terazzo floor repair

[JanJonWestWales]

Hi, Just moved into our forever city apartment in Cardiff
Lovely 1920's house, which has been neglected, but with lovely original features...hence........a new project

When we first viewed the house, the hall was laid with laminate wood floor...we were very excitied about what may lay beneath, hoping for original tiles etc
So today (after a week of unpacking), I was let loose and ripped up the laminate.
Not tiles, but a lovely original Terazzo floor, that will do !
As I continued to rip up the laminate and got to the back end of the hall...utter dissapointment - a crack along the width of the hall
The back hall has dropped at some point (2-3mm-ish)
It has been badly cemented (to allow the laminate to be even I assume), that can be cleaned off

But what to do?!?!?!
The wife wants to dig it all up and lay tiles
I want to explore options
...any ideas on how to repair terrazzo???...grind the drop down??? to an even level, fill the crack???

 

[Feltwell]

The wife wants to dig it all up and lay tiles

I suggest dig it up and bury the wife!

You can't get rid of that floor, it's lovely. I've heard of cracks in terrazzo being repaired with colour matched epoxy and then the floor ground back to make it all match - like this:-

https://www.abbeyfloorcare.co.uk/terrazzo/terrazzo-floor-restoration-northampton-nn3/

I wonder if grinding could take out the step? Do you know what caused the floor to drop, and has that been sorted?

 

[Damon]

Thats one beautiful floor.

Can't help with any advice on how to repair such a floor but it'd be such a shame to lose it under tiles.

 

[plasticpigeon]

If it was my house I would take the cement off, perhaps fill the crack and leave it with the levels slightly off. My partner (de facto wife) would probably also demand replacement with something that's crap but perfect. I wonder how deep it is. I reckon grinding that much would risk compromising the design.

 

[Abi Cott]

Stunning floor. Plus one for cleaning it up and living with the crack. Plus 99 for working out why the crack hapoened in the first place.

 

[JanJonWestWales]

Stunning floor. Plus one for cleaning it up and living with the crack. Plus 99 for working out why the crack hapoened in the first place.

Think I have the answer to "Why the crack?"...had a bad nights sleep last thinking that it might be a sign of subsidance at the back of the house, but I have looked and can find no other signs in any of the walls, floors, outside etc.

So carried on pulling up the laminate today, and as I went around the corner - found this.....



Someone has at some point, dug a trench through the Terrazzo, and buried (I assume) a pipe.
This would have left the corner of the slab "Hanging"...so not suprosed it cracked, and dropped.
Not conclusive, but worth +75 ???

Still considering a repair, and contacted Abbeyfloorcare (thanks Feltwell)
They say they can fill the crack with coloured resin,and then grind down the lip of the drop.
Depends if the want it totally smooth or a slight raise, I think we can live with that.
Getting the cement off is the easy bit !

As for the pipe trench...Mrs Jan, says we could end the floor at the corner and cover the rest with a rug...so not given up yet

 

[Feltwell]

Sometimes you just want to get hold of past owners and shake them warmly by the throat for the "work" they've done to your house!

Someone butchered our original Victorian tiled hallway floor to put a water pipe in - we've not got the fanciest tiled floor, just small red and yellow tiles laid in a diamond pattern, but it's still nice. The only saving grace is they did this just in front of the back door, so a big doormat hides the damage nicely. I may even take a couple of extra tiles out at some point to swap with broken ones in more visible parts of the hallway, but if I do I shall put the broken ones back under the mat!

I've got a dilemma in my entrance porch - which is enclosed, and the floor flows through to the hallway, in fact originally there was no door between them, just an archway. The tiles are badly worn and are never going to look good:-



Luckily the main hallway, inside our inner door, looks a *lot* better.

I can't see any way of doing much with them, those pale patches are where the top fired surface of the tile has flaked away. I've thought about cutting a mat well into the floor, but in truth I can see just putting a big mat down being a better solution, help trap dirt before it gets walked into the house as well. I need to renovate the front door and put a higher threshold underneath it, at the moment it barely clears the tiles as it swings open, no room for a mat - in fact sometimes letters stop you opening the door! I've been grovelling with my hand round the side of the door with a garden cane when getting back from holiday before now, as the letters jam the door! Job no. 3013 on the list.......

 

[Abi Cott]

Sometimes a simple felt tip pen can make things look better. I remember my mum nicking my 140 felt tip pen set on a number of occasions. It wasn't perfect by any means but it stops the damage jumping out at you.

 

[plasticpigeon]

How about a brush draught excluder to push the mail?

 

[Feltwell]

Could do, but I'd rather not do temporary fixes, lest they become permanent ones that just annoy me because they're not "right". I am a bit binary - it's either a proper fix to the best of my abilities or complete neglect in this house, unless it's really functionally critical to safe living! Mrs F is very patient, bless her.