Terrazzo Restoration in Sun City Center

Sun City Center’s 1960s Del Webb houses are the part of the community where terrazzo turns up, and the county records show it clearly in the late-1960s units. Restoring one of those floors typically runs $5 to $9 per square foot for the grind, hone and polish, $2 to $3 per square foot for carpet and glue removal, $4 to $6 for tile, and $75 to $250 per patch. Send a photo of a closet corner and we will tell you what we see.

How Sun City Center began

Del E. Webb, the developer and one-time Yankees owner who had opened Sun City in Arizona in 1960, looked at a 12,000-acre cattle ranch between Wimauma and Ruskin along U.S. 301 and finalized the purchase of 18,000 acres in January 1961. Ground was broken that May, and the community opened on January 1, 1962, the opening day Webb had promised, two weeks after a freeze killed most of its new landscaping. About 41,000 people visited in the first week. The first homeowners moved in on April 20, 1962.

Sun City Center is an age-restricted community about 24 miles south of Tampa, with Interstate 75 along its northwest edge and the Little Manatee River along its south. Golf carts are legal on its streets in daylight. It grew steadily: the census counted 2,143 residents in 1970 and 5,605 in 1980, and building has continued in phases ever since. That means the community’s housing runs from the 1960s to recent years, and only the earliest slice is from the terrazzo years.

What the county records show

On Pebble Beach Boulevard, which runs through Del Webb’s late-1960s units, we pulled every single-family house the property appraiser returned:

The pattern inside those units is sharp. Every terrazzo listing on Pebble Beach Boulevard is a house built in 1969 or 1970; the 1966 to 1968 houses we pulled there list carpet, tile or other floors. We cannot tell from the records whether that is a change in what was poured or simply what later owners covered, which is why a closet-corner check beats any rule. The 1990s houses on Del Webb Boulevard listed no terrazzo at all, which fits the countywide pull: none of the 595 houses built in 1973 or later listed it. Our property-record guide explains how to read your own house’s record.

A practical note for this community: Sun City Center is about 24 miles from downtown Tampa, so we plan visits around a photo first. A clear closet-corner photo and the square footage let us bring the right chips and tooling the first time.

What Sun City Center floors tend to need

Sixty years of owners usually means layers on top of the original floor:

• Carpet with tack strip in living areas and bedrooms. The rust dots usually grind out and the holes get filled. See tack-strip holes.
• Tile in kitchens and baths, set onto the terrazzo. Removal typically runs $4 to $6 per square foot and leaves pits to fill. See pits after tile removal.
• A sealer that has worn out on floors that were already exposed. If water soaks in along the main paths, a reseal at $1.50 to $3 per square foot may be all a polished floor needs. See sealing and maintenance.
• Slip concerns. A floor polished to a high gloss and finished with wax can be slippery. The NTMA care guide warns that purely surface waxes can make floors slippery. A satin finish and a penetrating sealer, with no wax, is the combination we suggest in a house where anyone is unsteady on their feet.

Getting a number

Send a closet-corner photo, a close shot of the worst spot with a coin beside it, the square footage and the year built. You get a range from the pricing page. The full process is on the restoration page, and we also work in Apollo Beach to the northwest.