Can terrazzo be painted?

[bluegrl0222]

I'm redoing my kids' bedrooms and ripped up the carpet to reveal terrazzo. (I've already covered up that ugly stuff in the rest of the house!) I was considering painting it. I'm on a small budget and don't know if I should either paint, lay down inexpensive carpet, or wait a few months to save money and lay down laminate wood. I'm concerned with how the paint will adhere. Any advice would be helpful. (I think this carpet was from the 60's or 70's. The floor has a yellow film that scrapes away easily.)

[John Bridge]

Hi Blue, Welcome. Please give us a first name.

You can strip the terrazzo floor and paint it. Question is how long will the paint hold up under traffic? You'll need a paint stripper product to remove the old finish.

[bluegrl0222]

My name is Jen. I guess I was wondering what the proper steps would be to go about painting the terrazzo. I've read different things from different sites. Some say treat is as concrete and use concrete paint. I've heard expoxy paint, then I've heard use wall paint and top coat with polyeurathane. What do I strip with? How do I know all residue from polish, dirt, etc has been removed? Once stripped, what is the proper procedure to paint it and will it hold up?

I bought a glass and tile scraper and have been scraping it by hand. The floor is covered in this yellow something or other. It scrapes up fairly easy and looks like crystally powder. It's actually coming pretty clean and I'm considering stripping, sealing, polishing, then throwing down an area rug instead of painting. I've heard that I should skip the sealer because it creates a buildup on the floor that can yellow. What are your thoughts on that?

Also, I just visited the store you had included in your first reply. How in the world do I know which stripper, sealer, etc to pick? I've only tried the Zep line sold at Home Depot and that stuff is worthless in my opinion.

Thanks for your help.

[dgunnels]

The purist in me is absolutely horrified. It's your house. Gasp. I would love to have terrazzo and can't imagine covering it. Good luck.

[Mike2]

Hi Jen, welcome to the Forum.

Sounds like our really good friend Nessie likes terrazzo. That being the case she's going to have a hissy fit after I say terrazzo reminds me of the Men's room floor inna Greyhound Bus station. I'm with you gurl, cover it up good.

Seriously (again), given the options you mentioned I'd be inclined to wait a few months and do the laminate flooring thing. In a kids room especially, that's exactly what I would do. And I wouldn't go overboard buying the real expensive stuff. I've got 4 kids behind me now and 3 little Grand Tornado's....so voice of experience talking here.

[bluegrl0222]

At this point, I've opted not to paint it. I can't afford laminate right now, that will come later maybe 6 months or so, after Christmas is out of the way. What I've scraped so far, actually looks pretty good. It's much better than that nasty green carpet, which I have no idea why I waited 8 years to rip that crap out! My cleaning/stripping questions still remains though. Will somebody please tell me an easier way (besides hiring somebody) to get this yellowed crystallized stuff off the floor??? Thanks for all of your posts so far.

[Davy]

I've seen them put down epoxy paint on garage floors. Some even have several colors of small paint chips in it, kinda purty for a garage floor, not sure how it would look in a bedroom.

[dgunnels]

Yea Jen!!! Hang on to the terrazzo for a little while. You might like it. It is certainly easy to maintain. About cleaning it, have you checked the liberry to see if we have any info there?

[dgunnels]

I checked the liberry, a couple of products mentioned were Sureclean 600 and Stonetech floor stripper. Don't know if they will work in your case exactly. Maybe one of the pros will chime back in.

[goneriding]

I'm in the "keep it" camp - I'd love to have an original terrazo floor! I'm sure I'd love to see the rest of your house, if it's one that was built with terrazo... just way cool A good cleaning and a sealer, put down a soft colorful rug for the kids, and I'll bet you love it too much to cover it up!!