What is terrazzo?

Terrazzo is a type of flooring made from a mixture of glass, marble, granite, quartz and other hard substances. This mixture is then added to cement or epoxy and polished once it is poured. The polishing produces the smooth, beautiful terrazzo surface that graces many homes and business lobbies. Terrazzo is very durable and relatively low maintenance. Elegant Floor Service can help you keep your Maryland, Washington, DC or Virginia terrazzo floors in excellent condition with our terrazzo cleaning and repair services.

What is the history of terrazzo?

Terrazzo came into common use in 15th century Italy as an inexpensive floor option. Workers would use the small pieces of excess marble from expensive building jobs to create terrazzo. It was one of the first recycled products as it reuses discarded pieces for material. Older terrazzo was mixed with cement, but most modern terrazzo is made with epoxy as it offers more color options.

What are the benefits of terrazzo floors?

Made from recycled material, terrazzo is not only environmentally friendly, but it also produces zero harmful chemicals. Making a terrazzo floor doesn’t release any volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the atmosphere because the material is all natural, so it is one of the “greenest” floors available for your home.

Since terrazzo is stone, it is naturally bacteria-resistant. So terrazzo is not only healthy for the environment – but also for you and your family!

Terrazzo can be installed inside or outside your home. It is water-resistant so it is great for bathrooms and kitchens. It is also very durable so it works well for entryways, patios and other high-traffic areas. No matter where your terrazzo is in your home, Elegant Floor Service will make it shine like new!

One of its biggest benefits is no two terrazzo floors are alike – so your floors will look like none other in the world! With such unique floors, why not keep them clean and in great condition so you can show your terrazzo off to your friends? Terrazzo cleaning and repair from Elegant Floor Service will get your terrazzo ready for the spotlight!

How do you clean terrazzo?

To keep your terrazzo floors looking their best, they should be regularly cleaned. But it is important they are cleaned properly, otherwise the terrazzo will get damaged. Regular household cleaners can hurt your terrazzo. To keep your floors looking brand new, it is important to schedule a regular cleaning with a professional floor cleaning company like Elegant Floor Service. We will use specialized equipment to clean your floors by removing grime and old wax to bring back the original shine of your terrazzo. We also use polishing materials with diamond abrasives to restore a brand new look to your terrazzo. To make your floors look exactly how you want them, we offer high- or low-sheen polishing services. Terrazzo cleaning will make your floors the envy of all your visitors!

You should also maintain your terrazzo in between regular professional cleanings. Dirt and debris can scratch your terrazzo so be sure to sweep or vacuum your floor daily. You should also wipe up any spills as quickly as possible. The longer a spill stays on the terrazzo, the more likely it will stain. Keeping the surface of your terrazzo free of dirt and spills is the best way to main your floors on a daily basis.

How do you repair damaged terrazzo?

During a routine cleaning, Elegant Floor Service will also check for any damage in your terrazzo and recommend repairs if necessary. Scratches and cracks are eliminated and old grout is replaced during repair. We also apply a sealant to your terrazzo to prevent future damage. With our terrazzo repair services, your floors will look new again!

Elegant Floor Service also provides a grout repair service for your terrazzo. Grout cleaning should always be done by a professional because you need to be careful not to damage the floor when cleaning or repairing grout. We will remove all stains and dirt from the grout around your terrazzo and reseal it to protect it from further damage. Your terrazzo can’t look perfect unless your grout does too! With Elegant Floor Service’s terrazzo floor repair and cleaning, your terrazzo and the area around it will look its best!

Contact our terrazzo floor company today to learn more about Elegant Floor Service’s terrazzo cleaning and repair and bring your terrazzo to its true potential!

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If you want to transform your home from ordinary to extraordinary, have you considered stone flooring?  If you already have stone floors, you know how beautiful they can be – with the proper care.  Do your stone floors look dull and need to be restored and cleaned? You’ll be amazed at the difference polished and restored stone flooring makes!

For the best maintenance services for your stone flooring, call the experts at Elegant Floor Service for professional stone floor cleaning, polishing and restoration services in the Maryland, Washington, DC and Virginia area.

Quality Stone Floor Care

While many people realize they need to occasionally refinish their hardwood flooring, they aren’t aware of the need to similarly maintain and restore their stone flooring.  But a little shine can go a long way in making your stone flooring more attractive and giving it that glossy, brand new appearance!  And nothing accentuates a room or office better than beautiful stone flooring – especially if you receive quality stone floor care from true flooring professionals.

Stone Floor Care in Your Office

If your office building has stone flooring that has lost its luster and needs to be spruced up, take advantage of our stone flooring maintenance services!  We have seen a variety of flooring material in offices throughout the area, including granite, marble, terrazzo and other natural stone – whatever material your stone floors are made of, we’ve cleaned it before and can help brighten up your office as well.

Stone Floor Care in Your Home

When it comes to stone floors for homes, we’ve seen and cleaned ‘em all!  No matter what type of stone flooring you have in your home – limestone, terrazzo, granite, etc. – it needs professional cleaning and maintenance.  This includes anything from polishing and sealing to restoration and grout repair.    

Stone floor restoration – sometimes your stone floors simply need to be restored, just like hardwood floors need to be refinished.  Our expert stone flooring cleaners grind or peel away the top surface to expose the pristine “virgin” layer underneath and restore the flooring to its original finish.

Stone floor cleaning, polishing & sealing – you may be surprised how different clean floors can make the room look!  We use diamond abrasives and polishing compounds to restore that shine, and in no time at all, your stone flooring will look brand new again!  Sealing is also an important step in cleaning – and contrary to popular belief, it won’t make your floor more slippery or change the color in any way.  Sealing your floors prevent stains and enhance the beauty of your flooring.  Sealing and polishing to restore high luster is an especially good maintenance practice for marble flooring.
 

Stone floor grout repair & cleaning – sometimes all your stone floor really needs to look beautiful and new again is grout repair and touch-up!  Grout lines are carefully cleaned (any dirt or discoloration is removed) using proper brushes and cleaning agents by our expert stone floor maintenance professionals.

Whether you opt for marble, granite, terrazzo or some other type of natural stone flooring, just remember that it needs to be maintained – just like a hardwood floor needs to be maintained.  Cleaning, sealing and restoration from professional floor cleaners can make all the difference in the world and get your stone floors looking brand new in no time.  For any stone flooring maintenance needs you may have for your home or office in the Maryland, Washington, DC and Virginia area, call the pros at Elegant Floor Service today!

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Woods floors are known for their coziness and their attractiveness, so when you first consider installing a hardwood floor, you think of the stain color, wood type and design. However, there is more to a wood floor than what you see on its surface. If you are installing a new wood floor in your Maryland (MD), Washington, DC or Virginia (VA) home, then one thing you must consider is whether you want to install a solid or engineered wood floor.

Solid Wood Flooring

Solid wood flooring usually comes in wood pieces that can be anywhere between 5/16″ thick to 3/4″ thick of solid wood. Due to its thickness, solid wood flooring can be sanded and refinished multiple times, allowing solid wood floors to look nice and smooth for decades. In fact, many solid wood floors can last for over 50 years!

Since solid wood flooring consists of single slabs of wood, solid wood flooring is more likely to shrink, expand and warp than engineered wood floors. As a result, many hardwood floor installers leave an expansion gap between the solid wood floor and the wall, allowing room for any wood floor growth and preventing the wood floor from bending and cracking.

Engineered Wood Flooring

Unlike solid wood flooring, engineered wood flooring contains wood pieces that consist of 3-10 thin layers of wood. Each wood layer is placed in a different direction and is bonded together using heat and pressure to create a very strong and durable piece of wood, preventing the wood floor from warping in high moisture and high humidity environments.

Things to Consider Before Installing a Solid or Engineered Wood Floor

Before deciding whether to install a solid or an engineered wood floor, there are several things you must consider:

1. Location

Solid wood flooring is not optimal for basements or sunken living rooms while engineered wood floors are very durable and can be installed anywhere in the home.

2. Subfloor

If your subfloor is made of concrete, you should install engineered wood flooring to withstand the structure of the floor.

Whether you install solid wood flooring or engineered flooring, there is no doubt you will have a beautiful hardwood floor in the end. If you live in the Maryland (MD), Washington, DC or Virginia (VA) area and are thinking about installing a wood floor, contact Elegant Floor Service and we’ll help you figure out whether a solid or an engineered wood floor is best for you!

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As much care as we take to protect our marble floors, spills, accidents and natural wear are inevitable. Marble floors are very delicate and porous, so making sure you clean them properly is extremely important. If you attempt to clean your marble floors the wrong way you may end up doing serious damage.

Time is of the Essence When Cleaning Marble Floors

Marble floors are very porous and will quickly soak up whatever liquids fall on them. That’s one of the biggest differences between marble and porcelain tile. Should you happen to spill a glass of red wine or any other liquid onto your marble floor, make sure you respond quickly with a towel and warm water to soak everything up before it seeps too deep. The longer you wait, the deeper the stain will go into your marble floors and the more difficult it will be to clean.

Materials for Marble Floor Cleaning

The best solution for cleaning your marble floors is warm water. If you require something a bit stronger you can add a small amount of ammonia to the water. You want to avoid using any solution that is acidic or has a high pH level on your marble floors – like vinegar (very acidic) or many caustic detergents and commercial cleaning products. If you happen to have a neutral pH detergent, you may use it sparingly without doing much damage. Your marble floors are very delicate and the use of an acidic solution will not only degrade the quality and shine of the stone, but will also lead to pitting and cracking your floors. And that’s because marble is comprised mostly of calcite – which gets eaten away by contact with acid.

Regular Cleaning Will Extend Your Marble Floor’s Life

Constant care for your marble floors is essential to extending their lifespan and protecting your investment. Your floors take daily assaults from sand, dirt, oils and other substances that are tracked in on the bottom of your shoes. These abrasive materials can easily scratch and degrade the surface of your marble floors, eventually wearing them into disrepair if not properly cleaned on a regular basis.

Winter Worries: Don’t Let Your Shoes on The Marble Floors!

Winter time usually means lots of sand and salt on the bottoms of your shoes. Sand and salt are great for road and sidewalk traction, but they’re very damaging to your marble floors. This sand and salt can scratch and dissolve marble floors, and when left for long periods of time, they can actually begin to pit and crack the floors. During the winter, please have everyone take off their shoes on a rug or in a different room to avoid tracking damaging substances onto your marble floors. And don’t be shy – try to clean your marble floors thoroughly on a regular basis.

For More Serious Stains, Contact Professional Marble Floor Cleaners

If your marble floors are so stained such that warm water or a heavily diluted ammonia solution cannot clean them, then it’s time to contact your local floor cleaning specialists. They will typically have cleaning solutions that are specifically designed for marble floors and won’t do any damage. You might also want to schedule a regular (monthly or quarterly) cleaning to make sure your floors maintain their quality and shine for many years to come!

If you live in the Maryland (MD), Northern Virginia (VA), and Washington, DC area and want to make sure your marble floors maintain their beauty for years to come, contact the experts at Elegant Floor Service today at 1.800.417.3172!

Grout is an essential part of your home. If you take a minute to think about it, can you name all the places in your home that have grout? There are probably so many that you can’t! Learn more about this important substance from Elegant Floor Service and you’ll see just how much you depend on grout in your everyday life – probably without even knowing it!

What is grout?

If you don’t do a lot of home improvement projects on your own, you might be wondering, what is grout? Grout is a mixture of cement, sand and water, sometimes with fine gravel added. When applied, grout is a thick but moldable paste. It hardens over time into a solid, yet flexible material.

What is the purpose of grout?

So why do you need grout? Grout is used as filler between items such as tiles. It keeps out water that could damage your tiles (and possibly even the wall behind them) and also helps hold everything in place.

How is grout installed?

Grout is installed with the use of a grout float, which your grout installer will use to mold and flatten the grout into the proper shape. Once the grout has dried into the correction position, a sealer is added over it to keep out liquids and other potentially damaging substances.

Where is grout used?

Grout is used all over your home; in fact, you are probably in a room with grout right now! You might find grout in your:

• Shower

• Bathroom

• Kitchen

• Floors

• And more!

The applications for grout in your home are endless! Though probably most visible in bathrooms, grout is used in many other rooms you may not expect.

How often should I have grout cleaning?

In order to maintain your grout so it can continue to help make your home beautiful for years to come, you need have regular grout cleaning. Grout cleaning can also help prevent the need for major grout repair down the road. A grout cleaning company can come into your home and effectively clean your grout so it looks brand new. Since most grout is white, it shows stains very easily. Grout cleaning will make your home look well-maintained and attractive to visitors.

When do I need grout repair?

Like most things, grout doesn’t last forever. Regular grout cleaning can help extend its life, but grout repair is inevitable at some point in the future. If your grout is discolored, cracked or missing, consider grout repair. These are all indications your grout is not fully protecting your tiles and walls anymore. During the grout repair process, a technician will use tools to remove all your old grout without damaging your tiles and install new grout that looks seamless with your existing tile. Your new grout will look great and protect your home from damage!

Grout Cleaning & Repair from Elegant Floor Service

If you need grout cleaning or repair in the Maryland, Virginia or Washington, DC area, contact Elegant Floor Service. Our expert technicians are here to help you get the most out of your grout so your home stays protected. We can make your grout look brand new with our grout cleaning service, or replace your old grout without damaging your tile with our grout repair service. Contact us to learn more about grout today!