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Showerthought: a kid on my crew said my float work looked "too clean" and it got me thinking
I was finishing a 12x20 slab in the garage of a place out in Council Bluffs last Tuesday, and one of the younger guys on the crew watched me go over it with the magnesium float and said it looked "too clean" compared to how he was taught. At first I got kind of annoyed, but then I asked him what he meant and he said his old boss wanted the surface left rougher so the broom finish would bite better. I told him that depends on the mix and the weather, and we stood there for a bit talking about how a hard trowel finish versus a broom finish needs a different touch on the same pour. It was a small thing but it made me realize I have been doing this 11 years and never once asked a new guy why he does a step a certain way. We ended up trying his rougher float pass on about a third of the slab and honestly it did grab the broom a little better in that corner where the wind was hitting us. Not saying I am changing my whole method over one slab, but it was a good reminder that the guy holding the trowel next to you might know something you skipped. Any of you ever pick up a trick from someone half your age on a pour?
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abbyc3324d ago
The rough float thing is real but it's not really the float that makes the broom bite, it's how much you work the cream up to the top. A rougher pass just leaves more texture for the broom to grab, but if the mix is wet you're gonna get the same result either way. Sounds like the wind was drying that corner out faster, which is why it grabbed better there.
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