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Saltillo Restoration in the Dallas Metroplex

Administrator — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 22:24:55 +0000

Saltillo floors have gone through so many changes throughout the past 50 years. What was once a highly sought after floor choice has begun to make a big come back. A couple years ago we finished a Saltillo floors in a Kaleidoscope of homes in the Team Ranch area of Fort Worth. Designers and home owners have been falling in love again with these beautiful floors.

Unfortunately, it is near impossible to find true raw Saltillo floors. Most today come pre-sealed and mass produced; which is like buying engineered granite stone. Original Saltillo has originality and a distinctive unique characteristic about each tile. No two tiles are exactly the same. Without going into the boring details of how each are made, I can say that the original tiles were created more by hand. The pre-sealed Saltillo tiles are typically thinner and more fragile, thus the need for the pre-seal to give each tile durability.

In the past years we have had the opportunity to finish many Saltillo floors. I wanted to highlight one project we completed a week ago. In these pictures, I only got one before picture. And it was in the Stripping phase of the project. The other pictures show off our ability to restore an old floor and match it to an existing floor!

: Saltillo stripping

Saltillo restoration

Terrazzo Restoration

Administrator — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 21:06:47 +0000

Terrazzo Natural

Restoring ‘poured” Terrazzo is so much fun! So many clients do not realize their terrazzo floors are a classic treasure. Poured terrazzo is just as the name suggests; a floor poured like concrete in a home consisting of Portland Cement and chips/chunks of Marble. When poured, the cement based can be dyed. Usually white, but we have seen all kinds of beautiful colors (blues, oranges, greens, black, and so on). When restored naturally, the results are incredible. A mirror like shine that is very difficult to dull. Unfortunately, so many business and homes are restored using synthetic sealers/waxes to achieve a shine. These synthetic products scuff, scratch and dull under minimal wear and traffic. Consider this: If a synthetic finish lasts one year in a home before losing its shine, the natural finish will last 10 years in that same home.

Maintenance is a breeze with the natural finish restoration. Since poured terrazzo does not have grout lines to speak of, the terrazzo is the easiest stone to maintain of all floor coverings.

And get this; you cannot buy poured terrazzo any more. Well, never say never! I am sure if you have the cash you can get it! So, these floors are priceless!

We have restored so many terrazzo floors in the Fort Worth area near the Fort Worth Zoo. Take a look at these pictures from that area! Just amazing!

Terrazzo After Restoration

Terrazzo Before restoring

To Seal or Not to Seal…Home Builders Say, No!

Administrator — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 04:16:39 +0000

The other day, I asked a major Custom Homebuilder in the North Tarrant area if he had anyone who sealed stone. He said, “No, my clients (custom home buyers) do not normally want the stone sealed. They like the stone to be look and age naturally.” He went on to suggest that stains and dirt added to the character of the stone. To which I replied, “I agree that most of my customers do like the natural look of stone; however, they do not like to walk across their floors and have their socks turn black. We have sealers that prevent dirt and grease from bonding to the stone while maintaining the natural look.” His response, “If a home owner requests sealer, then I will run down to HomeDepot or lowes and wipe some on.” I have two issues with his last comments that I would like to share.

(Tactfully, I did not go on to disagree with him or try to prove him wrong. Bottom-line: Builders do not seal floors 95% of the time. I can not blame them. Sealing does not add value to the sale of the home. So I ended the conversation and decided to discuss it with him later.)

What he said in that last comment is a common mistake of Do-it-yourself people. Let me say that ‘you can do it, but Home depot can not help.’ The sealers sold in these stores are less quality than the sealer purchased at a Tile Store. The sealer at Home Depot/Lowes is half the strength of what is sold in Tile stores.
My thought, why invest money on a stone floor to put a lesser sealer on your stone. Most do it out of the convenience. I am hoping to make it easier on you to buy quality sealers and cleaners off our website, coming soon.

You might be wondering why they sell a lesser sealer than the tile stores Here is why??? If you can find a tile store to sell you the exact same sealer as they (Home depot/lowes) are selling for a $1 less, you will get an additional 10% off the competitor’s price. It is company policy at these stores to give an additional 10% off if you can find it cheaper. Thus, selling a lesser sealer, Home Depot/Lowes does not have to give a 10% discount.

Morale of the story, buy from a tile store. Or, try your luck to get a tile store to sell you the product at $1 cheaper than the Home Deopt/Lowes.

[Sealed Travertine Floor]

The second issue I have is that he would ‘wipe on some sealer.’ This is a very common mistake by installers and Homebuilders. When they are asked to seal stone, they use as little sealer as possible. Just last month, a customer in Highland Village said her installers used less than 1 quart of sealer from Lowes (the cheap stuff) to seal approximately 800 sq ft of Travertine. After completing work on her floor, I used over 1 gal of sealer on her floors (pictured above).

To the do-it-yourself readers, saturate the stone for several minutes before wiping the stone dry. The intent is not to see how much money you can save on sealer. Remember, the goal is to get the best protection for your stone against stains and spills.

I say all this in hope that you can avoid these pitfalls of buying and owning stone.