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Answers

Is terrazzo cheaper than marble?

Not in a way that survives contact with the installation. Marble is bought by the slab and its price carries the yield loss of cutting it; terrazzo is cast, so a floor costs roughly the aggregate and the grinding rather than the loss. Over a life, terrazzo usually comes out ahead because it does not etch and does not need replacing.
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

Terrazzo Marble
What is bought a material, then a process a slab, then a cutting loss
Seams none in a poured floor every slab width
If it etches unaffected loss of surface, not removable
A damaged area re-ground in place a slab to match, or a scar
Variation specified whatever the quarry produced

Why the processes are not interchangeable

The purchase price is not where the two separate, because they are not bought the same way. A marble floor is a stone job: the slab is bought, cut, and a percentage is lost to the kerf and the ends. A terrazzo floor is a casting job: the mix is batched and ground, and the cost sits in the labour and in the aggregate rather than in a yield loss. The separation that matters is the fifth row. A marble floor that has been etched or chipped is a repair with a colour match against a natural stone, which is the hardest thing on this list to do well. The same floor in terrazzo is ground back.

What these figures are, and what they are not

⛔ NO PRICE AND NO SAVING IS QUOTED, and no percentage appears, because we have no published price list and we will not estimate one in writing. ⛔ Everything above describes why the two do not compare at the point of purchase; it is not a statement that one is cheaper.

Measured data sheets and test reports

If you are specifying this

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