Compared a bull float vs a power trowel on a 700 square foot garage slab yesterday

I was finishing a garage floor in Phoenix and decided to use my magnesium bull float instead of dragging out the power trowel for the whole thing. The surface came out way more level and with almost no chatter marks compared to the last job where I went trowel-heavy too early. Anyone else find themselves sticking with hand tools more for smaller residential slabs?

2 comments

2 Comments

nathan54510d ago

Wait, you're telling me you got BETTER results with just a mag float on a 700 square foot slab? That's kind of blowing my mind right now because I've always been told you NEED a power trowel for anything over like 400 feet. I've done a few garage floors myself and every time I tried to skip the trowel I ended up with this rough, uneven surface that looked like crap. But honestly, your point about chatter marks makes TOTAL sense. Those power trowels can be super aggressive and leave those little waves if you're not careful, especially on smaller pads. I bet the control you get with a hand float lets you feel every low spot way better. I might have to actually try this on my next small residential job because I'm tired of fighting with that heavy trowel machine.

mark67610d ago

Have a buddy watch the edges for you while you work the middle with the float. You catch low spots way faster when you're not worried about digging in at the edges.