T

Answers

Why is terrazzo more expensive than porcelain?

Because porcelain is pressed and fired and terrazzo is cast and ground. Porcelain comes out of a kiln in a few hours with a printed face; terrazzo is mixed, cured, then mechanically ground flat and polished in stages. The extra cost is the grinding and the labour in it, and it buys two things porcelain cannot: a surface that carries real stone through its thickness, and a floor that can be re-ground.
Six terrazzo processes, drawn to one scaleEach column shows the layers of one terrazzo process. Precast and cement-bound are thick; epoxy is thin; porcelain is a fired body. Dimensions are published ranges, not our measured figures.substratePrecast20 mmsubstrateCement-based12 mmsubstrateEpoxy5 mmsubstratePoured10 mmsubstrateLiquid3 mmsubstratePorcelain9 mmSections drawn to one scale from published ranges. Our measured figures are listed separately.
The six processes drawn to one scale. Layer thicknesses are published ranges.

The figures, and where each one comes from

Cost driver Porcelain Terrazzo
Process pressed and fired cast, cured, ground, polished
The face printed the aggregate itself
If it dulls nothing to do grind and polish again
Sealing none by grade, refreshed
Largest format very large sizes available bounded by joint design, not by size

Why the processes are not interchangeable

The comparison that settles this is not the invoice but the twenty-year one. Porcelain is cheaper to buy and cheaper to install, and it is a finished product when it leaves the kiln. Terrazzo is a material that has not been finished until the grinding is done on site, which is why the labour is in the price and why the same floor costs more in a country with good terrazzo trades than in one without. What the money buys is a surface with stone in it: when a porcelain tile wears through its print there is nothing underneath to grind back to, and on a terrazzo floor there is.

What these figures are, and what they are not

⛔ NO PRICE, RATE OR PERCENTAGE APPEARS ON THIS PAGE, and none is available from us: we have not published a price list and we do not quote one in writing. ⛔ The cost drivers described are why the two are not comparable at the point of purchase; a buyer who needs a number should send the form, the thickness, the finish and the quantity, and we will quote against the aggregate and the batch we can control.

Measured data sheets and test reports

If you are specifying this

These are the forms we actually supply for this question, with production photographs where we have them:

Send a specification Ask for a sample