Tried a power trowel on a small patio slab and the finish came out wavy

I figured I'd speed things up on a 10x12 patio last weekend by using my power trowel instead of hand finishing. Thought it'd save time but the edges got wavy and the surface looked like a frozen lake. My foreman walked over and said 'you gotta keep it flat or it'll ride the high spots.' Learned my lesson the hard way. Any of you guys run into this when using power trowels on smaller pours?

3 comments

3 Comments

alice92818d agoMost Upvoted

Nod along with your foreman on that one, power trowels just magnify any tilt if you're not keeping the handles dead level on small pads.

jessem5918d ago

Man, I learned that lesson the hard way on a 4x4 slab last summer. Let's just say my "finish" looked more like a funhouse mirror than a nice smooth floor (and my foreman made sure I heard about it for weeks). Now I treat the handles like I'm balancing a tray of beers - death grip and absolute panic, you know?

phoenix_martin4018d ago

Yeah @alice928 is right, I used to think it was all speed but that changed real quick after my first bad finish.