Case Study | Cutler Bay

This terrazzo floor in a Cutler Bay home had deep scratches, worn spots and years of dullness that regular cleaning was never going to fix. It needed real correction, not a mop and a coat of wax. Here is how the floor came back over 5 days, and why there is no acrylic coating on it.

The Job at a Glance

Cutler Bay | Residential terrazzo | Penetrating sealer

STEP 1 OF 3

The floor showed visible surface wear, deep scratches, and years of dullness. That kind of damage lives in the surface of the terrazzo itself, so no amount of mopping or cleaning product was going to bring it back.

There were also cracks and chips that had to be repaired before any polishing, or they would have stayed in the finished floor.

Watch the job | 3 minutes

STEP 2 OF 3

Miguel and José worked this floor over 5 days, in four stages.

STEP 3 OF 3

We did not put wax or acrylic on this floor. No acrylic coatings, no shortcuts, no temporary treatments. The floor was corrected mechanically, then sealed with a breathable penetrating sealer that goes into the stone instead of sitting on top of it.

If you want to see what a failing acrylic looks like on a floor, read our acrylic sealer case study, also in Cutler Bay.

The shine comes from the stone, not from a coating on top of it.

Case Study | Cutler Bay

Someone had put an acrylic sealer on this Cutler Bay porcelain floor, and it was failing. The tile came from Spain, so the owner called it Spanish tile, but it is porcelain. By the time we got there the coating was ripping apart. Here is why we stripped it instead of cleaning over it, and why porcelain gets a coating at all.

What the sealer was doing

Hazing over

Building up along the edges

Wearing through in the walking paths

Ripping apart

The Job at a Glance

Cutler Bay | Porcelain tile made in Spain | Ceramic coating

STEP 1 OF 3

The floor had the wrong product on it. An acrylic coating had been applied over the porcelain, and in this climate it was not holding. It had hazed over, built up along the edges and corners, worn through where people walk, and in places it was ripping apart.

A floor in that condition cannot be cleaned back. Scrubbing over a failing acrylic just seals the problem in underneath it. The coating had to come off first.

Watch the job | 1 minute

STEP 2 OF 3

Miguel and Franco did this one together, and it took about 6 hours from start to finish.

STEP 3 OF 3

Porcelain is dense. It cannot be honed or polished the way natural stone can, so a coating is how you change its finish. The ceramic coating we use is one part and silane based, and it is rated for tile and grout, concrete, masonry, epoxy, natural stone, VCT, LVT and LVP.

Stone is a different story. On marble, travertine, limestone and Saltillo in South Florida, we refinish the stone and use a penetrating sealer, so the stone can still release moisture.

The right product for the surface matters more than how hard you scrub.

Case Study | Cutler Bay

Metal dog crates sat in the same spot on this Cutler Bay tile floor for close to two years. When they came out, the rust they left behind had gone deep into the tile. Here is how the job went, and why we told the owner to expect about 90 percent, not 100.

The Job at a Glance

Cutler Bay | Tile floor | Work by Miguel

STEP 1 OF 3

This was not surface dirt, and it was not ordinary discoloration. Metal that sits in one place for months oxidizes, and the rust bonds into the surface of the tile. After close to two years under the crates, the staining had worked its way into the floor itself.

So the real question was not just how to clean it. It was how much of it the tile would give back.

Watch the job | 28 seconds

STEP 2 OF 3

Miguel handled this one himself. He worked the stained areas with a rust and oxidation treatment, and the work on the stains took about 30 to 45 minutes. No tiles were pulled up and nothing was replaced.

STEP 3 OF 3

We removed roughly 90 percent of the staining. After years of rust, some shadowing can stay, because long exposure can change certain tile surfaces for good.

We give you the real number before we start, not after.