Spring is Terrazzo Rehab Time

Your terrazzo floors have made it through another winter … through snow, slush, ice melt and lots of boot traffic.  How did they hold up?

Even if you have a good maintenance program in place during the winter, there is no guarantee that you’ll be able to escape the dreaded stripping rehabilitation of terrazzo floors in the spring.

A factor impacting terrazzo floors is the amount of ice melt used during the winter. Many areas of the country used more melting compounds this last year than in previous years.   Some ice melting compounds are on the alkaline side and can leave alkalinity on the floors.  This residue is corrosive and ultimately damages the floors, which in turn will dictate the need to strip.

If the floor is not too bad, you can probably get by with a scrub and recoat.  Many facilities have done this in the last few years to save money.

If you’ve already scrubbed and recoated a few times, the floor is particularly dull or cloudy, or the high traffic areas look to be a different gloss level than the perimeters of the floor, then it is time to strip. 

Once you’ve take the stripping step, make sure you don’t cut corners towards the end of the process.  Perhaps the most important step is to rinse the floor numerous times to make sure all the alkalinity is removed.

Banner carries a number of floor stripping products, both aerosol and liquid. Aerosol strippers make fast work of stripping the areas with the most wax build-ups, such as baseboards, corners and floor edges.  We offer several aerosol options including Aspire Baseboard Stripper; 3M Trouble Shooter and Spartan Shineline.

Our liquid floor stripping options will meet any stripping need … from the extremely aggressive stripper that is needed for floors that have stretched the budget in the last few years and skipped regular stripping, to a more environmentally preferred floor finish remover that does not contain butozyenthanol, is dye-free, non-viscous, and emits low odors.

>Review Terrazzo “Floor Care After Winter” article

> Download Spartan’s Terra Glaze brochure

> View Banner’s line of floor strippers and list prices