Renovating Old Apartment Entrances: Mosaic, Marble and Tile Floors

When you open the door of an apartment building in the older neighborhoods of Antalya, Mersin and Adana, you read the building's age and character from the floor first. In the old streets of Muratpaşa in Antalya, in the buildings of Akdeniz and Yenişehir in Mersin, and in the buildings of Seyhan and Reşatbey in Adana, the entrance halls are often covered with patterned tiles, poured mosaic or marble steps. These floors have met hundreds of footsteps every day for decades, and in places they are broken or worn, or covered with ceramic tiles or linoleum. When the time for renovation comes, unit owners are usually caught between two options: tear it out or save the original floor. In this article we look at how to identify the floors in an old apartment entrance, how to renovate them while preserving the original texture, how to complete broken pieces, and how to carry out the work together with the people living in the building.

In short: The mosaic, marble and cement tiles in old apartment entrances can often be renewed by honing and repairing them without removing them, and the building's original identity is preserved. For a good result, the type of floor must first be identified, broken pieces must be completed with suitable material, and the work must be divided into sections and planned so that residents' entry and exit are not disrupted.

What Floors Are Found in an Old Entrance?

Old apartment entrances often consist not of a single material but of a combination of several. The door threshold may be marble, the entrance hall patterned tile, the stair steps marble or poured mosaic, and the landings tile again. Each has a different age, hardness and renovation method; therefore the first task is to identify the floor section by section.

The most common types of floors found in entrances are:

• Cement tile (encaustic tile): Press-made tiles with a colored cement layer and a pattern on the top surface; since the pattern lies in the thin colored layer on the surface, honing must be done very carefully.
• Mosaic tile: Tiles produced by pressing marble chips into cement; honing exposes the marble grains on the surface and brings the floor back to life.
• Poured mosaic (terrazzo): Floors that are poured in place and honed after hardening, usually divided by metal or plastic divider strips and sometimes made with patterns.
• Marble slab and step: Natural marble used on thresholds, landing borders and stairs; wear is concentrated on stair nosings and in front of doors.

The easiest way to tell these types apart is to look at the cross-section of a broken tile or at a worn corner. In a cement tile the colored layer appears as a thin strip, while in a mosaic tile the marble grains are spread through the entire thickness of the tile. It is not surprising to find two different types in the same hall of an old building; repairs made in different periods create this mix. The steps and landing outside the door, being exposed to rain and street dirt, are usually far more worn than the interior hall; this section should be treated as a separate item, and slip resistance should be considered separately.

Why Is Preserving the Original Floor Valuable?

The patterned tile or mosaic at the entrance of an old apartment building is the product of craftsmanship that cannot easily be found in the same form today. Many patterns are no longer produced, and some can only be made to order in a few workshops. However high the quality of the new material put in place of a removed floor, a part of the building's character goes away with it.

The decision to preserve also has practical benefits. The rubble, dust and noise produced by demolition are a burden that is hard to bear for long in an occupied apartment building. The mortar under old floors is thick and solid; when removed, it is common to find a broken bed instead of a smooth screed underneath. This increases the cost and duration of the new floor. Honing and repair, on the other hand, work the existing floor in place, and the building's entrance can be completed by closing it off in short sections.

If you are curious about how original texture is read in old buildings in a broader context, we covered the region's stone heritage in our article on marble in ancient cities Although apartment entrances are not as old as those monumental structures, they are a valuable part of the everyday architecture of the city.

Removing Coverings Laid Over the Floor

In many old entrances the original floor is hidden under a later covering. Ceramic tile, linoleum, carpet-type flooring or epoxy paint were at one time seen as the easy way to renew a floor. Under these coverings the original tile or mosaic is often in sound condition, but removing them requires care.

When removing ceramic tile, the type and thickness of the adhesive are first examined on a small area so as not to break the tile underneath. Adhesive left under linoleum and carpet-type flooring is removed with a suitable solvent and mechanical methods; hard metal scrapers can scratch the colored surface of the tile. Epoxy paint is usually removed by mechanical abrasion, and at this stage how much material is taken from the tile's surface is monitored carefully.

Once the covering is removed, the true condition of the floor is revealed: how many tiles are broken, in which section there is a level difference, and which incompatible materials were used in old repairs. The renovation plan is finalized after this picture is seen. For this reason, it is sensible for the first budget presented to the unit owners' board to include an allowance for surprises that may appear under the covering.

Completing Broken Tiles and Missing Pieces

The hardest part of restoring an old entrance is finding suitable material to replace broken or missing pieces. With patterned cement tiles in particular, the absence of a single tile disrupts the rhythm of the whole pattern. There are several ways to solve this problem, and which one to choose depends on the number of missing pieces and whether they are in a visible spot.

The options for dealing with a broken tile can be summarized as follows:

1. Reusing tiles from within the building: Intact tiles from under the stairs, in front of the caretaker's flat or from a section that was later closed off are carefully lifted and moved to a visible part of the entrance, and a plain tile is laid in the space left behind.
2. Finding a similar tile: Tiles from the same period can occasionally be found at shops that sell reclaimed building materials; the match in color and size is checked on site.
3. Made-to-order production: The pattern and colors can be taken from a sample tile and reproduced in small workshops; this option takes time but gives the best pattern match.
4. Repair in place: Small cracks and chipped corners are repaired with color-matched filler; once the filler has hardened, it is honed together with the rest of the floor.

On marble steps and thresholds, missing corners and broken nosings are usually completed with resin-based fillers or by adding a new piece of marble. We explained the technical details of this repair in our article on completing missing pieces . In terrazzo, crack lines are opened up and filled with mortar of the same color and aggregate size; whether the repair is noticeable after honing depends on how well the aggregate of the filler matches the original floor.

Honing and Polishing: Every Type of Floor Behaves Differently

Once the repair is complete, the floor is renewed by honing. However, the different materials in an entrance do not respond in the same way to the same sequence of grits. Mosaic tile and terrazzo can be leveled starting from a coarse grit; in the process, dirt and worn cement are removed from the surface and the marble chips emerge as a glossy texture. On cement tile, since the colored layer is thin, the coarse grit is used sparingly; the aim is not leveling but cleaning and refreshing the surface.

On marble steps, the main problem is usually wear on the step nosing and steps that have become hollowed in the middle. Light wear can be corrected by honing; for deep hollows, more extensive solutions come into play, such as adding a new piece to the front of the step or turning the step over. We compared the options for heavily used staircases in our article on marble restoration for stairs .

The gloss level of the finish should also be chosen according to how the entrance is used. In a hall entered with wet shoes on a rainy day, an overly glossy surface creates a risk of slipping. In old entrances, a semi-gloss or satin finish is often both closer to the original look and safer. After the work is finished, applying a suitable impregnating sealer to porous surfaces such as cement tile and mosaic reduces staining.

How Work Is Organized in an Occupied Building

An apartment entrance is the one area that cannot be closed off for the duration of the work. Residents will go to work, children will come home from school, parcels will be delivered, and elderly neighbors will need to reach the elevator. For this reason, renovation is as much a matter of organization as of technical work.

The table below shows how a typical renovation consisting of an entrance hall and staircase can be divided into stages:

Working hours, especially because of the machine noise, should be set together with the management and, if necessary, neighboring buildings. During wet honing, thresholds and door bottoms are protected so that the slurry does not seep under doors into apartments or the basement. Elevator door thresholds and the area in front of mailboxes need special attention; water and slurry escape easily there.

Another characteristic of old buildings is that the entrance hall is often directly above the basement or a shop. A weakened floor slab or opened joints can cause honing water to drip into the floor below. For this reason, before starting work, the ceiling below is inspected, old water stains and cracks are noted, and if necessary the water quantity in that area is reduced or a dry method with dust extraction is used. The people responsible for the spaces below, such as the caretaker's flat, the shelter or the boiler room, should also be notified of the working days in advance. This small preparation largely eliminates the risk of unexpected damage in a neighboring space once the renovation is finished, and makes the management's job easier.

Decision and Budget with the Condominium Owners

In an old apartment building, the entrance hall and stairs are common areas; the renovation decision and its budget are shared among the condominium owners. The hardest point in this decision process is the choice between removal and preservation. Some owners want a new, modern entrance, while others argue for preserving the original tile. A trial area is the quickest way to make this debate concrete: when a section of a metre or two square metres in one corner of the hall is honed and repaired, everyone sees the result with their own eyes.

The decision-making and cost sharing for work in common areas follow Condominium Law No. 634 and the building's management plan. When determining the majority required for a decision and the method of cost sharing, it is advisable to consult your management plan and, if necessary, seek the opinion of a lawyer. From the management's perspective, we covered obtaining quotes, budget and scheduling in detail in our article on the renovation decision in apartment management in detail.

Tenants should not be forgotten either. The dates of the work should be announced directly not only to the owners but also to the tenants living in the building; in particular, solutions should be planned in advance for the entry and exit of elderly or disabled residents or those with small children.

To see whether the floor at your building's entrance can be saved without being torn out, you can send a few photos of the entrance and staircase, along with close-ups of any broken tiles, through the service request form ; we will prepare a proposal together with a survey and trial area.