An old terracotta floor can almost always be saved: what looks dark and sticky is usually old wax and dirt, not damaged terracotta. Terracotta floor restoration in Mallorca means stripping the floor, treating the stains, consolidating the loose tiles and sealing the pores with linseed oil, wax or a water repellent. At Projectes Sastre we do it in village houses and country estates all over the island, with a free, fixed-price quote.
We mainly restore old indoor terracotta floors: village houses, possessions (traditional Mallorcan country estates) and rural properties, where the terracotta has been down for decades and has had coat after coat of wax. We also treat terracotta terraces and porches, which need a different kind of protection because they get wet and are walked on in outdoor shoes.
They almost always come to us in the same state: dull, with years of wax gone black in the areas people walk on most, grease stains in the kitchen and the odd loose tile. The good news is that terracotta does not wear out like other materials: it ages, and it usually gets its colour back without lifting a single tile.
If, next to the terracotta, you have a coloured mosaic floor in the entrance hall, see our hydraulic tile restoration; and if it is stone, terrazzo or marble, our floor polishing in Mallorca.
The best sealer for a terracotta floor depends on where it is and the finish you want. There is no single one that works for everything:
Outdoors we avoid glossy finishes: a floor that gets wet has to keep its grip. In spaces open to the public, the Technical Building Code (DB SUA) also requires slip-resistance class 3 outdoors and around swimming pools.
Drying is the stage most often skipped and the one that ruins the most jobs: sealing damp terracotta traps the moisture and dirt underneath. We explain it in detail in how to restore an old terracotta floor.
Because we have been treating floors in Mallorca from our workshop in Inca for more than 50 years, and we know that old terracotta can be brought back better than it looks.
A dedicated product and a rotary machine to lift decades of blackened wax, including in the areas people walk on most.
Grease, rust or damp: we treat what stripping does not remove before sealing.
We consolidate or replace loose or broken tiles so the floor is whole again.
About 24 hours in well-ventilated rooms: sealing damp terracotta traps the dirt underneath.
Linseed oil or wax indoors and a water-repellent sealer on terraces and porches, so the floor is not slippery.
We come to see the floor and give you a free, fixed-price quote anywhere in Mallorca.
The most common questions before restoring a terracotta floor.
Restoring a terracotta floor in Mallorca does not have a single price per square metre: it depends above all on how much old wax has to be stripped, plus deep stains, any tiles that need replacing and the sealing. We give you a free, fixed-price quote after seeing the floor. As a reference, the price generator from CYPE puts a new terracotta floor at around €47/m², not counting lifting the old one or removing the debris.
Yes, a badly damaged terracotta floor can almost always be saved, because what looks damaged is usually old wax and dirt, not the terracotta itself. With stripping, stain treatment and a new seal, the terracotta gets its colour back. Only when the terracotta is crumbling or many tiles are broken do they need consolidating or replacing before sealing.
Yes, we also restore terracotta terraces and porches. They need a different kind of protection from indoor floors because they get wet and are walked on in outdoor shoes: after stripping, they are sealed with a water-repellent sealer, which protects against water without leaving a shine or making the floor more slippery.
You can paint a terracotta floor with paints for porous floors, but on old terracotta it is almost never worth it: it covers up the colour and patina that give it its value, and the paint wears off where people walk most. Before painting it, it is worth seeing whether stripping and a new seal bring the colour back, which is what usually happens.
A restored terracotta floor is resealed every few years, depending on use: the busiest areas lose their protection and shine sooner. In the meantime, mopping with water and neutral soap is enough, without acids such as hydrochloric acid (spirits of salt), and oil or wine spills should be wiped up quickly before they soak into the pores.
Maintenance is enough when the terracotta floor has no built-up wax or stains and has only lost its shine and protection in the areas people walk on most: then the linseed oil or wax is renewed in those areas. The same goes if the problem is limescale from the water, which comes off with gentle cleaning without touching the seal.
Do you have a dull terracotta floor in a village house or a country estate? Before painting it or replacing it, let us take a look. Call us on 971 50 39 36 or write to us: we will come and see it, tell you what it needs and give you a fixed-price, no-obligation quote.
Guides to understand your terracotta and look after it afterwards, plus the other old floors we restore in Mallorca.
Is your floor terrazzo, marble or granite? You will find prices by material on our page about floor polishing in Mallorca.
