Showerthought: I went with a hand trowel over a power trowel for my last big slab pour

I had a 40x30 foot garage floor to finish last month and everyone told me to rent a power trowel to save time. But I stuck with my hand trowel, did the whole thing by hand over two days. It came out smoother than any power job I've seen around town because I could feel every low spot and fix it on the spot. My back hurt for a week but the owner said it was the flattest floor he's ever parked on. Any other finishers here prefer going old school on big pours?

2 comments

2 Comments

caseyw1216h agoMost Upvoted

Yeah but heres the thing nobody talks about. Power trowels are great if you have a perfect subgrade and your mix is exactly right. But if you have any soft spots or a little too much water in the concrete, that machine will just smear it around and hide the problems. Hand troweling forces you to actually fix the low spots as you find them. Ive seen power jobs that looked flat until you lay a 10 foot straightedge on them and find a quarter inch dip right where the trowel skipped. The owner probably wouldnt have even noticed until he went to put in his workbench and it rocked. So yeah your back took a beating but you saved him from that headache. Plus theres something about the feel of the concrete changing as it sets. You cant get that from a machine.

willow73213h ago

Exactly. Guy pays for a flat floor, gets a wave machine instead. Hope he enjoys leveling that workbench with shims every time he moves it.