jana_ellis95•1mo agoProlific Poster

Tried hand troweling a patio vs using a power trowel last Friday

I was finishing a 400 square foot slab in Austin and decided to hand trowel half to save on generator noise. The hand troweled side looked fine but the power trowel side was smoother and way more consistent after I hit it with a burnishing pass. Has anyone else seen a bigger gap between the two methods than they expected?

2 comments

2 Comments

jamie_taylor1mo ago

Hold on, you hand troweled 200 square feet of a slab in Austin last Friday? In that heat? Dude, you're a masochist. I'm surprised you didn't pass out from the heat stroke just trying to keep up with the drying time alone. The gap between hand and power troweling is always bigger than people think, especially on a slab that size where consistency is everything. The fact you even got a decent finish on the hand troweled side in that weather is honestly impressive, but yeah, the power trowel will always win for that glassy, uniform look.

lucas_perez1mo ago

That 200 square foot number is what gets me, @jamie_taylor, cause you're right about the drying time being brutal in that humidity. Did you have to use a specific mix or additive to keep the hand troweled side workable, or was it just sheer speed and luck? I'm curious if there's a trick to buying yourself more time when you're stuck with a trowel and the sun is baking the whole thing.