can clean and re-burnish. We have had really good luck with it in our showroom and other jobs. It's not cheap, but it's worth it.

This is polished concrete with the Prosoco LS Guard:

This is from our front door to the shop entrance, daily commercial traffic, about 7 months of traffic

Quick mop with neutral cleaner, then burnish

Do you add more product when burnishing?
Would you get away with burnishing without adding more product and get good results?

 

[Cameron DeMille]

Do you add more product when burnishing?
Would you get away with burnishing without adding more product and get good results?

Those pictures I posted, the before and after burnishing are without adding any more product. You would only need to add more product is there were heavy scratches or scrapes, or if it wasn't applied enough in the beginning and it wore through. Most of the time you will not need to add more product, just quick mop or rinse to remove dirt, then burnish.