Serious question, I was finishing a patio in Spokane and the homeowner pointed out a weird shadow line.

I'd been using a 14-foot magnesium bull float for years, thinking the longer reach was always better. The customer showed me how the afternoon sun caught a slight dip I'd made on the pull back, creating a visible line across the whole slab. What's the best way you've found to check for flatness in different light before the final set?

3 comments

3 Comments

sarah1982mo ago

That shadow trick is brutal. How many feet of that 14-footer were you actually using on each pass?

king.kevin2mo ago

@sarah198 you're right, it's a killer. I was only getting about 8 feet of clean cut per pass before the shadow messed it up. Had to overlap each stripe by a good 3 feet to hide the tracks.

abbyc331h agoMost Upvoted

dude YES, I've been there. With my 15-footer I was literally only getting like 7-8 feet of usable cut before the sun shifted and made the whole thing look like a mess. That shadow overlap game is real, I was overlapping by at least 4 feet to keep it clean.