Union guy in Phoenix said I was crazy to trust curing compound alone in July, so I tried his burlap method on a 40-yard driveway last week. Zero cracks versus my last three jobs that all had surface issues. Anyone else get handed a tip that sounded dumb but saved your work?
I was down in Tucson last week visiting my cousin and I saw this crew pouring a big driveway at like 6 in the morning. They were done by 10 and had tarps ready to keep the sun off it while it set. How do you figure out the exact right window to pour when the temp jumps 30 degrees before noon?
I was out on a driveway pour last spring and this retired guy walks up just watching me work. He didnt say nothing for 20 minutes then just goes "you're bleeding the cream off" because I was starting the steel trowel way too early. He showed me the fingertip test and I felt like an idiot. My finish went from okay to glassy smooth after that. Anybody else get a rude awakening about their water content mid pour?
I tried a water based sealer on one half of a patio and a solvent based on the other half last month. The water based one started peeling after just 3 weeks while the solvent based still looks perfect through some heavy rain. Has anyone else had better luck with solvent based sealers for outdoor flatwork?
Picked up an old Whiteman trowel at an auction outside Nashville for $450... thing was beat to hell but ran smooth. Got a big warehouse floor job last week and it saved me about 3 hours of hand finishing. Has anyone else had luck with old iron instead of buying new?
The resin float left that surface so smooth I didn't need to go back with a trowel on that 300 square foot patio in Nashua, but now I'm wondering if anyone else finds it harder to get a good edge where the forms meet?
Been doing flatwork for 8 years in Charlotte. Always used a hand trowel for finish. Last month on a 4000 sq ft warehouse floor I borrowed a buddy's power trowel. Night and day difference. Smoother finish in half the time. My knees hurt way less too. Anyone else make the switch and never go back?
That hot Texan sun kept blistering my cream finish no matter how tight my timing was, so a 25-year vet told me to try a resin float and it cut my finishing time by what felt like half. Has anyone else made that swap and noticed the surface holds cream longer?
I was pouring a driveway in Phoenix last July and this old timer came by, saw me struggling with the float sticking. He showed me to wet the float down every 2 passes instead of keeping it dry. Has anyone else found a trick like that for hot weather pours?
We were finishing a 30x40 driveway near Green Bay and the sky opened up about 20 minutes after we screeded. Rain was coming down hard enough to dimple the surface. I grabbed a couple empty 5 gallon buckets and some visqueen we had in the truck, covered the fresh concrete best we could, and waited it out for 15 minutes. Pulled the plastic off slow and careful, then we hit it with a light bullfloat to close up the rain marks. Turned out okay but my heart was pounding the whole time. Anybody else got a rain save story or a better way to handle it?
I finished a 400 square foot garage slab in Phoenix last Saturday and tried using a power trowel for the first time after years of hand finishing. The power trowel gave me a smoother finish in half the time but I lost control on one edge and left a small gouge I had to patch. Has anyone else had trouble keeping a power trowel steady near the edges?
My buddy Jim watched me pour a driveway in Memphis last week and was like 'dude you're making soup not concrete.' He showed me the slump test and I couldn't believe how much dryer his mix was. Has anyone else had someone call them out on a bad habit like that?
I was out on a driveway pour last July, temp was pushing 108, and I was about to hit the slab with the evaporation retarder. This old guy I was working with, been doing concrete for like 40 years, just shook his head and told me to wet the subgrade the night before instead of dumping water on top during the pour. Said it keeps the mix from drying out from underneath (which I never really thought about). So I tried it and the slab didnt spiderweb crack like the one I did the month before. Anyone else use that method or do you just stick with the spray-on stuff?
Guy walks past my driveway job in Spokane and says 'you're dragging too slow, that's why it's tearing.' Dropped my speed from like 2 feet per second down to 1 foot. First try came out glass smooth. Anyone else get handed a tip that cut their rookie mistakes in half?
I got a used power trowel for $150 and figured I'd try it on a 10x12 patio pour. The slab was too small to maneuver and I ended up with a bunch of swirl marks I had to hand finish anyway. Next time I'll stick to the hand float for anything under 200 square feet. Has anyone else found a minimum size where power trowels actually work?
Guy named Pete with 40 years in the trade warned me my mix was soupy before a big patio pour last Tuesday. Now I've got three hairline cracks running through a 600 square foot slab and the homeowner is pissed. Anyone else learn that lesson the hard way?
I used to swear by my magnesium float for everything, thought that's what the pros used. Then last summer on a driveway pour in Albany, the guy I was helping handed me his beat-up resin float and said 'try this on the final pass'. The cream came up way smoother and I hardly had to fight with the surface. Now I keep both in the truck but grab the resin one first for flatwork. Anybody else find a tool they overlooked for years that totally changed their finish?
My crew and I finished a 30-yard driveway in under 6 hours, and the finish came out glassy smooth with zero cold joints. The mix was perfect and the temperature held at 72 degrees all afternoon. Anyone else have those rare days where nothing goes wrong?
I spent 12 hours hand troweling a 500 square foot slab in Phoenix last July and the next job I used a power float and cut the time in half with way less surface defects, so am I just being stubborn or is there a real reason to stick with the old way?
Been doing concrete for about 4 years now and always just poured into dry forms. Last month on a patio job in Austin, an old finisher named Ray walked by and said "son, you're sucking the water right out of the mix." I wetted down the forms and the next pour came out way smoother with almost no honeycombing. Has anyone else tried this vs just going in dry?
Got a call to finish a warehouse floor in Denver on Tuesday. Normally I roll with my power trowel for anything over 20 yards, but the owner said no gas engines inside because of some ventilation issue. So I had to use a hand float on the whole thing. Took me and one other guy about 9 hours instead of maybe 4 with the machine. Surface came out decent but I could see some waviness in the light. Anyone else had to switch methods mid-job and regret it?
Three months of proper curing and daily misting turned it into the smoothest slab I've done in five years. Anyone else stick with long-term curing or do you just seal it and move on?
I was out in Mesa on a 110 degree day, pouring a 20x30 slab for a new build. The ground was like dust. The foreman told me to hose it down first, I thought he was just wasting water. But after seeing how much the sand soaked it up and how much easier it was to work the mud without it drying out in ten minutes, I'm a believer now. Has anyone else tried this on super dry jobs and seen a difference?