About St. Petersburg Terrazzo Restoration

St. Petersburg Terrazzo Restoration is an independently operated local service. We grind, hone, repair, and polish the original cement terrazzo in mid-century Pinellas County homes. Our pricing is published, $4 to $8 per square foot for grind and polish, and quotes come from photos rather than sales visits. Our method is diamond abrasion and penetrating sealer, never wax, acrylic, or urethane.

Why we do this

Pinellas County has 959,107 people on 274 square miles of land, the most densely populated county in Florida, and most of its housing went up during the boom decades when the county grew from 159,249 residents in 1950 to 522,329 in 1970. Those homes were concrete block on slab, and the floor poured on that slab was very often cement terrazzo. Then the 1980s and 1990s happened, and the terrazzo went under carpet, vinyl, and tile.

Two things have changed. Mid-century houses in Disston Heights, Jungle Terrace, Shore Acres, and Pinellas Point are now sixty to seventy years old, the carpet is on its third replacement, and owners are discovering what is under it. And after Hurricane Helene’s storm surge in September 2024, thousands of waterfront homes lost their flooring entirely, which left a lot of terrazzo exposed for the first time in decades. Terrazzo, unlike carpet or laminate, survives a flood. It just needs to be ground back.

The problem is that the trade attracted a wave of “terrazzo shine” outfits that mop on an acrylic coating, charge restoration money, and leave in an afternoon. Those floors yellow, scratch, and peel within a year or two, and the coating traps slab moisture that then has nowhere to go. The National Terrazzo and Mosaic Association says wax and film coatings can yellow and dull and make the floor slippery. We started this business to put real diamond restoration, with real prices, in front of people searching for it.

What to expect, honestly

Stains: rust rings and carpet dye almost always grind out. Deep pet urine and old oil sometimes only lighten. The NTMA’s own restoration specification states that all staining in existing terrazzo may not be possible to remove, and we write every quote with that in mind rather than promising a miracle.
Patches: a hole filled with matched chips and a tinted matrix and ground flush looks very good from standing height and is visible up close. The NTMA guide notes that color matching existing aggregate may not be exact because marble is a mined product that changes over time. Ask us for a mock-up patch before we do forty.
Coatings: if your floor already has a film coating on it, the first job is grinding it off. There is no shortcut.
Moisture: slabs here are wet. The slab should be tested before sealing, and the sealer should be a penetrating one so the floor can breathe.

Licensing, honestly

Florida does not license terrazzo restoration as a trade. Section 489.117(4)(a) of the Florida Statutes bars local governments from requiring a license for terrazzo, tile, marble, and flooring work, and the Pinellas County Construction Licensing Board eliminated its Tile and Marble Specialty license effective July 1, 2024. That means no license number exists for this work, for anyone, and any company that claims a “terrazzo license” is describing something else. What matters is insurance, the right equipment (planetary diamond grinders, not a swing buffer), and a method that matches NTMA practice. So ask whoever bids, us included, for proof of insurance.

How a job goes

You send photos: a corner with the carpet pulled back, the worst spot, and the rough square footage. We give you a written range from the pricing page off those photos. On a well-run job, rooms are done in phases so you can stay in the house, grinding is wet with vacuum shrouds, and the floor is sealed and walkable before the crew leaves; ask any bidder, us included, to put that in the quote. Care instructions come with it: pH-neutral cleaner only.

The service pages cover the details: full restoration, grinding and polishing, crack and hole repair, and carpet, tile, and glue removal. The FAQ answers the questions people ask before they call.