Frederick M. Hueston, PhD  

Stone Care Consultant 

It was finally Friday and this old man was ready for some weekend fishing. Maybe I’d just call it a day, take the rest of the day off and make it a long weekend.        

I finished my cup of jo and decided I would do just that. Just as I was about to get back into the ole Woody and head down the road to my boat, the phone rang. 

“Stone Detective, here,” I said with a bit of hesitation. I really wanted to go fishing today but, alas, duty calls. 

The man on the other end sounded desperate. He was the manager of the local convention center. He told me they had just finished a new addition and the “terrazzo floors have a problem.” He said, “The terrazzo is faded and I was wondering if you have a solution to bring the color back?” 

“How do you know it’s faded?” I asked. He told me they had hired a consulting engineering firm and that they came in and took core samples, had them sent out for analysis, and there conclusion was that the dye they used in the terrazzo mix had faded. 

“Really?” I said in kind of a sarcastic tone. He asked me if I could come take a look at it. I really didn’t want to, after all, the fish were calling me, but this is what I do, so I told him I would be there within the hour.

I pulled up to the convention center which was huge. I believe it was over a million square feet. The challenge, I thought, was where I was supposed to meet my contact. 

I pulled the ole Woody into the parking lot, after paying twelve dollars for parking, and placed a call to the convention center manager. He told me he would meet me in Section D. 

OK, I thought, where the heck is Section D?  He gave me one of those “you can get there from here” directions and off I went. I had a feeling I should have worn my sneakers. 

I walked in the door and guess what section I was in? Yup, just my luck, Section A. I knew it was going to be a long walk. 

After about 15 minutes of walking and making a couple of wrong turns, and a quick stop to the restroom, I arrived at Section D and there stood the building manager. 

“That was quite a walk,” I said laughing. 

He just mumbled something and said, “Come with me.” 

He led me into one of the long hallways and pointed to the edges of the terrazzo. The terrazzo was red in color but was pink along the edges. The pink discoloration extended about ten inches from the wall. 

He pointed to the edges and handed me a report done by the engineering firm. I asked if I could have a few minutes to go over the report.  

I started reading the report and began laughing to myself. It was obvious that their guys didn’t have a clue what they were doing. The report was loaded with all kinds of lab tests and a detailed description of the terrazzo including how many marble chips there were per square foot. This is what I call a fluff report. I was dying to ask what they paid for all this.  

Anyway, I went through the report and shook my head. I went up to the manager and told him the report was very impressive but that they were dead wrong on the conclusion. 

He took a step back as though he was getting ready to just throw me out of the place. He put his hands on his hip and said, “Look here, this is a firm we have used for years and this report cost us $15,000, so I doubt they are wrong.” 

He was quite upset and understandably so, but I was about to prove them wrong. I told him that I understood that he shouldn’t just take my word for it, so with permission, I would like to prove it to him. 

“Fine, I’ll be in my office,” he said. “Call me when you’re done.” 

Now I had to make that long walk back out to the ole Woody to grab some tools. So, off I went. I went back to the spot where we were standing, took out my electric polisher and placed some 400 grit diamonds on it. 

I worked the so-called “faded” area for a while and then took some polishing powder for the final finish. I managed to bring the color back to match the rest of the floor. 

I called Mr. Doubtful to come take a look. When he arrived I pointed to the area I had just finished and he asked me what I did. 

I looked him square in the eye and said, “I corrected a bad refinishing job that the original contractor performed.” 

He looked at me and was puzzled, so I explained to him that the terrazzo would appear faded or light in color at the lower grits. The faded edges where the result of not doing the edges properly. All I did was finish it properly. 

He just stood there with his mouth open, shook his head and asked me to write it up. Another case solved. 

This is a perfect example where someone gets in over their head. This engineering firm either didn’t know the first thing about terrazzo or they were really just ripping the convention center off.

Oh, well. I at least had my tackle gear ready in the back of the ole Woody, so now I guessed I’d just head back to the boat, destined for the lake. Swoosh!

The Stone Detective is a fictional character created by Fred Hueston, written to be entertaining and educational. He has written over 33 books on stone and tile installations, fabrication and restoration and also serves as an expert for many legal cases across the world. You can send any email comments to him at fhueston@stoneforensics.com