c/concrete-finishers

I finally figured out why my broom finish was looking Off

I was talking to this old timer at the supply yard last Tuesday, and he mentioned that my squeegee might be too dry before dragging it. He said 'you're not giving the concrete enough moisture to open the surface right.' I had been rushing through it for 2 years, but taking an extra minute to wet the broom changed the entire look. Has anyone else had a simple tip like that completely flip their finishing game?

3 days of rain ruined my stamped patio job last spring

Took me 6 hours to pour a 4x6 patio slab last Tuesday

I kept fighting with the gravel base because it was wet from rain the night before. Ended up having to hand tamp it three times before it felt solid. Anyone else dread working with soggy subgrade?

That guy on the jobsite told me to stop using a trowel for everything

I was finishing a driveway in Austin last summer and this older finisher named Dave walked over. He watched me try to smooth out a patch with my trowel and he just shook his head. Said I was working way too hard and handed me a float. He showed me how using a float first gets the surface flat without all the extra passes. That one tip cut my finish time by maybe 20 minutes per slab. Has anyone else had a old timer call them out on something small that actually made a big difference?

Just found out my local concrete plant delivers 3 hours earlier than I thought

I always showed up at 7am for pours but turns out they start rolling at 4am. Checked their website on a whim last night after a bad schedule day. Has anyone else missed a window because you assumed the wrong hours?

Dropped $75 on a power trowel float and it paid for itself in a day

Rant: That 'fast curing' additive almost cost me a big driveway pour

I was pouring a residential driveway in Austin last Thursday and decided to try this new accelerating additive the supply house guy pushed on me... said it would cut curing time in half. Mixed it in per the instructions and started working, but within 20 minutes the surface was already setting up way too fast. I barely got my finishing trowel across half the slab before it started crusting over. Had to call the homeowner and explain why their driveway looks like a patchwork quilt... anyone else get burned by those quick cure products?

That 3 day cure time on a warehouse floor nearly cost me the job

Had a 12,000 sq ft floor pour last month and the owner wanted to drive forklifts on it after 24 hours. Took me 4 days of explaining and showing ASTM data to convince him to wait the full week. Has anyone else had to fight a client on cure time like that?

Noticed everyone troweling their concrete edges way too wet

I was over at a buddy's pour last week on a 30x40 slab and caught him putting a finish on while the edges still had standing water, said 'that's just how I learned.' Told him to wait 45 minutes and drag a broom across first, night and day difference on the final look. Anybody else see this habit on job sites or am I the only one annoyed by it?

Can we talk about the expansion joints on the new Walmart lot in Austin?

I drove by that new Walmart out by 45th street last week... those expansion joints are spaced way too close together, maybe every 4 feet. Whoever poured that slab must have been in a hurry or just didn't care about the finish. It's gonna crack like crazy within a year. Anyone else notice how bad some of these big box store jobs are turning out?

Had an old foreman call me out for dragging my float instead of lifting it clean

I been finishing concrete about 7 years now and always thought dragging the float a bit was no big deal. Then this older guy I was working with on a driveway pour near Austin last summer stopped me and said I was leaving micro gouges that would show up after sealing. I watched my own pass and sure enough there it was. He showed me to lift the float at the end of every stroke and let the finish lay flat. Took me about a week to break the habit but now my work looks way cleaner. Anybody else get called out for a bad habit they didn't even know they had?

That job in Phoenix last August made me switch my trowel technique

I was finishing a big warehouse floor near the 101 and my float was leaving these drag marks I couldn't fix. The GC walked over and showed me how he keeps his trowel at a flatter angle on the second pass, not the 10 degree I was using. Tried it on the next pour and saved myself an hour of grinding. Has anyone else found a specific angle that works better for certain mixes?

Vent: Saw a crew using steel trowels on a broom finish patio last Tuesday

They spent 2 hours fighting it before calling me for help, said the surface kept tearing open on them. Has anyone else noticed new guys skipping the whole idea of matching tools to the job?

That old foreman in Dallas swore by wet curing and I doubted it

Worked with a crew on a 20,000 sq ft warehouse slab outside Dallas last July. The foreman, Rick, insisted on wet curing with burlap and sprinklers for 7 days straight. I thought it was overkill since I'd always just used curing compound. By day 4, a 30-foot crack showed up on a section where we used compound instead of wet curing. Rick's method had zero cracks anywhere else. Has anyone else seen that big of a difference with wet curing on hot days?

Serious question about hand troweling vs power troweling for small garage floors

I did a 2-car garage slab in Phoenix last Saturday, about 500 square feet. I brought my power trowel but the extension cord reach was a pain and the guy wanted a swirl finish anyway. So I just grabbed my magnesium hand trowel and did the whole thing by hand in about 2 hours. The finish came out way flatter than the power trowel jobs I've done on bigger slabs. No burn marks, no chatter lines, just smooth concrete. I think the power trowel is overkill for anything under 800 feet. Anyone else notice hand troweling gives better control on residential garage work?

Had a big driveway pour in Austin go sideways last Thursday

We had a 30 yard residential driveway in Austin that started setting up way faster than I planned. The temps hit 95 and the wind picked up, so the surface crusted over before we even got the bull float on it. I had my crew spray a light mist of water from a garden hose to buy us some time, but it actually made it worse by leaving little wet spots that didnt blend in. We ended up having to power trowel the whole thing at double speed just to get a finish, and now there are faint swirl marks I'm not happy about. The homeowner came out and said it looks fine, but I know it's not my best work. Has anyone else dealt with a hot weather pour that started flashing on you? What do you do when the sun is just cooking the slab before you can finish?

Wasted $400 on a bad concrete sealer - don't make my mistake

I bought a cheap acrylic sealer from a big box store for a driveway job last month. Thought I was saving money, but after the first rain it looked all cloudy and peeled off in spots. Had to grind it all off and redo the whole thing, cost me two extra days and another $120 for a better sealer from a supply house. Anyone else had a sealer fail on them like this? What brand do you guys trust for residential jobs?

Poured a 30x40 slab last Tuesday and the air temp dropped 15 degrees in two hours

Hit 10,000 square feet of broom in a single day - is that actually good?

Last Thursday I was working a driveway job in Akron, 40 yards of mix, and I finished the broom finish by 2:30 PM solo. My old foreman told me 8,000 was the max for one guy, but I beat that by a solid 2,000 feet. Some of the guys I talk to say 10k is nothing if you're using a power trowel first, others think it's a crazy pace. What do you all consider a standard day for broom work when you're the only finisher?

Was I the only one finishing concrete wrong for years?

I used to always go over my concrete with a steel trowel right after floating it, thinking it made the surface harder. Then an old foreman on a job in Denver pointed out I was actually trapping moisture and causing that fine cracking we call crazing. He told me to back off on the steel trowel and use a magnesium float instead for most residential slabs. Has anyone else had a moment like this where you realized you were making a common mistake?

Walked through a new park in Tacoma and the concrete work was a total mess

They just opened this park near the waterfront and the stamped concrete on the main walkway is already flaking. You can see the color hardener coming off in patches, and the joints are all over the place. It looks like they rushed the stamping before the bleed water was gone or used a bad release. Makes our whole trade look bad when a public job gets botched like that. Has anyone else seen a stamped job fail that fast?

I just hit 500 yards of concrete poured in a single month

My crew and I finished a big warehouse floor job in Tacoma last Friday, and when I added up the tickets, it came to 503 yards for the month. I've been doing this for 12 years and I've never broken 400 before. It was a mix of that big slab and a few smaller driveways, but the crazy part was the weather held up for almost every pour. We used a lot of my old Gyp-Crete power trowel, which just kept running without a hiccup. It felt like we were moving non-stop, but seeing that number on the calculator was a real shock. It makes me wonder what a normal busy month looks like for other crews working on commercial stuff. Has anyone else tracked their yardage and been surprised by the total?

My switch from a magnesium to a magnesium-aluminum float for big slabs

For years, I only used a standard magnesium float on any slab over 500 square feet. About two years ago, a buddy on a job in Tempe let me try his magnesium-aluminum combo float. The difference was huge. The aluminum strips cut through the wet concrete way easier, saving my arms on those long pulls. I bought a 48-inch model the next week and haven't looked back. It just glides and leaves a much tighter finish with less effort. Has anyone else made this switch, and what size do you prefer for driveways?

Rant: Heard a guy at the supply yard say 'it's just a sidewalk' to skip the vapor barrier

I was picking up a load of mesh in Tacoma yesterday and overheard a crew lead telling his new guy they didn't need a vapor barrier for a residential walk because 'it's just a sidewalk'. That's how you get heaving and spalling after two winters. It takes maybe an extra hour and a couple hundred bucks in material to do it right. How do you guys handle seeing shortcuts that you know will cause problems down the road?

Back in '08, we'd finish a 20-yard pour with just a Fresno and a prayer for no wind.

Now my crew in Denver uses a power trowel and laser screeds, which cut our time in half but honestly, I miss the quiet of a hand float. Anyone else feel like the new gear takes some of the craft out of it?