re: LVP v engineered hardwoods and terrazzo question

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So I have a question. My parents had a terrazzo floor throughout our house growing up but it didn't seem to be a single pour. There were what appeared to be thin aluminum frames about every yard. The floors were rock stars and I didn't appreciate them growing up but my mom had the guy who installed them come out every couple years and polish them.

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First, I did not research this like I would have if I had hired the contractor because our architect and designer doing the reno dealt with all of the nuts and bolts. Your childhood home almost certainly had cement-based terrazzo which required the aluminum expansion joints. They would also have been used for any color changes. Almost all terrazzo now is epoxy-based so expansion joints are not required at near the frequency they are in cement-based terrazzo. Ours was poured over stable concrete that had been in place for over 20 years with no cracking this long with the flexibility of the epoxy allowed the single pour. As I understood it when you need them in epoxy-based terrazzo they use a color-matched sealer so while you can see the joint it doesn't have any cracks for dirt and is not as visible as the aluminum joints.

You can do some really interesting designs and borders if you want. We decided it would be too busy for our kitchen but borders would look great in rectangular rooms that are large enough to visually handle it. Obviously, that costs more and I have no idea about the upcharges.