SoFL Home Buyers: Terrazzo or Carpet? (Miami, Century: hardwood floor, budget, house)

[carolinadreamin]

We're planning to sell our house sometime next year and would like your feedback about which way to go with our living room floor.

Our entire home has terrazzo floors underneath, either ceramic tile or carpeting. We don't plan to remove the ceramic floor as it covers too much square footage but are wondering if it would be a good idea to restore at least some of the terrazzo, specifically the living room which is a large space and the first room you see when you enter. It currently has berber carpet that needs replacing before we would list.

We haven't had a chance to examine the entire floor yet but have seen some of the terrazzo around the corners under the carpet and it appears to be in good shape. From what I'm told it can be brought back to life again.

So my question is: If you were buying a home in SoFL would you appreciate a restored terrazzo floor or prefer we just replace carpet with more carpet?

The terrazzo would actually be less expensive to fix than anything else as it's already installed. The expert I spoke with tells me to have a poured terrazzo floor put in today it would cost around $70/square foot, if I'm remembering right. With that in mind it seems best to make the most of a wonderful floor that is worth quite a lot.

What do you think?

[tallrick]

Terrazzo was a low-cost floor choice for homes up till the 70's. Colorite was a popular budget brand of Terrazzo mix, and used in many tract homes. These floors are recognized by their white matrix and aggregate of river rocks or granite chips. Commercial floors used in bowling centers or stores like Publix often used colored cement matrix and aggregates of marble, granite, glass and even mica chunks. Commercial floors often had divider strips and terrazzo baseboards. With the poor style of the 70's terrazzo fell out of fashion about the same time that drywall became standard on homes. People preferred cheap paneling and shag rugs in ugly colors. Even today no home builders use Terrazzo because contractors charge 10 times as much as they should, being used to limitless commercial budgets.

I put terrazzo floors in my own home with a homemade floor grinder for a cost of .50 per square foot. My parent's home has the cheap 60's Colorite red aggregate/white matrix in excellent shape covered by carpeting. Restoration involved a strip, hardener and regrind. Many floors had carpet installed on tack strips where the installer shot nails through wood damaging the terrazzo. Repairs are tough, and involve etching the chipped out areas with acid, and using epoxy mixed with matching aggregate and a grinding to fix. Sometimes the floor needs chipping out to set the aggregate. You can buy a dry wheel for a hand grinder to do this.

Terrazzo has more class than carpet, I think it would be more impressive to buyers if in excellent condition.

[doggiebus]

I don't know I really don't like the look of terrazzo (we riped ours out), I think terrazzo hits only a certain group of people. It also depends on the style of the home and decor. Of course there will be buyers that will love the terrazzo. Just remember terrazzo isn't the mostly install flooring in SoFL, you may be elimating some buyers by restoring the terrazzo as they would see it as something they might have to cover up or replace with carpet, tile, pergo or even wood.

[Chelito23]

I say DEFINANTLY go with the terrazzo floors. Carpeting in Florida is not practica with all of the humidity and flooding. Terrazzo screams Florida, and most buyers in this area are looking for the "tropical" style and want something different from say a floor in New Jersey.

I agree with Tallrick that this goes for a restored Terrazzo floor, not a junky one. The design is a little bit dated, but I think it will go with the flavor of the house and the market better. It is a personaly decision, and taste issue...but in general, many Latin buyers prefer no carpeting for hygene issues (keeping the floor cleaned and mopped, culture of homes in Latin America, etc).

I would restore the floors and put some nice throw rugs over it, to give buyers a taste of what they could do if they are not into this style. I really think though that you will get MORE money for your home with the Terrazzo. Let us know what you decide and post pics if you can hehehe.

[carolinadreamin]

Hey thanks all for your input! Especially like the extra info from Tallrick. I think we must have the cheap kind. It's white with paler-colored chips. Our house was the model home for our subdivision back in the late 60s. I haven't asked our neighbors if they have the terrazzo also, but probably do. A couple of them have the same scalloped wood shelving in the pantry.

The expert I spoke to said rather than pulling up the carpet tacking strips he cuts them off and leaves the nail heads in the terrazzo, then somehow covers the discolorations. I tried to pay attention but don't remember all of his "terrazzo techno speak." lol

He said we can restore it in either matte finish or shiny. Matte is half the cost of shiny and then there's a strip and wax process that's in the middle and honestly I don't know what is best. We don't plan to stay here so not wanting to overspend. I would think shiny is prettier but not sure if it's slippery. We have to consider all the options but I think it would be cool to have it done as opposed carpet because of what was said i.e. the Florida factor.

Our house is a classic ranch partly decorated with Danish Modern furniture, retro colors, white globe lighting fixtures etc. so a terrazzo floor would blend right in and maybe inspire us to do more to maximize the vintage modern style.

I would think it would be unnecessary to rip out as terrazzo floor as was mentioned. Couldn't something else be installed right over it?

I will do before and after pix and try to post later on.

[tallrick]

You can't "rip out" a terrazzo floor, it's bonded to the concrete. To do so would require many days with a jackhammer! Most of the latin Americans put ceramic tile over their terrazzo, and most 'Americans" put carpeting or laminate flooring over it. It's basically super-smooth concrete. I have had the "fun" of removing ceramic tile and restoring terrazzo and that was labor intensive. Anyone who appreciates "space age" or "Miami Modern" (MiMo) would prefer terrazzo to ceramic tile.

When new most terrazzo was not shiny, so a satin surface is just fine. As for the nails they can be cut off, but they will rust if left in place if water sits on the floor, causing stains and spalling of the surface. Epoxy can be used to prevent that. Do the restoration, you will love it!

I also have the "modern" look with terrazzo, varnished kitchen cabinets , Holophane lights, Celotex ceiling tile, casement windows, etc. Built my home in 1990, making it the last vintage home built in Florida.

[deckardc]

I would take terrazzo over carpet any day. Besides, it's a Florida classic and it would coordinate well with the furniture styles that are popular now.

Carpet is icky, I don't care how well you clean it. If you've ever removed carpet from a house, you know how nasty it can be. It's just not practical in FL either. The moisture, bugs, sand, sandspurs, etc. are not carpet friendly. If you have allergies, remove your carpet and see how much they improve.

I'm not a big fan of the ceramic tile trend that's sweeping the state either. It makes me feel like I'm sitting in a Dairy Queen. Not quite the impression I want in my living room.

We pulled out all of our carpet and ceramic tile. We have marble on the bathroom floors, slate tile in the kitchen and front hall, and hardwood everywhere else. We have area rugs where we need them. It's nice to come in from the FL heat and feel something smooth and cool under your feet.

I would stick with the terrazzo, tile, hardwood, or laminate.

[carolinadreamin]

I'm going to try adding "before" pix of our floor. We're not getting good feedback so far from local professionals mainly due to stains of unknown age and origin. They want to charge up to $1000. and offer no guarantee the stains will come out. It's starting to sound like an expensive gamble. I'm still hopeful but cursing whoever put this glue down on terrazzo when it wasn't necessary. They may have ruined a perfectly good floor.
From what I hear, this is fairly common and happened a lot. It's sort of like hacking up a hardwood floor with an axe before installing carpet. Not much thought for future homeowners and what they may want to do.
We're having 2 more opinions before either going ahead with it or caving in to laminate.
On second thought we're taking such a hit on the house in this market that the existing carpet and Dry-Chem guy may have to suffice.

[DoveDiva]

I think it will look great with the paint color you have on the wall. (once restored)

Laminates would look good as well--I'm noticing that more folks in south Florida are going that route.

[miamism]

I am a Realtor and Architect and can tell you that if you have Terrazzo, you probably live in a Mid-Century Modern home which is extremely popular nowadays. Definitely restore the Terrazzo without a doubt!!
Carpeting is not a good selling choice for South Florida and we always recommend to our sellers to remove carpeting when possible.
Even if the Terrazzo is not in good condition, it is a popular material right now.