Terrazzo or quartz?
The figures, and where each one comes from
| Terrazzo | Quartz | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | graded aggregate in a cement or resin matrix | crushed stone in resin |
| Depth in the surface | varies, chips at different levels | uniform |
| Seams | none in a poured floor, or narrow joints | joints on every slab |
| Acid | unaffected in a resin-bound product | unaffected |
| The visible tell | graded chips you can see individually | fine and even |
Why the processes are not interchangeable
Because both are engineered, the comparison usually turns on appearance and on the seam, and both are legitimate reasons. The depth in a terrazzo surface is not a marketing claim — it is what grinding does. A ground terrazzo exposes aggregate at several levels because the chips were graded by size and laid through the matrix, so the floor has a cross-section rather than a face. The honest limitation of terrazzo against quartz is that quartz is more uniform and therefore easier to match across a large floor, and a client who wants every slab identical is asking for the wrong material.
What these figures are, and what they are not
⛔ No figure on this page is a measurement and none is offered. ⛔ The acid line refers to resin-bound terrazzo; a cement-bound terrazzo floor is sealed and is protected rather than inherently acid-proof, and that distinction is drawn on /answers/terrazzo-vs-marble/ rather than blurred here.
If you are specifying this
These are the forms we actually supply for this question, with production photographs where we have them: