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Painted our terrazzo floors, used high quality primer and good paint. They look good but I would like to paint some decorative images on the, and can't find deck paint in colors I want. So the question is could I seal the floor with anything? I read it can be done with polyurethane but I also read that isn't a good idea. I don't always get a straight answer at Home Depot and Lowe's either so I thought I would ask here and see if anyone has experience. Thanks!
I painted my hideous travertine tile bathroom floor and the result was fantastic. I used Drylok concrete floor paint in white, then stenciled a pattern with black chalk paint, and finally sealed it with Seal Krete concrete protective sealer clear seal satin. Apparently, other sealers can/will yellow pretty quickly, but the Seal Krete was highly recommended on a few blogs of people who had used it when they painted their floors. My floor hasn't yellowed yet, and it's been a little over a year. If your painted floor is in a high-traffic area, be sure to use several coats of sealer.
Thanks MizMamie, that's helpful, it is the kitchen and other high traffic areas. I'll look for the product, as I said I used an excellent primer and good quality paint, I researched it before beginning the project so I'd like to seal it once I have a design on it.
Probably because they're laughing so hard they can't keep a straight face.
Just to clarify, the floors are over 40 years old and were in terrible shape, the only other option is to have them refinished or cover them with another type of flooring - I don't have the budget for any of those options presently - so painting them was the best option. Painting terrazzo is like painting any stone, if you prep well the result is beautiful. I've done three areas in my home and like the result but as I said I want to add some decorative patterns but would need to seal that and I've read conflicting information with regard to sealants on deck and floor paint. I have also received conflicting information from the stores as well as incorrect information when renting equipment from one of them - so I thought asking people who have experience would be the best approach.
Just to clarify, the floors are over 40 years old and were in terrible shape,
the only other option is to have them refinished or cover them with another type of flooring
I get that. My concern is about WHEN an owner is ready to properly restore the stone.
The floors were beyond restoration in places the house was built in the early 60s and the floors were not cared for at all it seems. Someone, tenant perhaps? installed self stick tile and used some sort of horrible adhesive, the terrazzo is not only stained, which may or may not be salvageable but has huge chunks missing in places that have been patched with who knows what. They are a horror, which may be the reason someone covered them with the tile, it was a cheap way to hide the flaws, paint is as well but it looks better than the tile and when it needs to be replaced it won't be such a nightmare. The adhesive was awful. The tile was not a challenge, I rented a machine from Home Depot and it only took a couple of hours to remove it, but the adhesive was another story. I know terrazzo can be beautiful but I don't have the resources to bring these floors back to life it would require a professional and be about 10-12K, worth it but I don't have it so I'm doing what I can to make them look decent and not create a nightmare like the self stick tile one I dealt with.
I have used Benjamin Moore oil based Maintenance Finish low lustre on wood floors over the years it wears very well. It comes in all the base colors, so coloring is unlimited. The latex version on floors is terrible in my opinion.
I'm thinking if someone wants to update the floors later they can tile over whatever paint I put on them, to repair the terrazzo would be really costly - more than the AC and septic put together which for this house would be crazy, it's basically a starter house. They could be tiled over or have some other type of flooring put down, but again I don't have the budget just now, I need something that looks decent and is easy to maintain, I have 3 cats and 2 dogs - partly why I can't afford to redo the floors LOL Seriously. The paint has held up well so far with all the traffic, I used a good quality primer and was very careful to prep well. I'm going to try the oil based sealer I think, I want something that will hold up to the critters especially in the kitchen. If I ever have the budget I'll probably cover it, as I said previously the terrazzo was a mess, it was horribly stained from the tile and has places where it was inexpertly patched - what someone did I have no idea, how in the world do you knock pieces of terrazzo out? But it was a horror and now it looks decent, and I'll probably stencil it. As for selling, well if a prospective buy doesn't like it they can purchase another house or ask for a price reduction to cover the cost of laying new flooring just not restoration of the terrazzo because that will probably cost more than the house is worth.
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