Analysis of Polishing and Maintenance Techniques for Terrazzo Care

Shanghai Jiani Material Technology Co., Ltd. is a professional company specializing in the production of stone tiles.

Traditional terrazzo boasts distinctive advantages including low cost, customizable color matching and pattern inlay, as well as convenient construction. It enjoys a vast market across China, with over 10 trillion square meters of terrazzo flooring installed in various buildings nationwide, both urban and rural. Nevertheless, conventional construction techniques leave terrazzo surfaces rough and prone to dirt accumulation. Many look grimy even before handover, creating major obstacles for daily sanitation and termite prevention.

In long-term service, prominent defects also emerge: terrazzo suffers from weathering, abrasion, stubborn stains and dullness. The total area of terrazzo used in domestic buildings has reached nearly 5 billion square meters. Restoring the original luster to weathered and worn terrazzo has become an increasingly urgent issue in the architectural decoration industry.

Currently, the only solution adopted at home and abroad for weathered and abraded terrazzo is to clean surface dirt and then apply a layer of wax. This method offers limited protection for new terrazzo and slows down natural weathering and abrasion to a certain extent. Yet for already deteriorated surfaces, it is merely like applying varnish to rotten wood, failing to restore a mirror-like finish. Furthermore, the wax film has poor durability, generally requiring re-waxing every week. Frequent rework drives up costs, meaning waxing treats neither the symptoms nor the root cause. It cannot be regarded as a genuine stone flooring treatment, for it never addresses the core technical problem of terrazzo restoration.

The glossy, crystal-clear appearance of terrazzo stems from a vitreous film formed on its surface after mechanical processing. This film delivers mirror-like shine and allows the internal texture and patterns of the material to show through, which accounts for its exquisite visual appeal. To revive the luster of weathered and abraded terrazzo, the key lies in reforming this vitreous film on the surface.

To rebuild the protective film, the terrazzo floor needs grinding and polishing. A terrazzo grinder and polisher is used to remove the weathered and abraded aged surface layer and expose the fresh base material. A specialized mechanical process then triggers complex physical reactions on the surface to generate a new vitreous film, fully restoring the natural decorative luster of terrazzo. The entire process consists of multiple working procedures without using any chemical agents. This approach fundamentally renovates rough, dirty terrazzo into smooth, mirror-bright flooring, achieving a permanent solution to both surface problems and underlying defects.

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